Ferapontov Monastery

Ferapontov monastery stands on a hill between two lakes — Ferapontovskoye and Spasskoye, joined by the little Paska river, twenty kilometres north-east of Kirillov and 120 north-west of Vologda. It was founded in the fourteenth century by Ferapont of Beloozero, Kirill's companion who left in search of still greater solitude. For four hundred years the community remained the chief cultural and educational centre of the Beloozero land, though it always stayed smaller than its elder neighbour. Its worldwide fame rests on a dated fact: the Nativity of the Virgin cathedral was painted by Dionisy and his sons Vladimir, Feodosy and possibly Andrei from 6 August to 8 September 1502 — the term is recorded in an inscription on the slope of the north door. Six hundred square metres of wall painting, some three hundred compositions — the only documentally confirmed and fully surviving fresco cycle by the leading painter of the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the pride of his school. Dionisy's individuality lies in the tonal richness of soft, glowing colours and the rhythmic harmony of scenes: the Akathist to the Virgin, the Ecumenical Councils and the Last Judgement unfold along the walls and piers in step with the cathedral's architecture. In 2000 the ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The monastery's intimate scale is a virtue here: it does not overwhelm like the fortress of its elder neighbour Kirillov but lets you study the painting close up and in silence. Since Soviet times the Museum of Dionisy's Frescoes, a branch of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum reserve, has worked within the walls. Entry to the frescoed cathedral is organised by timed sessions with a strict limit: the microclimate of fifteenth-century painting is jealously guarded, and light and crowds are the chief enemies of the pigment layer. Plan to arrive for the morning session, and afterwards walk the perimeter of the walls: from the hill opens a view of both lakes and the little Paska river.