Zvenigorod
Trip to the old Russian city, which once competed with Moscow to be the Russian capital. Here you can see masterpieces of 14 and 15 centuries: Assumption Cathedral and Savva’s Monastery. On the way will be several interesting places - Bolshie Vyazemy, Ubory with beautiful churches and views of Russian countryside.
In the late I4th century prince Yuri Dmitrievich (son of Dmitriy Donskoy) and his ghostly mentor Savva (pupil of St. Sergius) had a monastery erected on mount of the river called Storozh, two miles away from the Zvenigorod city and this famous monastery became to be known as Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery (monastery of St. Savva). Most of buildings, which survived till nowadays, were constructed in the 1650s during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (father of Peter the Great) after this monastery was sacked and pillaged by the Poles at the beginning of 17th century.
Here you can see beautiful view on the magnificent architectural ensemble, which includes several important buildings of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery. On the left, the tallest building in this monastery - the bell-tower. Between the bell-tower and Red Gates you can see the yellow colored building - this is refectory, behind refectory you can see the black dome and white drum of the church of Transfiguration. Construction of the bell-tower and church of Transfiguration in 1650s was donated by Sophia, daughter of the tsar Alexei Michailovich. Right in the middle of this picture, you can see very decorative Krasnye Vorota (Red Gates) and the colorful church of Trinity above it. The Powerful Krasnye Vorota (Red Gates) was the main entrance inside the Savva's monastery before it was reconstructed and thick and tall new walls were added in 17th century to make this monastery unassailable fortress. The building on the right (cropped) - this is Tsarina's Palace.
This monastery was again sacked and pillaged in the invasions of the French in 1812 and the German Army in December 1941.
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