The Raifa Monastery of the Kazan eparchy is situated about 27 km north-west from Kazan. It was founded in the early XVII century and became a very important pilgrimage direction for the Orthodox Christians: the believers from all over the country come there to pray for the Georgian icon of Godmother - a copy from the very first icon originated from the Krasnogorsky Monastery (close to Kholmogory). This cloister was built on the territory which since olden times had been pagan and later, Islamic and became one of the earliest Orthodox monasteries appeared there after the Siege of Kazan (1552).