Alexander Nevsky Laura is an Orthodox monastery at the eastern end of Nevsky Prospekt. It is the first and the largest monastery of the city. The place for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery was personally chosen by the Emperor Peter I in 1710. It was previously assumed that in this very spot Alexander Nevsky had defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240. In 1713 the first wooden church of the future monastery - the Annunciation church - was laid upon the project of D.Trezzini. On the territory of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery there are several famous cemeteries where the members of the royal family, government and public figures, representatives of culture and art, are buried.

In 1723 Peter I ordered to move the relics of Prince Alexander Nevsky from Vladimir to the new monastery. They arrived in St. Petersburg in 1724, and a new holiday - the Translation of the relics of Prince Alexander - was added to the calendar of the Russian Church. St. Alexander Nevsky, along with Peter I, is one of the patrons of St. Petersburg.