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The Novodevichy Orthodox Convent was founded by Grand Duke Vasily III in 1524 - in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God “Odigitria“ in gratitude for the capture of Smolensk in 1514 in the Russian-Lithuanian war. The architectural ensemble of the monastery, formed in the 16th-17th centuries in the Moscow Baroque style, was placed under the protection of UNESCO and declared the heritage of all mankind. The current monastery is jointly run by the Russian Orthodox Church and the State Historical Museum. Since 2010, the church museum of the Moscow diocese has been operating here. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the monastery owned 15,000 serfs and more than 150,000 acres of land in 36 villages scattered from Onega to the Lower Volga, a courtyard in the Kremlin. In 1724, an orphanage for 250 foundling girls was opened in the Novodevichy Convent, who were taught to weave Dutch lace. Tsar Peter I subscribed to craftswomen for training from the Du
