St. Alexander Monastery in Suzdal is named after the Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the founder of the monastery. Historians assume that it evolved on the bank of the Kamenka River in 1240. It was customary here to bury the Suzdal princesses: you can see the names of women on the surviving tombstones. The monastery was patronized by the Moscow princes who granted it lands. There is some suggestion that due to these two factors the monastery was called the "Great Lavra" of Suzdal.
In 1608 - 1610, the Polish conquerors burned a wooden church on the territory of the Alexander Monastery. Only in 1695 a white-stone five-domed Church of the Ascension was built here on the donations of Tsaritsa Natalia Kirillovna, the mother of Emperor Peter the Great. Both this church and a free-standing tent belfry are surrounded by a fence of the early XVIII century with the Holy Gates. In the middle of the XVIII century, Empress Catherine the Great took the land from the monastery and thereby ceased it to exist. The church became a parish. In 2006, the monastery began to revive, but already as a friary. Silence and peace reign here. Ascetic interiors, dilapidated walls and vegetable beds cultivated by monks in the summer season add a special charm to this place. According to visitors, you can ask for the keys to the belfry and climb on it to admire the excellent view.