Spaso-Borodino monastery on the Borodino field

The Spaso-Borodinsky monastery was founded by Margarita Tuchkova. Her husband, General Tuchkov, was killed during the battle of Borodino on Bagration fleches. She tried to find his body, but could only find his ring. At this place, she founded a monastery and became its abbess.

In 1817, Margarita Tuchkova received permission from the Emperor Alexander I and 10 thousand rubles for the construction of the Church. After that, she bought three tithes of land on the Middle Bagration fleches. In 1818, she built a small Church of the icon of the Saviour Image of Edessa. This was the regimental icon of the Revel regiment, which was led by her husband. Next to it, she built a small house.

In 1826, after the death of her son, she freed her peasants and finally moved into this house. Widows who also lost their husbands in the battle of Borodino began to come here. In 1839, the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery was opened here. With donations from Nicholas I, new churches were built here: the Church of Filaret the Merciful (1839), the bell tower (1840), the Cathedral of the Vladimir icon of the Holy Virgin (1852).

The great Cathedral of the Vladimir icon of the Holy Virgin was founded a year before the death of abbess Margarita Tuchkova. It is built in the Byzantine style, designed by the architect Bykovsky. Funds for the construction of the Cathedral were collected throughout Russia, mainly among soldiers and officers of the Russian army.

The earthen ramparts of Bagration fleches were preserved both inside the monastery and outside its walls. Next to the wall of the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery is a military cemetery, where thousands of soldiers who died during the battle of Borodino are buried. A small chapel was built in front of it, where the nun of the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery, the saint nun Rachel, is buried.