St. Trinity Pskov Caves Monastery is often called the Lavra, which stresses its significance for the Russian Orthodox Church (officially, there are only two Lavras in Russia – Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad and Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg). The monastery was founded in 1473.
Its layout is rather original – all buildings and churches of the monastery are located on the sides of a fairly deep ravine. If you enter the monastery by the Main Gate, you will see a sloping road going along the bottom of the ravine and several temples and buildings in the lowland. The Purification of the Virgin Cathedral is the main temple of the Lavra.
There are miracle-making icons there, and nearby the entrance of the caves (underground tunnels), where the monks of the monastery were buried. In this Pskov Caves Lavra is similar to Kiev Caves Lavra. You must take a walk around the wall of the monastery. They are very picturesque.
