The Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary St. Tikhon Desert in Kaluga is the full name of one of the oldest monasteries in the Kaluga region. It was founded by Saint Tikhon of Kaluga, who blessed Prince Ivan III before the battle with the army of Khan Akhmat in 1480. However, Khan Akhmat did not dare to fight and went back to the Horde.
Until the 16th century, the territory of the Kaluga Region was located on the border between the possessions of Russians, Lithuanians and nomadic tribes. During the wars between the Russians and Lithuanians, the wooden fortifications of the Kaluga Kremlin were destroyed several times, and small villages suffered from frequent raids by nomads. Despite this, in the Kaluga region in 1444 Saint Paphnutius founded the Paphnutiev Borovsky Monastery. Saint Tikhon founded St. Tikhon Desert in the second half of the 15th century, but the exact date of the monastery`s foundation is not known.
In 1480, 20 kilometers northwest of Kaluga, one of the most important events in the history of Russia took place: Standing on the Ugra River. Throughout October 1480, the troops of Prince Ivan III of Moscow and Khan Akhmat of the Horde stood on different banks of the Ugra River. The khan hoped for the help of Lithuanian Prince Casimir IV, but did not get it. He did not dare to attack the army of Ivan III and, with the onset of cold weather, went back to the Golden Horde. Thus ended the 250-year period, which in Russian history is called the "Mongol-Tatar yoke". Moscow finally became the center that united all Russian lands. The Russian principalities stopped paying tribute to the Horde, and a century later they conquered all its lands.
Saint Tikhon of Kaluga is one of the venerated saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1380, St. Sergius of Radonezh blessed the army of Dmitry Donskoy at the Battle of Kulikovo. The Russians then won, but the campaign of Khan Tokhtamysh, supported by Tamerlane, in 1382 restored the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Saint Tikhon in 1480 blessed the army of Ivan III for the battle on the Ugra River, but it was not even required. In 1492 Saint Tikhon died. The Russian Orthodox Church beatified him in 1551.
The monastery of St. Tikhon Deserts is located 3 km from the place at three fords, where the troops of Khan Akhmat and Ivan III resisted on the Ugra River. Directly on the site of the Ugra River in 2007, on the initiative of the abbot of the monastery, the Vladimir Skete was built. In 2012, the Museum-diorama "The Great Standing on the Ugra River" was created there.
In 1610, all the buildings of the St. Tikhon Desert were burned by Polish military detachments during the Time of Turmoil. For a long time, wooden temples were constantly rebuilt, and stone temples could not be restored. Therefore, there are no old buildings in the monastery now. All the temples that have survived to this day were built at the end of the 19th century.
All the buildings of St. Tikhon Desert are built in the Byzantine style. The main temple of St. Tikhon Desert is the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Its construction began at the end of the 19th century, and was completed in 1904. Above it stands a bell tower (height 75 meters), built in 1894. The Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior, the Church of St. Nicholas and the Church of the Icon of the Virgin Mary the Life-Giving Spring, were built inside the monastery.
