Zvenigorod is a wonderful place for a a day tour from Moscow. As a variant, you can combine it with a visit to Arkhangelskoye, but it would be better to spare for this excursion the entire day, as Zvenigorod itself has many interesting places to visit.
Of course, the main purpose of the excursion to Zvenigorod is a visit to the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. It is believed that the moment the father of Russian Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich was attacked he had the vision of St. Savva who saved him from the certain death.
After that Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich who ruled over Russia in 17 century often came there for pilgrimage and even gave the monastery the status of lavra and built there a palace, which survived to our days. Later the monastery lost this high status but to our days there remained the magnificent architectural complex of church and palace buildings of 17 century.
After a visit to the monastery you should go to the Skit of St. Savva. It is about a kilometer from the monastery. You can`t enter the skit itself, but you can go to the cave of St. Savva, where he prayed leading a secluded life. Near the skit at the river Storozhka is a font above the holy spring.
Coming back from the monastery to the center of Zvenigorod you can turn left on Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill) street, and then turn left again on Gorodok street. By the dirt road winding among the hills you can go to the Gorodok, the place where Zvenigorod was founded in 1152. Unfortunately, since that time there remained only strong 8-meter earth banks, which surrounded the territory of the ancient Zvenigorod. Also, there remained the Assumption cathedral which was built in 1399 and was pained by Andrei Rublev himself.
The rest of the structures of the Gorodok, including the walls and towers, were made of wood, so they didn’t survive to our days. However, it will be very interesting to have a walk on the earth banks overgrown with huge century old pines as well as visit the ancient church. You can see there no paintings of Rublev and all his icons are kept at the Tretyakov Gallery.
Zvenigorod is 60 kilometers from the center of Moscow. You can reach it by the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye highway, but it would be better to go there on the Novorizhskoye highway. Arkhangelskoye estate is in the immediate vicinity of the MRHW along the Novorizhskoye highway, and Zvenigorod is 30 kilometers to the west.
