RUSSIA'S SPIRITUAL HEART

If you prefer to spend your holiday sightseeing rather than swanning on the beach in some fashionable resort or going shopping in the Emirates, then Russia's Golden Ring is an alternative. A trip there will not only save some of your family budget, but also what you see there will give you pleasure. Even if you are  staying with your friends or relatives in Moscow, this 75-minute-long journey from Moscow's Yaroslavl station to the centre of Sergiyev Posad will let you spend a the day splendidly  in a historical place and go back to Moscow in the evening.

Sergiyev Posad is the town on the Golden Ring of historical sights which is most connected with religion. Why? Because this is precisely the location of the Troitse-Sergiyev Lavra, referred to in the Russian Orthodox religion and in the language of the pilgrims as the Svyato-Troitskaya Sergiyeva Lavra [the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of St. Sergiyev]. It is a place eagerly visited by many thousands of pilgrims from all over the world, a place where one can pray to the relics of the Saint, passionately begging him to cure some ailment. It is said that the cure comes very quickly and that wishes made with a pure heart and good intentions come true straight away.

The Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Sergiyev

Russians, Koreans, Yakuts, Czechs and Germans are among the numerous visitors from all over the world. The pray devoutly, addressing their prayers to the Almighty. Monks are scurrying about there. They have their own life and have things to attend to. The endless streams of tourists probably wear them out and disrupt their everyday life to a certain extent, but they quietly put up with that and try to help the ignorant tourists.  Unlike the pilgrims, these tourists are puzzled by the rituals, but still want to light a candle in this holy place. The Lavra is the largest working monastery in Russia, the residence of the patriarch, and certain rules have to be observed on its territory. It is forbidden to enter the monastery in vests or T-shirts, shorts, mini-skirts and skimpy dresses. Women are expected to cover their heads with a scarf. You feel duty bound to behave in compliance with generally accepted norms and rules when you are in the monastery grounds. 

Lavra is a word that has come from Greek and literally means "a street in a town" or a "a monastery where there are many people". This name has been given to some large monasteries, which have a particular historical and spiritual significance.

There are numerous important architectural monuments  in the Lavra's grounds, which it is worth visiting to see both the building and its interior. The refectory with the Church of St. Sergey Radonezhskiy, the burial-vault of the family of Ivan the Terrible and so forth. The Moscow Academy of Theology (1814) and the seminary (1742) are also located in the grounds.

Muscovites, who often go there to walk around the Lavra, bring with them the famous gingerbread biscuits. These are thought to be the best and tastiest souvenir that you can take your friends as a present.

Opposite the burial-vault of Ivan the Terrible's family, there is a church in which local arts and crafts are on display. There is an enormous selection of souvenirs and items for the tourists and pilgrims to buy. Although the flow of people wishing to see the sacred placeand the relics of the saint and worship there keeps on growing, the Lavra is to undergo major repairs carried out by the state.

Long ago the town took its beginnings from the monastery. The fame of Saint Sergey and the monastery founded by him attract monks and devout persons to live there. Gradually  peasants began to settle around the monastery. In 1355, "a hostel regulation" was introduced, which meant that the residential quarters/cloister were rebuilt. The monastery began to look like a small wooden town.

Interesting for Children too

That area enjoys a moderate continental climate, therefore the winter, with the exception of January, is fairly warm and beautiful owing to the snow cover. It is not very hot in summer. July used to be regarded as the rainiest month in summer, but now this cannot be asserted for certain. When you leave the Lavra, you find yourself in the only museum of this type. Ordinary people call it shortly and simply the Toy Museum. 

Both children and adults are bound to have a really good time if they visit this museum. In the museum they not only trace the historical development of toys from ancient times, when it was an object needed for socialising, but toys from other countries and peoples are displayed to teach children about them. Fifty thousand exhibited have brought together in the museum, among them toys and every day items used by the children  of the last emperor's family, Russian and foreign folk and commercially made toys. The exhibition acquaints you with children's culture  in the Orient, in Germany, France, Switzerland and Great Britain.

In the town you can see new buildings, whose facades have been decorated with wood carvings, and they look like the tower-chamber in the kingdom of Berendey (a character in the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" by Ostrovskiy. You won't see any skyscrapers there. But then, you will come across a "toy college". In general, the town boasts many educational institutions providing secondary vocational training and higher education. Among them there is the Sholokhov Humanities University, the Moscow Finance and Law University, and the Russian International Academy of Tourism.

There is even a film and video technical college, where specialists are trained for the film making. In general people really love art here and are glad to recount that the Soviet-period events in the film "Fate of a Resident" about the spy Tulyev take place in their town. The director Alexandrov made the film "Bright Path" with the participation of Lyubov Orlova here too. You will proudly told that the famous Russian writer Mikhail Prishvin, the philosopher and author Rozanov, the well-known actress Alla Tarasova from the MKhAT [Moscow Arts Theatre, the artist Vladimir Favorskiy, he scholar and religious philosopher Pavel Florenskiy and the priest Alexander Men were born in this town.

But not only the Lavra and the Museum are worth of the attention of tourists. There is also the small and secluded Gefsimansko-Chernigovskiy monastery with its unique underground monastery. The cells are located at a depth of six and a half metres and were dug out manually by the monks themselves. Food was brought to them by the monks living in the Bratskiy building above ground.

Well, you can see all this in just one day at Sergiyev Posad. If you want to prolong the pleasure of your stay in that area, you can stay at the hotel. The next day you can visit the village of Radonezh, the Spaso-Vifanskiy and Pokrovskiy Khotkovskiy monasteries. You can get back to Moscow by the evening. And don't forget to buy gingerbread biscuits for your friends, because they are really delicious!

THAT'S INTERESTING 

Sergiyev Posad is situated 70 km from Moscow, and is a link in chain of towns in Russia's Golden Ring; it is a centre of Russian Orthodox Christianity and a place of pilgrimage for orthodox Christians. It has been named after Saint Sergius, the founder of the largest monastery in Rus. The monastery was built on a low hill, which is called Makovets, at the convergence of the rivers Konchura and Vondyuga. It was founded by the brothers Varfolomey and Stefan. Varfolomey who had assumed the name of Sergius when he became a monk, has gone down  in history as the supporter and spiritual mentor of the princes of Muscovy. He called for the Russian lands around Moscow to unite, and this took place in the 1330s and 1340s. He was precisely the one to bless Dmitriy Donskoy before the battle of Kulikovo.  In the Soviet years, moreover, the town was renamed Zagorsk in honour of the revolutionary V. M. Zagorskiy and it only got back its historical name at the beginning of the 1990s.