Visiting the Golod Pyramid is a must when leaving Pavlovskaya Sloboda's outskirts; from far away, it looks like it's made of cement, but it's actually plastic
Scroll down to see more
Nikolay Korolyoff
18 kilometers to the northwest of Moscow lies the village of Pavlovskaya Sloboda, which was first mentioned in historical chronicles in 1504. The best way to get to Pavlovskaya Sloboda is by driving up the Novorizhskoye Highway. Two of the village's sites will serve as your guide: a giant pyramid and the Alexander Nevsky Church on Lake Knyazhe which is where you'll have to turn off the highway. You can stop here and take a break while admiring the church's beauty.
Nikolay Korolyoff
The Annunciation Church has remained almost completely intact from 1593 to the present day. The word 'sloboda' means a workers' village. This is how the village of Pavlovskoye came to be called by its present name in 1730 when a textile factory was built here.
Nikolay Korolyoff
The bells in the Annunciation Church's belfry are exact replicas of their predecessors, which existed from 1593 until they were melted down by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Nikolay Korolyoff
When stepping into to the wing of the main church, you can see frescoes featuring Biblical motifs. These frescoes have been under constant work and restoration since the church's foundation.
Nikolay Korolyoff
Inside the church, an icon of the Annunciation stands before the altar. It was in honor of this event that the church was erected.
Nikolay Korolyoff
If you want to see the next site, you'll have to drive a little to the northwest of Pavlovskaya Sloboda. This is where the small Boris and Gleb Convent is situated. It was founded by the Russian poet Fyodorov Tyutchev's aunt in 1810.
Nikolay Korolyoff
The convent was closed in 1927 and an agricultural commune was built in its place. It lasted exactly one year, the same amount of time it took for the convent's reserves to run out.
Nikolay Korolyoff
The original fresco depicting Saints Boris and Gleb remained after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Nikolay Korolyoff
Those living at the convent were exiled in 1928. All the nuns were sent to the Gulag, while the abbess was executed and the remains of the first abbess (Tyutchev's aunt) were unearth/defiled by the Bolsheviks and scattered across the region. Local residents gathered the remains and kept them safe. After the fall of Communism, the remains of the convent's first abbess were blessed and reburied.
Nikolay Korolyoff
These days, the convent houses the nuns and novices who restored it. The convent also owns 100 hectares of land that are used for lumber and farming.
Nikolay Korolyoff
On your way out of the city, it's worth visiting the Golod Pyramid. This is not from the Russian word 'golod', meaning 'hunger', but rather the unlikely last name Golod. Since the Golods have a pyramid named after them, many people don't think for a second that that illustrious family went hungry. But jokes aside, visiting this pyramid is a must when leaving Pavlovskaya Sloboda's outskirts. From far away, it looks like it's made of cement, but it's actually plastic.
.jpg)
