Sergiev Posad

Sergiev Posad (Russian: Сергиев Посад) is a city in North Moscow Oblast, famous for its Troitse-Sergiev Lavra monastery, the spiritual home of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is often visited as a part of the Golden Ring around Moscow.

Understand

The largest and the most important Russian Orthodox monasteries are called lavras and are subordinated directly to the Patriarch of Moscow. The Troitse-Sergiev Lavra began in 1337 as a church built by St. Sergius of Radonezh, made out of wood, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. St. Sergius was declared patron saint of the Russian state in 1422. The same year, the first stone cathedral was built by a team of Serbian monks who had found refuge in the monastery after the Battle of Kosovo. The relics of St. Sergius still may be seen in this cathedral.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Lavra continued expanding into new monastery buildings, living areas, and stone walls, which withheld a Polish siege of 1608-1610. In the 18th century, the wooden buildings were mostly reconstructed in stone.

The Lavra was closed in 1919 after the Russian Revolution, like all other places of worship in the USSR. It reopened in 1941 during World War II, continuing to serve as the religious center of Russia and residence of its Patriarch. In 1945, following Stalin's temporary tolerance of the church, the Lavra was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. On April 16, 1946 divine service was renewed at the Assumption Cathedral. The lavra continued as the seat of the Moscow Patriarchate until 1983, when the patriarch was allowed to settle at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow.

Get in

The gates of Troitse-Sergiyev Lavra

By rail

Trains leave every 30 minutes between Sergiev Posad and Moscow's Yaroslavsky train station, at Komsomolskaya metro station (red line). A ticket to Sergiev Posad costs 164 руб (1.5 h, prices in 2017) and 210-260 руб on express (5-6 times a day, 1 h). It is an easy day trip from Moscow.

By bus

Bus 388 is available at VDNKh (VVTs) for 200 (160 with "Strelka", a universal travelcard) rubles every 15 minutes. However, be aware of jams, about from MKAD to Pushkino, almost always in rather extended rush hours.

By car

To get to the town by car, take Yaroslavskoe highway from Rizhski Vokzal (Rizhski train station) or VVTs (VDNKh) - it takes approximately 2 hours to get to Posad: distance is 70 km (40 miles), however see above about jams. Construction of new intersection between Korolyov and Mytishchi simplified things with the jam a little, but parts of M8 highway before and after intersection are still crowded because of bottlenecks closer to MKAD and in Klyaz'ma village.

Get around

The main tourist spot is the monastery. It can be seen from station and can be reached by foot in about 10 minutes.

See

The reason why one should see the city is the world heritage listed combination of fortress and monastery. The 1 Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is one of the most beautiful monasteries in Russia, and one of the principal spiritual centers of the Russian Orthodox Church; its main seminary is housed in the buildings of this complex. There are several churches to see, a holy source and in general the whole complex with its massive walls and gates is very picturesque. There are no admission price to pay except for the museum, which shows old religious objects and woven pictures of saints. At the weekend the monastery can get very crowded, as it hosts some very important icons (at least copies of them). In return it can be very interesting to observe the believers kissing the icons and praying for hours.

In the monastery's grounds are buried controversial tsar Boris Godunov, who reigned 1598-1605 and is the theme and title of Pushkin's play and Mussorgsky's opera, and some of his family members.

Buy

In the shops "House of Books" and "Read the city"

Eat

• 1 Rusky Dvorik (Русский дворик, Russian courtier) (in front of the entry of the monastery). quite good, but also expensive taking into consideration the general price levels in the Russian provinces. (updated Aug 2018)

Inside the monastery, entering through the main gate and going to the left, there is a really good bakery-pastry, with local products that seem to be very popular among Russian visitors.

Go next

• Moscow — about 2 h by train or 2-3 by bus 388, which arrives to VVTs (VDNKh) for around 145 руб, as of 12 June 2011.
• Pushkino — 1 h by train or bus (halfway to Moscow)
• Mytishchi and Korolyov — 1.5 h (between Pushkino and Moscow)
• Alexandrov is further 50 min by elektrichka and 40 min by express trains (about 5 a day).
• Torbeevo Lake - a picturesque recreation place on crossing M8 with A108 (second betonka) not far from the town. Not much in sense of infrastructure there, and there may be a lot of people in a good day, including those passing by the highway, but the views may be nice. Took local buses in direction to Bereznyaki (№№ 28,81,120, 15 minutes walk from Bereznyaki, or if you're lucky - even closer from the next stop).
• Pereslavl Zalessky can be reached by bus (about 10 a day, some of them running rather late at night. Most of them are bound further to Yaroslavl, Kostroma or Rybinsk or by hitchhike - for hitchhike start either with local buses №26 to Krasnozavodsk up to the turn from the highway, every 10-15 min, or to Torbeevo lake, than to M8, or by train to Buzhaninovo station.
• A pearl in the "Savelovskii ends of the earth", Kalyazin is also reachable by bus in 2.5 h, 4 times a day, you can also try buses going to Uglich, also 3-4 a day, but you'll have to walk about 3 km, as buses pass town. Also easily hitchhikable, just get out of town or in the direction of Remmash (bus 42 or 49 to the Iudino stop).