The ancient city of Rostov is famous for its numerous attractions, but few know that the oldest monastery here was the Spaso-Pesotsky Monastery, founded in the 13th century and long abolished. While it cannot be claimed that there were no older monasteries before it, the surviving sources remain silent on this matter. The monastery was founded by Princess Maria Mikhailovna Chernigovskaya, the wife of the Rostov prince Vasilko.

The history of this ancient Orthodox monastery is connected with many outstanding figures. In addition to its founder, her son Gleb Vasilkovich and his wife Feodora, who, according to some sources, was the daughter of Khan Batu, were buried here. For the first three centuries, the monastery was wooden and was repeatedly rebuilt due to fires and decay. Only at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries was the stone Spaso-Preobrazhensky Church erected, which in a modified form has survived to this day. By the mid-18th century, the monastery was thriving, but by the decree of Empress Catherine the Second, it was first abolished and then annexed to the Yakovlevsky Monastery. Thus ended the centuries-old history of the monastery as an active institution; many buildings were lost, but the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Church remained.

During the Soviet era, the surviving church was closed and fell into disrepair, but it still survived. Today it has been restored and is once again operational.