The Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery is a place with a vibrant history and a beautiful architectural ensemble.
According to legend, the monastery was founded by Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy in 1380. Before the Battle of Kulikovo, his army stopped to rest. The prince had a vision: a light-filled icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker hovered above a huge pine tree. Dmitry Donskoy took this as a sign and exclaimed, "All this has wrought wrath upon my heart."
The monastery had a difficult life: it was repeatedly plundered (for example, in 1521 during the raid of the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray), but was subsequently restored. In the 17th century, the monastery flourished thanks to the "Ugreshsky campaigns" of Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov.