The Novodevichy Mother of God-Smolensk convent was founded in 1524 by Grand Duke Vasily III in memory of the return of Smolensk from Lithuanian rule. Initially, the walls and towers of the monastery were wooden, at the end of the 16th century stone walls with towers were erected. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the monastery turned into a royal pilgrimage. Under Princess Sofya Alekseevna, a bell tower, new churches, a refectory, living quarters for princesses Maria and Catherine, Sophia's sisters, were built. The architectural ensemble of the monastery in the Moscow baroque style (except for the old cathedral and walls) is under the protection of UNESCO.
The Novodevichy Convent was for some time a place of imprisonment for female royalty. So, after Peter I came to power, Princess Sophia was imprisoned in a monastery and tonsured in 1698 under the name of Susanna. Under Peter II, Evdokia Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I, was transferred here from Suzdal.
After the decree of 1771, which forbade burial in cities, a noble necropolis arose on the territory of the monastery. By the beginning of the 20th century, there was practically no place left for burials, and the city authorities set aside a plot outside the southern wall of the monastery under Novodevichy Cemetery.
When the monastery was captured by Napoleon's troops, a battery was set up in it; during the retreat, the French set fire to the monastery, but the nuns managed to put out the fire. In 1922 the monastery was closed, in 1926 it was transformed into the Historical Household and Art Museum. In 1994, the monastery again became active, it is now under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church and the State Historical Museum. This is the only monastery in Moscow that reports not directly to the Patriarch, but to the Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna.