Beliaev L.A.

Key words: archaeology and monastery foundation, Patriarch Nikon, New Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, modernizing Russia.
The article introduces the series of publications that present the results of the 2009–2011 excavations at the Voskresensky (Resurrection) monastery on the river Istra, an architectural complex which dates to the late 17th century and is also known as New Jerusalem. The investigations throw light on the historical terrain, the earliest fortifications and buildings which have not survived, and the manufacturing of church bells, tiles and vessels. The data allows interpreting Nikon’s activity as an early attempt at modernizing Russia, and is presented within the general framework of European and Russian culture of the late 17th – early 18th centuries.