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RUSSIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
THROUGH THE CENTURIES

 
 

Cathedral of the Assumption in Zvenigorod
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in the Savvin Storozhevski Monastery

 
 

About fifty miles west of Moscow is the town of Zvenigorod, the ancient capital of Zvenigorod princes. After the death of Dimitri Donskoi this territory went to the youngest of his four sons, Yurii. Here in 1396-1399 on a hill above the river Moskva, which dominates the valley, Yurii built the Cathedral of the Assumption. The entire spot was a outpost fortified by a wall, and the bells of the Cathedral served to warn Moscow of the approach of invaders. Presumably this was the reason that the nearby town was named Zvenigorod - the town of bell ringing.
About a mile from the Cathedral is the Savior in Storozhevski Monastery, founded at the end of the 14th century by Saint Savva, a follower of Saint Sergius, whom Prince Yurii chose as his confessor. The name of the Monastery comes from the founder and the hill, "Strorozha," on which it was built. The Prince helped Saint Savva build his first wooden church, followed in 1405-1407 by the new stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (Rozhdestvo Bogomatery). Both cathedrals are fine examples of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture, with a single cupola that rests on four pillars.
Most probably the same builders constructed them. The fame of the new monastery grew rapidly, primarily because of miracles that were ascribed to its founder. Here also the entire territory of the monastery was fortified by a wall. Several tsars and members of their families visited the Monastery and made large donations. Pious Tsar Alexei was often there, and even built a new stone wall around the Monastery. Around the middle of the 17th century the monastery received its new bell-tower, for which the founder, Alexander Grigoriev, made a thirty-five ton bell, famous for its beautiful tone. Shaliapin went to Zvenigorod to hear it and was delighted.
When the revolution started in 1917, the monks refused to cooperate with the Bolsheviks. The following year the Monastery was first ransacked and pillaged, including the tomb of Saint Savva, made of gold plated silver, then the monks were chased out and finally the cathedral was left to ruin. Both cathedrals were entirely covered with frescoes and until the revolution had five-tiered iconostasis. Presently only a few fragments of the original frescoes remain. When, after the revolution, some artists visited Zvenigorod, they found several beautiful icons not far from the Cathedral under a heap of firewood used to protect them from laying directly on the wet ground. Three icons salvaged from here, the Deisus, Apostle Paul and Archangel Michael, were cleaned and are now in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow. After being examined by Soviet art students, and without any proof that Rublev made a journey to Zvenigorod, the three icons and the fragments of the frescoes were declared to have been painted by the great Russian iconographer sometime between 1408 and 1412. The icons are now called "Rublev's Zvenigorod Chin." The figure of Christ departs slightly from the traditional way artists paint his face, and slightly resembles a Russian man. These icons too are masterfully executed and their color scheme resembles Rublev's.

 
 

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