May 19 – Moscow, Russia. Today we are headed out to Sergiyev Posad one of Russia's 8 original Golden Ring Cities. I guess a little should be said about the Golden Ring. I'd never heard of it before I started reading up on Russia and maybe you haven't either.
The Golden Ring is a group of cities north of Moscow. They constituted an area of the country that used to be Zalesye. These towns had a large part in the formation and development of the Russian Orthodox Church. They are also reminders of some of the most significant events in Russian history. They preserve buildings of Russian architecture from the 12-18th centuries. They are living museums. The monasteries and churches as well as their kremlins (fortresses) are showcases for the life and times of that period.
Sergiyev Posad is just outside Moscow and would be about a 45-minute drive if the highway was empty. It took us an hour and a half to get there. The major attraction there is the Trinity Monastery founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 1345. Ouch, another saint I've never heard of before. It's sort of the Russian Orthodox version of The Vatican. The town developed around the monastery. Of course the Communists changed the name to Zagorsk in honor of one of their revolutionary comrades. It was changed back to Sergiyev Posad in 1991.
This monastery is one of Russia's holiest sites and draws pilgrims from around the country and the world. It has a wonderful a capella choir tradition as that is the main mode of singing in Russian Orthodox services. Almost any small church service here will include a choir with absolutely brilliant harmonies. We were lucky enough to hear two. Just wonderful. It is still an active monastery, or should I say reactivated. It became important in 1380 when St. Sergius' prayers were believed to be instrumental in one of Russia's most critical battles when they drove off the Mongol Tatars in 1380. For hundreds of years Tsars and regular Russians make a pilgrimage, mostly on foot, walking for long periods of time to give thanks for that victory and honor St. Sergius at the monastery he founded. In fact the site was so important to the people of Russia that Stalin didn't dare burn it although he did send the monks to Siberia. He allowed it to open again after WWII ended but the Church was so controlled by the Communists at that point that it was never a source of any problems.
Sergiyev Posad also claims to be the birthplace of the ubiquitous matryoshka dolls, those very pretty nesting dolls that have absolutely no practical use. It is now they believed that the first nesting toy was brought back from Japan, but everyone admits that the Russians perfected and popularized the art form.
The remains of St. Sergius are interred in the Cathedral of the monastery. It is also home to some very famous icons done by the most famous icon artist in Russian history, the Old Testament Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev. Unfortunately the Trinity Cathedral only has a copy, albeit a very good one. The original is in an art gallery in Moscow, the Tretyakov. Also buried on the monastery grounds in a prominent but simple tomb is Boris Godunov. He ruled from 1598 to 1605 and at his death the nation plunged into a period known as the Time of Troubles, 10 years of war as various factions plotted to take control of the throne. He was the last of his line of Tsars (or Czars if you like), the Rurik Dynasty although the mess that followed makes it difficult to be dogmatic about that. Some say Vasili IV was the last in 1612 although conditions during the Time of Troubles make it difficult to support that claim. Oddly enough, many of Boris' enemies are in much finer tombs inside the cathedral and he's the only Tsar not buried in either Moscow or Saint Petersburg.
There's another cathedral in the monastery, the Cathedral of the Assumption. It was built in the 1500s as were the current monastery walls. Just inside the main entry way, The Beautiful Tower is an interesting structure is the Gateway Church of St. John the Baptist c1693. It's actually a gate through the wall but it has frescos on the walls and ceiling so its
The most interesting structure on the grounds for me is the Chapel Over the Well. A spring was discovered here in 1644 and pilgrims have been coming to collect water from this well ever since. For that purpose they have built a fountain with a fancy cupola about 30 feet from the chapel. The chapel itself is a wild arrangement of pillars, arches and tympanums deeply carved with flowers, vines and geometric shapes. These are all white. The flat parts of the façade are painted a dusty rose color and all this is set off my blue arabesques. It almost looks like a cake, nearly too festive to be a chapel. I love it.
Much later Peter the Great of the Romanov Dynasty (Russia's only has two dynasty of Tsars), hid out here when the royal guards were looking for him and when the Regent Sofia was plotting to keep him from the throne. In gratitude he later endowed the monastery with lavish funding and when his daughter Elizabeth became empress she gave it the title of Lavra, the highest religious rand a Russian Orthodox monastery can hold.
Unfortunately, the Church of the Holy Ghost is behind scaffolding so the structure, as well as the bell tower (which also served as a watchtower) built by Ivan the Great can't be seen.
On the way out of the grounds I spotted the bright yellow and blue tank trailer of a kvass seller. I'd heard about this summer beverage on travel shows and wanted to try some. It's a brewed beverage made from brown bread, yeast and water. It's very mild with low alcohol content and children are allowed to drink it. It's supposed to be very cooling on hot days. It's distributed in small tank trailers that are hooked together in short trains behind a small truck and delivered to various spots around a town. Two were parked just inside the main gate of the monastery. The girl manning the tap sold me a small glass for 10 Rubles about 3 cents. It looks a lot like very dark apple cider and it does have a very refreshing taste that's a lot like lemonade but not as tart. It's mildly sweet which probably accounts for the low alcohol content, most of the sugar was not eaten by the yeast. Most of the customers were getting 1 and two liter bottles filled and some were buying large glasses. Only the tourists were getting the small ones.
I've been told that the largest kvass manufacturer started an anti-Coke campaign based on patriotic themes to revive the sagging sales of kvass after the introduction of coke. A kvass revival has taken place and kvass sales doubled in just two years. In response, Coke has started marketing its own kvass so we'll have to see how all that works out.
After that it was back to the bus and the trip back into Moscow. This time the 50 mile trip took almost 2.5 hours. Sunday night all the comrades are driving back into town from their dachas in the countryside. Sort of like the jam on Sunday night driving down from Big Bear.
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