The
poustinia was founded in 1734 as a branch of the great
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in the immediate vicinity of the new Russian capital, St. Petersburg.
Catherine Ivanovna,
Peter the Great's niece, owned a manor on the bank of the
Gulf of Finland. After her death
Empress Anna presented the land to her confessor Varlaam, who was also in charge of the Trinity Lavra. The earliest buildings of the monastery, including the pentacupolar cathedral, the outer wall and the towers, were designed by
Pietro Antonio Trezzini. They were
Baroque in character. It was not until 1764 that Strelna Monastery was designated a separate poustinia. Many monks from Strelna entered the Navy to serve as ship chaplains. Saint
Herman of Alaska was one of those monks. The golden age of the monastery is associated with Saint
Ignatius Bryanchaninov who was in charge of the poustinia between 1834 and 1857. Bryanchaninov had the monastery transformed by
Aleksey Gornostayev into a showcase for the
Russian Revival style. The new Ascension Cathedral was built to a
Neo-Byzantine design. After the
Russian Revolution the Soviets suppressed the monastery (1931), destroyed the cemetery and adapted the grounds to serve as a
labor camp, or a work farm. The buildings sustained further damage during
World War II. After the property was occupied by a police school in the early 1960s, Trezzini's cathedral and several other churches were blown up. The remaining buildings were returned to the
Russian Orthodox Church in 1993. == Burials ==