Ugresha Monastery

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Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery (Russian: Николо-Угрешский монастырь) is a walled stauropegic Russian Orthodox monastery of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker located in a suburb of Moscow, Dzerzhinsky. It is the town's main landmark and is featured on the city emblem. The monastery is known to have existed as early as 1521, when the Tatar horde of Mehmed I Giray reduced the city to ashes. The old katholikon of St. Nicholas (later destroyed by the Soviets) was built in the 16th century. The Ugresha Monastery was one of the walled abbeys defending approaches to the Russian capital from the south. A late legend attributes its foundation to Dmitry Donskoy who, on his way to the Kulikovo Field, is supposed to have made a stay there and determined to give a decisive battle to the Tatars after seeing an image of St. Nicholas in a pious dream. He "is reputed to have called out in ecstasy ugresha ("this sets my heart aflame") and founded a monastery on the very spot". The monastery was greatly expanded in the 17th century due to its proximity to the royal residences in Izmailovo and Kolomenskoye. After the Russian Revolution, the monastery was closed and its grounds were given over to a children's colony of the People's Commissariat of Finance in 1920. In an effort to fight children homelessness, Felix Dzerzhinsky had it transformed into a labour commune. The town was later renamed after Dzerzhinsky. Many church buildings were destroyed; others survived in a state of great disrepair. The ruined buildings were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991. The monastery has since been restored and operates several museums, including one dedicated to Nicholas II of Russia. There is a new seminary on the grounds.