Zvenigorod

Zvenigorod stands on the Moskva River west of Moscow, its old fortified settlement occupying a steep height above the water. White-stone churches and the monastery on Storozhi Hill recall the time when the town was the seat of its own prince. The river and the western roads made it a useful stronghold on Moscow’s approaches.

Dmitry Donskoy left Zvenigorod to his son Yuri, who made it his residence. Around the turn of the fifteenth century the Dormition Cathedral rose in the fortified town. In 1398 Yuri invited Savva, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, to establish a monastery on Storozhi Hill. Its white-stone Nativity Cathedral was built around 1405, and Savva was buried there in 1407. The churches and their paintings testify to the resources and ambitions of Yuri’s court. Yuri later became one of the principal rivals in the struggle for Moscow’s grand-princely throne. The monastery he had founded survived the dynastic conflict and grew under later rulers. In the seventeenth century Tsar Alexis made it a favoured residence, adding palaces and defensive walls to the monastic buildings. Zvenigorod remained a small town, but its hilltop shrines preserved the memory of its princely past.