Samordino Monastery

The Monastery The Convent of St. Ambrose and Our Lady of Kazan (Казанская Амвросиевская ставропигиальная женская пустынь) is a stauropegial Russian Orthodox convent in the village of Shamordino, Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Seryona River, 12 km (7.5 mi) from Optina Monastery. The convent was founded near the village of Shamordino in 1884 by Sofia Bolotova, a local noblewoman, with the blessing of Saint Ambrose of Optina. The monastery's churches were designed by Sergey Sherwood and Roman Klein in a peculiar brick version of the Russian Revival. By 1918, some 800 women lived in the convent and its sketes, making it one of the largest monastic establishments in Central Russia. In 1910, after leaving Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy planned to go to Shamordino, where his sister Maria was living as a nun. The convent was shut down by the Soviets from 1923 until 1990.