12 mystical images of monks in tsarist Russia (PHOTOS)

Apr 19 2020

Russia Beyond

Monks on the lake. Konevsky monastery, 1895-1905

Old Russia was home to age-old monastic customs, almost completely wiped out by Soviet rule. But some rare archival footage remains of the old holymen and gentle nuns of pre-revolutionary Russia.

A group of monks and a schemnik at the Konevsky cell of the Konevsky Nativity monastery on the shore of Lake Ladoga, 1892

Karl Bulla, Central State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents of St. Petersburg

A Konevsky monk in his cell at tea time, 1900s

Karl Bulla, Central State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents of St. Petersburg

Water-carrying monk, 1900s

Karl Bulla MAMM/MDF

A schemamonk of the Dormition monastery, 1892

Karl Bulla, MAMM/MDF

Monks at Lake Valaam, 1900s

Unknown artist, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Ioannikiy (Yusov), abbot of the Solovetsky monastery, with monks, 1900-1917

Unknown artist/Archives of Aleksandr Evgenyevich Archipov

Garden cleaning at the Annunciation monastery, 1895-1904

Unknown artist, the Murom History and Art Museum

Ierofey, hegumen of the Sarov monastery, 1900s

Unknown author/ Russian State Film and Photo Archives, Krasnogorsk

Food preparation in the monastic kitchen at Konevsky monastery, 1900s

Karl Bulla, Central State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents of St. Petersburg

Diveyevo convent. Nuns at the well, 1890s

Maksim Dmitriev, State Archives of Audiovisual Documentation, Nizhegorodsky Region

The picturesque campus at Ponatayevskiy monastery, 1890s

Maksim Dmitriev, State Archives of Audiovisual Documentation, Nizhegorodsky Region

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

russian orthodox church photography monastery