Tver Assumption Cathedral is located at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. This is the only temple that has been preserved from the ancient Otroch monastery. The cathedral was built in the Peter the Great Baroque style in 1722. The Bolsheviks demolished all the buildings of the monastery in 1938 during the construction of the Tver River Station in its place, but the cathedral was not touched.
The Otroch Monastery in Tver was founded in the early 13th century to protect the city from raids from the northern lands. The Tver Kremlin was located on the southern bank of the Volga at the confluence of the Tmaka River, and the Otroch Monastery was located on the opposite side, near the Tvertsa River. The younger members of the prince`s retinue served there, many of them were children from the princely family, so they called it "Otroch".
The first mention of it in the chronicle dates back to 1206. Prince Yaroslav Yaroslavich gave a letter of protection "with nine seals", where he wrote: "Whoever becomes this monastery and offends people`s monasteries will not have God`s mercy on him, in this age and the future." There is also a legend about his son Gregory, who wanted to marry a beautiful girl, Xenia, but Prince Yaroslav married her himself, and his son became a monk of this monastery.
In 1531, during the reign of Tsar Basil III, Maxim the Greek, a theologian, was exiled here. He spent 20 years in the Otroch monastery, and was buried in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In 1568, Tsar Ivan the Terrible exiled Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow and All Russia to the Otroch monastery for criticizing the policy of the Oprichnina.
Later, the tsar sent Malyuta Skuratov to the monastery to receive the metropolitan`s blessing for a campaign against Veliky Novgorod. The metropolitan refused him and Malyuta Skuratov strangled him in his cell. Patriarch Nikon canonized Metropolitan Philip in 1652. Now the relics of St. Metropolitan Philip are in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
The stone cathedral in the center of the monastery was built in the 14th century, but by the 18th century it had fallen into disrepair and was dismantled. In 1722, during the reign of Peter the Great, a new Assumption Cathedral was built. Later, all the buildings of the monastery were also reconstructed, but they have not been preserved to this day. The monastery was closed in 1918, and in the 1930s, construction of the Tver River Station began at the confluence of the Tvertsa River with the Volga. All the buildings of the monastery were demolished, but the Assumption Cathedral was decided to be preserved.
The frescoes inside Tver`s Assumption Cathedral have not been preserved, as has Tver River Station. In 2017, the river station building collapsed due to dilapidation. Now the city authorities are planning a comprehensive restoration of the station and a partial restoration of the buildings of the monastery.
