Lavra (Civ6)

Lavra
District of the Ancient Era
Introduced in Civilization VI
Unique to	Russian
Unique to	Russian
Replaces	Holy Site
Replaces	Holy Site
Unlocked by	Astrology
Plunder	Faith
Cost
Production	27
Production	27
Maint.	1
Maint.	1
Yields
Great Person Points	+2 Great Prophet point per turn. +1 Great Writer point per turn if it has a Shrine. +1 Great Artist point per turn if it has a Temple. +1 Great Musician point per turn if it has a Worship Building.
Adjacency Bonus	+2 Faith from each adjacent natural wonder. +1 Faith from each adjacent Mountain +1 Faith from every 2 adjacent Woods and district tiles.
Citizen Yields (per citizen)	+2 Faith
Trade Yields	Domestic Destination: +1 Food International Destination: +1 Faith
Appeal	1
Unlocks
Buildings	Shrine  Temple
Projects	Holy Site Prayers  Turn Undead

Back to the list of districts

The Lavra is a unique District of the Russian civilization in Civilization VI. It replaces the Holy Site.

• Effects:
  • Lower Production cost (27 vs. 54)
  • +2 Great Prophet points per turn
  • +1 Great Writer point per turn if there is a Shrine in the Lavra
  • +1 Great Artist point per turn if there is a Temple in the Lavra
  • +1 Great Musician point per turn if there is a worship building in the Lavra
  • Expands the city's borders whenever a Great Person is used in the city
  • Major bonus (+2 Faith) for each adjacent Natural Wonder
  • Standard bonus (+1 Faith) for each adjacent Mountain tile
  • Standard bonus (+1 Faith) for each adjacent Pamukkale tile
  • Minor bonus (+½ Faith) for each adjacent District tile and each adjacent Woods tile
  • A religion can be founded in a Lavra
  • Religious units can be purchased in a city with a Lavra, spawning in the Lavra or if that's unavailable in the City Center
  • Religious units heal in a Lavra and in tiles adjacent to it
  • Specialists add +2 Faith each

Buildings

The following buildings can be constructed in a Lavra:

• Shrine
• Temple
• Worship building (requires the appropriate Worship Belief):
  • Cathedral
  • Dar-e Mehr
  • Gurdwara
  • Meeting House
  • Mosque
  • Pagoda
  • Stupa
  • Synagogue
  • Wat

Projects

• Holy Site Prayers: Earns Faith and Great Prophet points equal to 15% of Production used
• Turn Undead (Zombie Defense mode only): Brings all Zombie units in this city under your control for a few turns.

Strategy

The Lavra is a reliably powerful district in every Russia game you will play. Although Hojo Tokimune can build cheap Holy Sites, and Byzantine Holy Sites generate twice as many Great Prophet points, the Lavra combines these two into one, thus ensuring that the Russians will be one of the first civilizations to found a religion every game. Having the first pick of religious beliefs is a powerful advantage which provides flexibility. Seeing Byzantium, Spain or Poland as your neighbor? Pick Crusade. Seeing Gandhi or Arabia and suspecting they may go for a religious victory? Pick Mosque. An extra Great Prophet point also means after your Great Prophet is recruited, each Lavra will generate an extra Faith.

The second main draw of the Lavra is providing a point for a Great Writer, Great Artist, and Great Musician with each Shrine, Temple, and worship building respectively built. This is the same bonus as a base Theater Square. If you have a lot of fully developed Lavras, you may consider building Theater Squares as well to have some Great Work slots to activate your Great People. Your amazing Faith generation will allow you to purchase Naturalists and Rock Bands to easily pivot to a cultural victory.

Lastly, the city's borders expand each time a Great Person is activated there. This gives Russia even more incentives to build Theater Squares and focus on cultural development in its cities, attracting all kinds of artistic geniuses who can expand Russia's borders while edging it ever closer to winning a Culture Victory. This bonus will also apply to tiles outside of the usual 3 tile range from the City Center after they have all been claimed. While the tiles in this expansive territory can't be normally worked, they can still host National Parks, Forts, or Missile Silos, depending on your needs.

Consider grabbing the Dance of the Aurora pantheon to gain a massive Faith boost, particularly combined with the Scripture policy card, and you will be well on the way to a religious victory. In combination with the Work Ethic belief with your religion, and later Simultaneum policy card, you will be swimming in Production and Faith, the two most versatile yields in the game.

Civilopedia entry

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, a lavra (such as found at Mount Athos in Greece or Neamț in Romania) is a cloistered monastery of cells for hermits with a central church and/or rectory. Perhaps the most famous is the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (trust the Russians to name a holy place after a warrior) in St. Petersburg where many eminent but dead Russians are buried – besides Nevsky, there's Euler, Suvarov, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky and others. Believed to have its origins in the early 4th century AD, the first lavra seems to have been a settlement of some 600 hermits around Nitria in the Egyptian desert. In the strict Eremitic tradition, these hermit-monks lived a secluded life devoted to prayer, often accompanied by vows of silence, chastity, meditation and/or fasting. Further proof of the lengths to which some of the faithful will resort to be saved.

Gallery

Lavra in game

Lavra up close

Historic Moment for building the Lavra