Fodor's Expert Review Monastery of the Holy Mandylion

The monastery was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by Boris Godunov. Russia's first institution of higher learning, the Slavonic-Greco-Latin Academy, was opened in this building in 1687. Many an illustrious scholar studied here, including scientist and poet Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–65) from 1731 to 1735. Hidden inside the courtyard is the monastery's cathedral, Spassky Sobor, built in 1600–61 in the Moscow baroque style. The tower of the church is under ongoing renovation, but the interior is intact, and services are held daily.