Ioannovsky Convent

The Convent of St. John of Rila (Иоанновский монастырь) is the largest convent in St. Petersburg, Russia and the only stauropegic monastery in the region. It was established on the bank of the Karpovka River by Saint John of Kronstadt (1900) as a branch of the Sura Monastery of St. John the Baptist. The main pentacupolar church of the Twelve Apostles (1902) was built to a Neo-Byzantine design by Nikolay Nikonov. The ground floor contains the marble tomb of St. John of Kronstadt. The convent was disbanded by the Soviets in 1923. It was reopened as a branch of Pühtitsa Convent in 1991.