Initially, the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent was located on the site where the Smolny Cathedral is now located. During the reign of Elizabeth, the Smolyan Court was located on the left bank of the Neva River, next to which the Empress's summer palace was erected. Wishing to retire from worldly affairs in old age, the Lady of All Russia ordered to give her country palace to the nuns to found the first convent in St. Petersburg. Elizabeth's plans did not materialize, and in 1797 the monastery ceased to exist. The next Empress Catherine II founded an institution here, where noble daughters were brought up, which in the future was renamed the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens.

By the middle of the XIX century, there was not a single active convent in the capital of Russia, and, following the requests of Grand Duchess Olga, Emperor Nicholas I ordered the construction of new monastic buildings on the territory adjacent to the Moscow Outpost. The abbess of the new monastery was the nun Feofaniya, who was formerly a boarder of Empress Maria Feodorovna. Abbess Theophany became famous for her good deeds and tireless service for the benefit of the church.

As the years passed, Novodevichy Convent developed and flourished. In 1917, when the October Revolution took place, about 400 novices lived there. The women's monastery had a developed economy: a livestock farm, a poultry yard, an apiary. The monastery housed renowned workshops where icons and carpets were created. Considerable sums of money from the monastery were allocated for charitable needs — a free hospital, a shelter for orphans, and maintenance of an almshouse.

After the revolution, the events that took place in the Novodevichy Convent largely resembled the fate of other church monasteries. The unbearable burden of worries was assumed by the then Abbess Feofania (Rentel). During the two decades of Soviet rule, most of the monastery buildings, churches and temples were destroyed, the bell tower was demolished, and the sisters were arrested. In 1932, a department store was set up in the cathedral building dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ. In 1935, Abbess Theophania was arrested and sent into exile, and three years later, the last monastery priest, Vladimir Belyaev, was shot.

Work on the restoration of the monastery began in 1996, and the monastery buildings were gradually overhauled, famous icons were transferred to churches, and restoration. The monastery has opened a church school, a children's shelter, and the White Rose Charity Women's Cancer Center. Today, the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent is reviving again and acquiring its former significance.