The red and white crenellated walls and golden domes of Novodevichy Convent make it one of Moscow's most attractive monasteries. Situated a short walk from the Luzhniki Sports Stadium, in a tranquil southern suburb of Moscow, inside a bend in the Moscow River, the Convent's leafy gardens are a pleasure to stroll in during the summer months and a welcome retreat from the bustle of the city. Most of the capital's monasteries were built between the 13th and 16th centuries, not merely as religious centers but as fortified structures with the express purpose of defending the city from Tatar and Pole attacks.

 With this aim in mind, many of Moscow's larger convents, including the Novodevichy, Donskoy, Danilov, Simonov, Novospassky and Andronikov Monasteries, were protected by thick, high walls and towers that together formed a defensive half-ring around the city.

 Novodevichy, or "New Maidens Convent" in English, was founded by Vasily III in 1524 to commemorate the recapture of Smolensk from the Lithuanians in 1514. The convent's main cathedral was consecrated in honor of the Smolenskaya Icon of the Mother of God Hodigitria, which according to legend was painted by St. Luke himself. The icon was brought to Rus from Greece in 1046 by Tsarina Anna Monomakh and was later taken to Smolensk and Moscow before it was returned to Smolensk in a ceremony held on the present-day site of the monastery.