Sergiyev Posad is the monastery town, it is impossible to come here and not to visit the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. Lavra is the largest active Orthodox monastery in Russia, being until 1980 a residence of patriarch. It was founded in 1345 as Trinity monastery by the son of Rostov boyar-nobleman, Bartholomew, who took monastic vows, taking the name Sergius. The monastery soon became the spiritual center of the Russian State. This was a difficult period in Russian history. Russia was under the Tatar-Mongol rule and Moscow princes were uniting the people to fight for independence. Sergius had great authority and supported consolidation of Russia, pronouncing anathema against the princes who opposed unification under the hand of Moscow. His pupils in founded 23 monasteries in North-East Russia. In 1380 Sergius blessed the army of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich before the fight against Tatar-Mongols. The Prince was able to gather under Moscow's banners the troops of all the Russian lands and defeat Khan Mamai's horde at the Battle of Kulikovo. The monastery at Sergiyev Posad was also a fortress, having once withstood a 16-month siege, when Polish forces invaded the territory of Russia and plunged it in a sea of fire and blood. The Fortress of the Trinity Monastery and its defenders, consisting of the peasants of nearby villages, heroically stood against invading armies that outnumbered defenders by ten and even twenty times. If the monastery would have fallen, it would mean the end of Rus. But the armies of the arrogant Polish leader Hetman Sapicha retreated in disgrace from the monastery walls. Russian tsars regularly performed the pilgrimage to sacred places of the Trinity monastery of St. Sergius. In 1742 the monastery received the status of a lavra by the order of Russian empress Catherine. In the end of XIV-beginning of XV centuries, several independent settlements that appeared around monastery, were united into one posad (settlement), that was called Sergiyev. In 1919 Sergiyev Posad received the status of a town. In Soviet times the town was renamed to Zagorsk, but later its original name was returned to it. Since XVI century, Sergiyev Posad is famous for a production of toys. There is an Art and pedagogical toy museum in the town, it has expositions consisting of thousands of toys. It tracks the history of toys and of the children's culture of many countries.
Top sights in Sergiyev Posad
