Kulakova I.P. Nunneries and society in Imperial Russia: the Moscow Strastnoy monastery during the 18th–19th centuries

Abstract: The article was developed within the framework of the momentous scientific project “the Virtual reconstruction of the Moscow Strastnoy monastery (mid-17th – beginning 20th centuries): analysis of the spatial infrastructure’s evolution on the basis of 3-D modelling methods”, conducted through the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University (2014-2015). The elucidation of materials pertaining to the monastery (including archival), the use of the already derived results of modelling and spatial reconstruction require that this significant socio-cultural object be studied in the wide history-cultural context of Russia in the 17th–19th centuries. The article aims to set and review in a general outline the most important processes associated with the functioning of this monastery complex that was part not only of the Moscow life, but also in the life of the whole of Russia. The role of the Strastnoy monastery is connected with such significant general historical and cultural problems as church history and ecclesiastical institutions; the activities of urban monasteries before and during the Synodal period; the history of public charity and care (the monastery as an institute for charity in the context of the development of civil society); the economic activity of monasteries in view of religious and social obligations, in the context of the social and economic development of the country; the specifics of nunneries in the context of Russian gender history; the history of the daily life of Moscow monasteries; and the role of monasteries in the daily life of the Russian capital city during its various stages.

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