The painting on display was made by Porfiry Krylov, a native of Tula. At the age of 18, he came to Moscow to enroll in the painting department of Vkhutemas and stayed to live in this city. Many of the artist’s landscapes are dedicated to Moscow and its suburbs.

The Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in the Moscow region. It is located in the village of Teryaevo, near the city of Volokolamsk.

The monastery was founded in 1479 by St. Joseph in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God and belonged to the Novgorod diocese. The money for the construction of the monastery was granted by Prince Boris Vasilyevich Volotsky. The first wooden church was replaced seven years later by a stone cathedral, which was painted by Dionysius, heir to the traditions of Andrei Rublev. In 1490, an octagonal bell tower was built next to the cathedral — the prototype of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin.

In the 16th century, Russian tsars came to the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery to pray. This place was also used as a prison for the enemies of state — the theologian Maximus the Greek and tsar Vasily Shuisky who ruled during the Time of Troubles were inmates of the monastery. In 1606, the monastery was besieged by the troops of Ivan Bolotnikov, the leader of the peasant uprising, and soon thereafter by Polish detachments. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the monastery held French prisoners from Napoleon’s army.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the monastery was transformed into the Joseph Agricultural Labor Commune. Five years later, it was disbanded and the monastery was closed. Ancient manuscripts, documents and books of the monastery were mostly transported to Moscow and St. Petersburg for storage in state archives, museums and libraries. For many years there was an orphanage and a school within the walls of the monastery. The cathedral was made into a movie theater, the iconostasis with ancient icons was blocked by a movie screen.

During the Great Patriotic War, fierce battles took place in the Volokolamsk direction. During the retreat of the Red Army, a unique bell tower, from which Moscow could be seen in clear weather, was blown up. In the lower tier of the bell tower there was a temple of the Smolensk Hodegetria of the 15th century.

In 1989, the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. It was partially restored, but the main bell tower was not. In 2004, the chains of Joseph of Volotsk were transferred to the monastery.