New Jerusalem is the name of one of Russia’s oldest museums that stores church artifacts and a collection of art and history objects from nationalized estates in the Moscow Province.

The History of New Jerusalem
The history of the Resurrection Monastery, which houses the museum funds, dates back to 1656. It was then that its founder - Patriarch Nikon - came up with the idea to make a three-dimensional Icon of Palestine near Moscow. The main monastery building, the Christ Resurrection Church, was built by analogy with the same name church over the tomb of Jesus in the Holy Land.

The New Jerusalem Museum was opened at the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery in 1920. Back then the monastery was closed by the Soviet authorities and its entire territory with all the churches and monastery buildings was given over to the exposition of the museum of local lore. This circumstance played a positive role in the history of the monastery. It was not plundered during the years of “Atheism”, and its property was evacuated and carefully preserved during the Great Patriotic War (1941 – 1945).
To date, everything that previously belonged to the monastery has been returned to the holy fathers. 

In connection with the transfer of historical buildings to the rightful owner, the Russian Orthodox Church, a complex of buildings was constructed specially for the museum, which moved to a new building on the opposite bank of River Istra in 2013. The new building has become the main, but not the only site of the Museum. 

The Expositions of New Jerusalem
Now, the New Jerusalem Museum Complex, in addition to the new building, includes: The Exhibition Hall and the Department of Wooden Architecture, located in the forest-park zone of the Istra bend adjacent to the monastery.

The New Jerusalem funds contain over 180,000 exhibits. They are kept on an area of ​​about 2360 square meters. This is a huge collection of church rarities, paintings by Russian and foreign artists, porcelain and weapons, as well as furniture brought from former noble estates, ancient manuscripts and printed books, and rich collection of decorative and applied arts. After the nationalization of historical estates, the best items from the western region of the Moscow Region (Znamensky and Glebovo, Petrovsky and Rozhdestvenno, Nikolsky and Ilyinsky, Yaropolets and other estates) were brought to the museum.

Events and Exhibitions in New Jerusalem
The rebuilt premises of the former horse yard (Exhibition Building) have been used for art exhibitions since the 1980s. The museum staff carries out extensive exhibition work. Every year large-scale festivals are held here: the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture, Christmas in New Jerusalem, Russian Wedding, Moving to a New Home, etc.
In the park area reserved for the museum, samples of the Russian wooden architecture were brought and carefully restored: a residential peasant house (from Lyubertsy district), a carved chapel (Chekhov district), and a windmill (from Tver region). These buildings have been used repeatedly as decorations for Russian cinema and television series.
Where: the New Jerusalem Museum is located at the address 1, New Jerusalem Embankment, Istra, Moscow Region.
See details on the official website of the New Jerusalem Museum