Pokrovsky Zverin monastery in Novgorod photo

The Zverin-Pokrovsky monastery is on the right bank of the Volkhov. Its name comes from a forest preserve called Zverinets. The forest is only 1.5 km from the Kremlin walls. Today it is at the very heart of Novgorod but in the first years of the Novgorod Republic local princes used to hunt there for wild beasts.

The first records of the Pokvrovsky (Intercession) monastery date back to 1148. However, the oldest surviving stone church was built there in 1335. It is the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin. The Pokrovsky Cathedral was built close to it much later, only in 1899. The relics of St. Sabbas of Vishera are kept in the cathedral.

The Church of Simeon the God-Receiver is near it. The church was built to commemorate the abolition of plague in 1467. It is a small one-dome church built in the classic Novgorod style. The church looks very beautiful. The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Kozhevniki (1406) and the Church of Nikola Bely [White] (1313) are near the monastery.