RU-6957163 Nilov Monastery on Lake Seliger, Russia

This postcard came from Anastasia (Postcrossing, January 2019).  It shows Nilov Monastery located in Lake Seliger in Russia.

Nilov Monastery was founded by Saint Nilus in 1594, and used to welcome up to 40,000 pilgrims each year. Most of the buildings of the monastery were built in the 18th and 19th Centuries in a neoclassical style. Today the monastery complex remains one of the most impressive ensembles of Neoclassical architecture in Eastern Europe. Some of its churches date back to the 17th century. A graceful embankment was completed by 1812, and a large cathedral was built in 1821-25. The construction of the causeway to the island was completed in 1812. The Nilov Monastery was one of the largest and wealthiest monasteries in the Russian Empire.

This colour photograph by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was taken in 1909. Sergei documented a great number of Russian heritage sites throughout the Russian Empire. Without his work, the image of this magnificent church would have been lost.