The president ordered that beginning in 2009, the Government of the Russian Federation is to grant subsidies from the federal budget to the Charity Fund for Reconstruction of the New Jerusalem Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church. These subsidies will go towards recreating the monastery’s historic appearance.
The monastery was founded in 1656 by Patriarch Nikon. In his vision it was to become the centre of the Orthodox world. Some of the monastery’s buildings are modelled on buildings in Jerusalem.
The monastery was closed in 1919 and the New Jerusalem Museum opened at the site.
Nazi forces occupied the site for three weeks in 1941, and during this time the museum was plundered, the tower and belfry destroyed, and the church building seriously damaged.
The process of handing the site back to the Russian Orthodox Church began in 1994.