After the Novodevichy Convent was closed in 1922, a museum was opened inside its walls, which then became a branch of the State Historical Museum in 1934. The museum's collection was formed during the 1920s and 1930s and included the abundant sacristy of the Convent and a unique historical and architectural ensemble of items from the 16th–17th centuries. Some of the monuments also came to the museum through the State Museum Fund from closed Moscow churches and monasteries.
For many years several generations of scientists have been working very hard and meticulously to study, describe, and systematize the museum's collections. Elizaveta Sergeyevna Kropotkina, the first director of the museum, should be noted in particular for her success in stopping the seizure of "the former church property" by the State Repository of Precious Metals (Goshran) in 1922. Lidiya Sergeyevna Retkovskaya has been the curator of the museum for more than 30 years.
In total the museum's collections account for about 12 thousand stock items. The main collections are the Old Russian paintings and textiles from the 16th–20th centuries, the objects made from precious metals and stones, and a collection of documents from the Convent archives and library of manuscripts and black-letter books. The Convent sacristy was able to grow due to donations from numerous individuals and inheritance from noble nuns. Thanks to the special privileged position that the Convent occupied in the 16th–17th centuries, the best artists, jewelers, and embroiderers of that time contributed the fruits of their labour with icons, liturgical items and vestments.
The collection of Old Russian paintings includes icons from the numerous churches of the Novodevichy Convent, tomb iconostases of Tsarevnas and female relations of Peter the Great, and nun cells. For example, in 1600 Tsar Boris Godunov donated 70 icons for the iconostasis of the Smolensk Cathedral. In the 1680s, by order of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, seven churches were established in the Convent. The icons for these churches were painted by Simon Ushakov, Fyedor Zubov, Vasily Pakhomov and other famous graphic artists of the Kremlin Armoury. The most artistically valuable icon is the John the Baptist Icon of the 15th century in the "nielloed" oklad (icon-setting) of the late 16th century from the private collection of Tsaritsa Irina Godunova.
The textile collection includes ecclesiastical attire (chasubles and cottas) made from precious imported fabrics, silk and gold embroidered aers and altar-cloths. From the 16th century an excellent workshop functioned in the Novodevichy Convent and it was in that workshop that the Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary altar-cloth and the Smolensk Blessed Virgin Mary icon (late 17th century) were embroidered by the craftswomen of Irina Godunova. Items crafted in the workshops of Boyars Odoyevskaya and Miloslavskaya are also to be found in the museum.
The most valuable exhibits in the museum are those items with donation inscriptions. Ivan the Terrible, his daughter-in-law Uliana Udelnaya, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, Peter the Great, Boyar Bogdan Khitrovo, Mother Superior Palladiya Durova and many other historical figures are among the donors.
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