According to the tradition, the icon of the Theotokos of Tikhvin was discovered in 1383 at the current location of the monastery. A wooden church was built to accommodate the icon. The consequent wooden churches burned to the ground three times, until in 1507 the construction of a stone church started by the order of
Vasily III, the Grand Prince of Moscow. In 1560, the monastery was founded and built as a fortress, since at the time it was located close to the
Swedish border, and could be used for defense purposes. In 1610, during the
Time of Troubles, the monastery was looted by Polish troops, and subsequently it was occupied by Swedish forces until 1613. In the 1920s, after the
Russian Revolution, the monastery was closed, but the icon was still held there. After
World War II, the Tikhvin Town Museum occupied the monastery. In 1995, the monastery was given back to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1941, during World War II, for a month Tikhvin was occupied by
German troops, who looted the monastery and, in particular, took the icon to
Pskov, and in 1944 transferred it to
Riga. The icon eventually was taken out of Russia for safety by a Russian Orthodox bishop from
Kolka parish. In the period between 1949 and 2004 the icon was stored in
Chicago. It was returned to the monastery in 2004. ==Architecture==