Moscow Guide
Taganka and Zayauze
The Simonov Monastery
Address: Catch the Zamoskvoretskaya line to Avtozavodskaya metro station and exiting by the front of the train; as you come up the steps, you'll see one of the monastery's towers, 400m up the road ahead to the left
Opening time: Daily 8am– dusk
Of the trio of monasteries on this flank, the most embattled was the Simonov Monastery (Simonovskiy monastyr). Founded in 1371 by the monk Fyodor, a nephew of Sergei of Radonezh, it resisted many sieges before being sacked by the Poles in the Time of Troubles, but was rebuilt even stronger, as "Moscow's Sentinel". In Soviet times, however, its environs were considered an ideal site for a car factory, and much of the monastery was destroyed to make way for a football stadium and palace of culture. What remains attests both to its former strength and to the ravages that surpassed anything inflicted by foreign invaders; of all the city's monasteries, none is sadder-looking or more haunting – yet what its community of believers has accomplished is inspiring.