The Republic of Tatarstan. Sviyazhsk Island on the Volga River. The Sviyazhsk Dormition of the Mother of God Monastery was founded in the 16th century and shut down during the Soviet period. It reopened in 1997.08.09.1992#8271406
The Raifa Specialized Vocational Training School, a restricted institution for children with deviant behavior, at the Raifa Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, in the Zelenodolsk District of Tatarstan. Formerly a penitentiary, it received vocational training school status in 1984. Photo: At a turners' workshop.04.08.1992#8267222
The Raifa Specialized Vocational Training School, a restricted institution for children with deviant behavior, at the Raifa Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, in the Zelenodolsk District of Tatarstan. Formerly a penitentiary, it received vocational training school status in 1984. Photo: The boy help water the monastery's vegetable garden.04.08.1992#8267220
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia, right, during the ceremony of transferring the holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov to the Russian Orthodox Church, Kazan Cathedral in Leningrad which was inactive from 1932 to 1991 as it hosted the Museum of the the History of Religion and Atheism of the USSR Academy of Sciences.11.01.1991#8183306
Believers attend the ceremony of transferring the holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov to the Russian Orthodox Church, Kazan Cathedral in Leningrad which was inactive from 1932 to 1991 as it hosted the Museum of the the History of Religion and Atheism of the USSR Academy of Sciences.11.01.1991#8183304
Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia, center, during the ceremony of transferring the holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov to the Russian Orthodox Church, Kazan Cathedral in Leningrad which was inactive from 1932 to 1991 as it hosted the Museum of the the History of Religion and Atheism of the USSR Academy of Sciences.11.01.1991#8183303
A ceremony to transfer the shrine containing the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov from the vaults of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg) to the Russian Orthodox Church. Museum Director Stanislav Kuchinsky, fourth left, and Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, center, during the ceremony to transfer the relics to the Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent.11.01.1991#6687439
The Cathedral of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan in Luga city in the Leningrad Region.26.07.1966#6126442
Leningrad. The Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was built in 1801-1811 to a design by architect Andrei Vioronikhin. In 1932, it accommodated the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and no divine services were held there during that period.15.07.1965#6043458
