🏛 Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery

Звенигород, Ратехинское ш., 8

A 14th-century monastery on Storozhi hill above the Moskva River, founded by a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh; at its centre is the white-stone Nativity Cathedral of the early 15th century.

The monastery was founded in 1398 at the request of Zvenigorod's prince Yuri Dmitrievich.
Under Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich the monastery became a royal country residence: the Tsaritsa's Chambers and a royal palace were built here.
The dining hall of the refectory of 1652–1654 covers about 500 m², more than the Kremlin's Palace of Facets (495 m²).
There is no ceremonial entrance: from the Holy Gates a staircase runs through the undercroft of the Trinity Church, so the cathedral seems to grow out of the ground.
According to legend, in 1812 St Sabbas appeared to Eugène de Beauharnais and ordered him not to touch the monastery, and the French did not plunder it.
The 35-tonne Great Bell, shown on Zvenigorod's coat of arms, was smashed in 1941; in the 21st century a new, equally massive one was hung.
Episodes of Alov and Naumov's “Flight” were filmed here, and Tarkovsky filmed a little house by a pond for “Solaris” nearby.

Part of these routes

Zvenigorod: monastery, Gorodok and the Moskva River