Nilova Pustyn - a monastery on the island of Stolbny, whose history began in 1528, when the island settled hermit Neil. He was famous for healing, saving people from storms on Seliger, and spiritual feat - for 27 years of his asceticism Neil Stolbensky never went to bed, and slept, leaning on two wooden hooks. After the death of Neil Stolbensky's power, they were found incorruptible, and then healings followed - and the monastery on Stolbny Island became a significant center for pilgrimage.

How to get here

You can get here by sightseeing boat from Ostashkov (20 km), by taxi (300-350 RUR one way), or by bus Ostashkov - Troeruchitsa and then five kilometers on foot (there is a bus three times a day, but the first flight leaves before the arrival of the Moscow train ). Following on the car, keep in mind that it is necessary to roll on the pointer Svetlitsa. This is the bridge to the monastery island. From here the best views of the desert are opened.

Infrastructure

On the territory of the monastery there is a hotel for pilgrims, in addition, in Svetlitsa - a village on the mainland in front of the desert houses and rooms for tourists are being rented, as well as a large tourist center with the same name - Svetlitsa. In the same tourist center a restaurant is opened, which will feed the starving travelers for 300-600 rubles per person.

In the icon shop in the monastery, as well as at the bridge connecting the island with the mainland, you can buy everything that Seliger is so famous for. In the first case - it will be monastic bread, honey, mead, collection of tea, berries, as well as icons, books, magnets and other souvenirs. In the second case - also fish (smoked eel from 1000 rubles for a joke, a pike perch from 200 rubles, a som from 400 rubles), knitted products and many other things. Is it worth saying that this is all excellent quality, excellent tasty, but also worth it?

Entertainment, excursions and attractions of the Nile Desert

Before the Revolution, the monastery included 5 churches and 25 buildings, all of which were built in the traditions of St. Petersburg architecture. The shores of the island were fortified with granite embankments: the monastery was a real "city of monks", and it looked like some kind of a quaintly abandoned quarter of Petersburg in the Valdai backwoods. During the Soviet era, all this was ruined, and for many years the monastery was abandoned, and now there is a major restoration.

Of greatest interest is the central ensemble of the monastery: the seven-domed Epiphany Cathedral (1821-1833) with a bell tower, from which a magnificent panorama opens (entry 100 rubles).

The cathedral is surrounded on all sides by residential buildings, of which the Brotherhood Corps, which looks most like a St. Petersburg palace, stands out. In other parts of the monastery there are farm buildings (even own water tower), on the shore a park is broken, and at the very tip of the cape stands the snow-white baroque Krestovozdvizhenskaya church.

In addition, among the buildings, the All Saints Church of 1667, the oldest temple in Seliger, was lost.

Nilova Pustyn

Bells, Nilova Pustyn

Krestovozdvizhenskaya church, Nilova Pustyn

Kupola, Nilova Pustyn

The Rector's Corps, Nilova Pustyn