Vasily Turin was a teacher at the Kazan Principal Public School and also painted icons. He went down in the history of the city as the author of the first lithographic albums devoted to the views of Kazan. His exhibited lithograph depicts the architectural complex of the Convent of the Mother of God of Kazan of the first half of the 19th century.

Initially the convent was built of wood. Its history began back in the 16th century. In July 1579 a girl, Matrona Onuchina, had a vision of the Mother of God in her dream. The Mother of God told her that her Blessed Icon had been hidden in the city. First, no one believed the girl but later the ancient icon wrapped in a sleeve was actually found in the smouldering ruins left after a large fire.

Soon miracles that appeared around the icon of the Mother of God gave rise to rumours that the icon made blind people see and cured those who were terminally ill. This news reached Ivan the Terrible. He inspected a copy of the relic, was told the story of how it had been found and ordered to build a church named after the Mother of God at the site of her appearance and to establish a convent by the church.

For several centuries the Convent of the Mother of God of Kazan saw lots of expansions, reconstructions and additions. In 1595, Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich ordered to replace the wooden church with a stone one. The architectural complex shown in the lithograph was built between 1798 and 1807, when the architect of the governorate Phillip Emelianov built a five-domed cathedral based on the drawings of the prominent Russian architect, Ivan Starov. Also, the lithograph shows a semi-circled fence of the over-the-gate Church of St. Sophia and a five-tier bell tower.

Only few buildings of this architectural monument have survived to this day. In 2005, the convent was reopened but turned into a monastery. At present, work is underway to restore the Cathedral of Kazan icon of the Mother of God.