The city of Sergiev Posad is a two-hour train or bus ride from Moscow. In the Soviet era it was called Zagorsk and it was only in 1991 that its historical name had been returned. The Trinity-Sergiev Monastery is a 10 minute walk from the city's bus terminal.

The monastery is a UNESCO-protected memorial.

The 17th century traveler, Pavel Allepsky, was strongly impressed by the monastery. "It has no match not only in the land of Moskovia but in the whole world," he said.

The Trinity-Sergiev Monastery was founded by Russia's respected Saint Sergii Radonezhsky.

Built in the 15th century amid thick forests, the monastery played a significant role in several key events in Russian history, specifically the war against the Mongol-Tatar invaders and in the reigns of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. The monastery has always had a very high spiritual authority and value. During WWII, it financed the formation of a tank brigade and an aircraft squadron.

Soviet leaders had little mercy on religious sites, but appreciating the monastery's contribution to the great victory, Stalin granted it a privileged status.

History, it seems, is not without its sense of irony. The statues of Sergii Radonezhsky and Lenin are standing on the square in front of the monastery, not very far from each other.

Guided tours around the monastery start at regular intervals from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day. Guides will tell you all about the monastery, its history and its part in the dramatic episodes of Russian history. If desired, you can book a separate tour at an excursion bureau, which costs 240 rubles for a group.

To take photographs in the monastery, you have to pay 10 rubles and video filming is 50 rubles.

The monastery includes a number of cathedrals and churches, a belfry and a refectory.

The oldest edifice is the Trinity Cathedral. Built in 1423, it represents a memorial of Russia's early stone architecture and is one of the first monumental structures built in Russia. Accentuating its monumentality is a slope of its outer walls toward the center. The cathedral's pyramidal form imparts on it a glorious, pointed-to-the-sky look.

Contrasting the cathedral, Church of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, built by architects from Pskov, features elegance and subtlety of forms and proportions.

The Trinity Cathedral and the Church of the Descent of the Holy Ghost made up a core around which other structures of the monastery were built in subsequent centuries.

In mid 16th century, the monastery became an important element in Russia's defense belt. At the order of Ivan the Terrible, the monastery was surrounded by a mighty brick wall with 12 battle towers.

Of interest is the Utich Tower featuring Dutch style of decoration, and the belfry. Although built much later, after the epoch of Peter the Great, the belfry does not stick out from other structures, but harmoniously blends with them. In size, the belfry is second only to that of the Moscow Kremlin. Its construction was completed in 1905 when the chimes were installed.

Therefore, the Trinity-Sergiev Monastery complex reflects the gradual development of Russian architecture styles from the 15th through 19th centuries.

Besides architecture memorials, the monastery boasts a unique collection of icons and church-ware from the 15th to 19th century, including works of such famous artists as Andrei Rublyov, Daniil Chyorny and Simon Ushakov.

Walking around the monastery creates a peculiar feel of being pulled back to the time of Dostoyevsky – monks here and there dressed in black gowns and charming recluses begging and preaching around.

Also there is a bookstore, icon and church-ware shop, crafts shop and currency exchange office, however no ATMs.

The square in front of the monastery's main entrance is filled with vendors selling various trinkets and souvenirs.

Not far from the monastery, there is the ‘Russkiy Dvorik' restaurant where you can dine for some $30 to 40, and the ‘Russkiye Pelmeni' cafe offers good fuel for the body for only $1.

Sergiev Posad is a small town with a population of 100,000. However, there are three hotels – ‘Zagorsk,' ‘Beriozka' and ‘Kovcheg.'

Surprisingly, newsstands in Sergiev Posad do not have postcards with sights of the Trinity-Sergiev Monastery. "Since long ago they have not supplied us anything," newsstand saleswoman complained. With luck, you can buy such postcards inside the monastery.