All Kostroma guests try to visit the Ipatyevsky Monastery attracted by its history, architectural monuments and rich collection of old Russian objects of art. Ipaty is a symbol of Kostroma. Situated on the spot where the Kostroma river flows into the Volga it looks like a fairy-tale town with hipped roofs of towers and gilded cupolas of the cathedral. The place for the monastery was chosen not only because of its beauty, the monastery was built near the road to Moscow and played a role of a fortress in the vicinity of Kostroma.

The Ipatyevsky Monastery is one of the most ancient in Russia. It was founded in the 13-th century. In 1435 the monastery was first mentioned in the chronicle that tells about the struggle of the Moscow Prince Vasily (the Dark) and Galich-Zvenigorod Princes for the throne. Peaceful agreement was signed in the Ipatyevsky Monastery. Soon the Grand Prince gave the monastery a ferry on the Kostroma river.

In the 16-th century the monastery got generous donations from the Godunov family that came to prominence at the court of the Russian tsar. There were the Godunovs' burial-vaults in the monastery. Wooden structures began to be replaced by stone ones with money donated by Boris Godunov and his uncle Dmitry Ivanovich.

The 17-th century brought new fame and new patrons to the monastery. In March 1613 representatives of the All-Russia Council came to the Ipatyevsky Monastery to inform Mikhail Romanov that he had been elected a tsar. Having been crowned Mikhail confirmed all the former charters, gave new rights and privileges to the monastery. The monastery became famous as "the cradle of the Romanov House". Its riches grew. The monastery possessed vast lands and thousands of serfs. There were only few monasteries in Russia that had such rich collections of icons, church plates, books and manuscripts.

Secularization of the church lands in the 18-th century resulted in the decline of the monastery economy. When the Kostroma eparchy was organized in 1744 the monastery was turned into the Bishop House and the Trinity Cathedral into the main church of the eparchy with a full staff of the secular clergy. Only in 1835 the first-class monastery was again formed here.

In the 19-th century the ruling dynasty began to show heightened interest to the monastery. Tsars and members of the tsarist family visited the cloister. The house where Mikhail Romanov lived in 1613 was named the Palace of Mikhail Fyodorovich or the Romanovs House and was res'tored to resemble the Romanovs House in Moscow. In 1913 Russia celebrated the 300 anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty. The monastery had been restored and a church and historical museum was opened in the Romanovs House.

Soon after the 1917 Revolution the monastery was closed and all the buildings were used for flats. In 1958 a historical and architectural museum was organized on the basis of the museum of local lore and architectural complex of the Ipatyevsky Monastery.

The Ipatyevsky Monastery today is a complex of structures of the 16-19-th centuries. Its precinct consists of two parts, the Old Town (the oldest part) and the New Town built in 1640-ies.

The centre of the Old Town is a stately building of the Trinity Cathedral (1650-1652). It is a fivedomed church with a cruciform plan, put on a high basement, surrounded with an enclosed gallery. The main value of the cathedral is its wall painting made in 1684 by a team of talented Kostroma painters led by Gury Nikitin and Sila Savin. The galleries were decorated in 1912 but for the eastern wall of the western gallery painted in the middle of the 17-th century. A wooden carved gilded iconostasis was made by Kostroma masters headed by Pyotr Zolotarev and Makar Bykov in the mid-18 century. In the interior you can't but notice metal d6ors made in fired gilding technique in the 16th century. The doors were donated by Dmitry I.Godunov to the former 16-century church.

Near the cathedral there is a belfry (1604) with a bell-tower (1646). The north-east corner of the precinct is occupied by the Bishop Palace — a complicated building that includes structures of different times. The Bishop Palace, the Trinity Cathedral and the belfry form the main part of the monastery. We get there through the Catherine Gate built in 1767 specially for the visit of Catherine the Great. The gate is made in a form of a triumphal arch and decorated with the monogram of Catherine II.

The opposite corner of the Old Town is the so-called "black yard". Here you can see the twostorey building of cells over cellars (16-18 cent.), the one-pillared refectory with two tiers of windows (16 cent.) and candle-works attached to it on the east (mid-19 cent.). Along the northern wall there are monk cells (16-18 cent.).

It is a two-storey building divided into sections which you can easily see on the external wall: a door and a window make an entrance hall, three windows — a cell. A building along the western wall stands out for its massive porch and multicoloured painting. This is the Romanovs House. Tiled stoves of the 18-th century have been preserved in its interiors. If you go along the passage formed by the Romanovs House and cells over cellars you will get to the New Town. The only monastery building here is the former patrimonial office (18 cent.) where in 1875 an almshouse was opened.

The Green tower over the gate with a hipped tiled roof is crowned with a cross. It was constructed by order of Mikhail Romanov to commemorate that on the 19-th of March 1613 Mikhail took this road when he left for Moscow to become a tsar.

The silhouette of the Green tower is repeated by the church of Chrisanph and Daria over the gate of the Bishop Palace. The day of Chrisanph and Daria is celebrated on the 19-th of March. The church was built in the 19-th century to commemorate two events in the Russian history that took place on the 19-th of March, the first one in 1613, and the second in 1814 when Alexander I entered Paris having defeated Napoleon. Thus the history of Russia is reflected in the monuments of the Ipatyevsky Monastery.

The museum situated in the monastery buildings possesses rich collections of old Russian and decorative applied art, books and manuscripts, clothes, things made of wood and metal. It allows to make interesting exhibitions telling about the history of the region, about the talented masters of the past and present.

O.Fyodorova