Moscow · Khamovniki · Russia

Novodevichy Convent

monasterycemeteryhistoryUNESCOgoogle verified

easy

9/10

best: morning

historic, elegant, contemplative

A local would say...

Russian tsars imprisoned inconvenient wives in these convent walls — now Russia's greatest artists are buried beside them.

A UNESCO-listed 16th-century convent complex on a bend of the Moscow River, regarded as one of the finest examples of Moscow baroque architecture, with its cemetery containing the graves of Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Eisenstein, Khrushchev, Yeltsin, and many other distinguished Russians. The convent was used to house women of the Russian royal family who were forced into religious life. The complex's white towers and gold domes seen from across the Moscow River provide one of the city's most memorable views.