All news

Putin visits Sviyazhsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited the Holy Dormition Monastery

SVIYAZHSK, Tatarstan, August 28 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited the Holy Dormition Monastery in Sviyazhsk. Father superior of the monastery hegumen Seluan conducted the tour of the monastery founded in 1555.

When Putin visited the Trinity Church in Sviyazhsk, the hegumen told him that Czar Ivan the Terrible used to go to that church. All the icons of the church have been preserved. They took up eight halls when the exhibition was held.

Mintimer Shaimiyev, the head of the trusteeship council of the republican fund of the restoration of Tatarstan’s historic and cultural monuments, who accompanied the head of state, said that the icons were priceless and suggested that their copies should be painted as soon as possible.

The president went inside the church where the liturgy was conducted at the moment and then went into the Cathedral of the Consolation of All Who Sorrow. Hegumen Seluan said the cathedral’s being preserved is due to the fact that it served as grain storage in the Soviet times.

Putin also visited the Church of Dormition on the monastery’s territory that was built from 1556 to 1560 and has unique fresco painting.

Winding up the visit to Sviyazhsk, Putin saw the monastery’s old stable yard which, as a result of restoration work over the past two years was converted into a tourist complex with a local lore display.

The president was met by musicians clad in olden Russian costumes. They sang a folk song. He was also shown a smithy where craftsmen presented him with a coin with Tatarstan’s national emblem and a horseshoe as a good luck charm.