It was founded in 1600 by Boris Godunov. At first called "Saviour the Old", the cloister gradually acquired its present quaint name which alludes to its location and means "the Saviour behind the icon shops". Between the late 17th - early 19th centuries, the Zaikonospassky monastery was one of the enlightenment centers of Russia. Between 1687 and 1814, it was home to the Slavic Greek Latin Academy, Russia's first secondary education establishment.