The iconostasis of the cathedral is unique. Its fourty-two icons are painted by Rublev and artists of his circle. Remarkably harmonious, the iconostasis is perceived as a powerful pictorial symphony, in which works of different epochs and styles blend like sounds in the orchestra.

It was for the Trinity Cathedral that Rublev created his icon "The Trinity" — one of the masterpieces of Old Russian art (from 1929 the icon has been preserved in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery).¹

There are some other icons in the Trinity cathedral iconostasis that the researchers V.N. Lazarev, M. A. Ilyin, and N.A.Demina ascribe to Andrei Rublev.⁶ Among them are "Apostle Pavel", "Archangel Gavriil" from the deisis row, "The Christening", "The Transfiguration", and "The Wives — Peacc-bringers" from the festive row.

Apostle Pavel is shown in the moment of his passionate deisis (in Greek — praying); he is painted energetic and strong. The icon is remarkably rich in colour. Dark green, cherry, brown and grey — these are the main tones chosen by the painter to achieve the harmony of colour.

The theme of the victory of life over death sounds in the icon "The Wives — Peace-bringers".

The "Tsar Gates" were also intended for Rublev's iconostasis. Now they arc exhibited in the museum. Two upper figured stamps of the gates show the scene of Annunciation, and four lower rectangular stamps — St. John and St. Luke (on the left leaf) and St. Matthew and St. Mark (on the right leaf).⁷

There was a tradition to decorate icons with silver and golden frames. Most of the icons were gifts to the monastery. Great Moscow princes, Russian tsars, the high clergy, — everybody who wanted to enlist the support of this powerful church feudal or in memory of certain events in his life donated icons, gold and silverware, precious pieces of needlework, land and money to the monastery treasury.

Among the two golden frames for Andrei Rublev's icon "The Trinity", now possessed by the museum, one was donated to the monastery by tsar Ivan the Terrible. Only golden crowns and the tsatas (the crescents) remain from this outstanding sample of Old Russian applied art. Both frames by the Armory artists are made skillfully and in good taste. It is a refined combination of enameled filgree, chasing, precious stones and pearls.

Parts of the second frame for "The Trinity" icon — halos, pendents, panagias — were in the 16th-18th centuries donated to the monastery by Boris Godunov, his son Fyodor and tsar Mikhail Romanov. In the 17th century the monastery authorities ordered for a silver chased frame with a thick layer of gold.

The unknown Russian artists created yet another remarkable piece of the applied art (early 17th century) — almost one and a half metres high intricately carved impressive-looking candle-stick — a gift of Boris Godunov. Made in the traditional Russian style, it lighted up the part with "The Trinity" icon in the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral.

Since times immemorial churches used to decorate the first row icons with embroidered shrouds. Marvellous shrouds made by orders of Sophia Paleolog (1449), Solomoniya Saburova (1525) and the Godunovs (1599) were used as a decoration for Andrei Rublev's "The Trinity" — the most revered icon of the Trinity Cathedral.

The place near the Trinity Cathedral was always considered to be the place of honor in the monastery necropolis. The Old Rus nobility and clergymen were buried here for big money or other contributions. Father-Superior Nicon, the successor of Sergius of Radonezh was buried near the Southern wall of the Trinity Cathedral. Later, in 1548, one-apsidal cathedral without pillars was erected above the tomb with his remains. Nicon's chapel is known for its rich and diverse wall decorations.

The chapel adjoins the Trinity Cathedral, thus forming a single architectural complex. These two edifices putting together stressed that ties between The Teacher and The Disciple were so strong that even death could not separate them.

The Cathedral and the chapel were many times rebuilt. However, after the Revolution by effort of Soviet restorers they regained their original look.

For several decades the Trinity Cathedral was the only stone construction of the monastery, because the large-scale stone construction stopped in the period of feudal wars.

Only in 1469 V.D. Yermolin, a famous 15th century architect, built a refectory at the place now occupied by the bell-tower. Later the refectory served a prototype of the Faceted Hall of Moscow Kremlin and a few other refectories of the 16th century in the Central and Northern Russia.

The refectory and the kitchen, built by Yermolin. have not lasted out to our days. The only remaining item is a small bas-relief with the picture of the Mother of God, Hodegetria, which previously decorated the Western wall of the kitchen and now is in the museum layout.⁸

As early as in the 15th century the Trinity Monastery, one of the most important cultural centers of Rus, became a workplace for many artists: Andrei Rublev, Daniil Chorny, Vasili Yermolin, writers Yepifani Premoodry and Pakhomi Logofet, and monk Ambrosius. one of the best jewelers and engravers of his time.

Works of Ambrosius are stylistically close to the sculptures of his outstanding contemporary Vasili Yermolin. There remains only one work signed by Ambrosius — the icon-triptych dated back to 1456 and created for the Father-Superior Vassian Rylo. But there are some other pieces usually ascribed to him⁹: the altar cross, the wooden carved panagia, the breastplate cross, the reliquary, decorated with filgree and engraving.

It is quite possible that Ambrosius was the founder of the local school for engravers and jewellers, whose numerous works are exhibited in the museum. We do not know the names of those artists; the only name that came to us through the centuries is that of Ambrosius.

Another interesting 15th century monument is the Church of the Holy Ghost, constructed by a team of Pskov builders.

The very form of the building with a belfry on top goes back to a rare Moscow type known as church cum belfry — a harmonious combination of a temple and a bell tower. Architects, however, managed to add to its "Moscow" look some features of the Pskov architectural tradition which lent the temple still greater symmetry: it seems almost weightless. In the Pskov style the belfry is separated from the church. It is usually a flat wall with bells hanging in its spans. But the Church of the Holy Ghost is built differently. An open arched belfry with low round columns and bells between them sits aside the dome. The church — then the highest building in the town — could thus also serve as a watch tower.

The 16th century marked a new stage in the development of the Trinity Monastery. It was then that it began to turn into a fortress and form part of the Moscow defense system in the North. Stone walls and towers replaced the former wooden ones (1540-1550), and the monastery grounds expanded. It was necessary for the ensemble to have a new compositional centre to unify all the monastery buildings and the Assumption cathedral became such a centre. The building of the Cathedral was begun as early as in the reign of Ivan the Terrible and was not completed until the time of his son, Fyodor.

Thick walls of this grand, somewhat ponderous edifice protected the monastery from enemy raids many a time. Unlike its prototype, the Assumption Cathedral at the Moscow Kremlin, which is coated with white stone, the

Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity Monastery is made of brick only.

Cathedral's interior is marked by harmony and inner logic. Even the heavily gilded iconostasis which is a century younger than the Cathedral looks as if it belonged there from the very beginning.

Multistage, decorated with tracery carving, the iconostasis in one of the most interesting samples of the Russian workmanship. The best icons of the iconostasis are: "Trinity with Genesis", "The Dormition of the Mother of God", "St.Sofia, the Wisdom of God", "The Annunciation" and "The Appraisal to the Mother of God" by Moscow artists (late 14th- early 17th centuries). Unfortunately part of the painting had to be redone in the 19th century.

The decoration of the Royal Gates of the iconostasis is generally attributed to Symon Ushakov, tsar's icon painter, one of the best icon painters and engravers in the Armory. For the upper part of the Gates he painted "The Last Supper" icon which is now on view in the museum (the Cathedral has its modern replica). One of the old Russian painting masterpieces, the icon was Ushakov's swan song — he died a year later.

The icon attracts with its rich dark red an green colors; Ushakov's intention to reproduce perspective and proportions is felt in the details of the interior: the jug, the tub and the chalice look real and almost three-dimensional. But what is noteworthy about Ushakov, whose creative work marks the borderline between the Old Russian painting and the new realistic picture of the 18th century, is his interest to Man, which has manifested itself in "The Last Supper" icon.

The Iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral is closely connected with its murals and vault frescos made in 1684 by icon painters of Zagorsk and Yaroslavl. Almost all murals and frescos have lasted out up to now. Simple but sincere and festive they are among the major decorations of Cathedral's interior.

The main Western entrance of the temple is framed by the 18th century portal. To the left is the burial-vault of Boris Godunov and his family — the only royal burial in the monastery.

After the siege, the early 17th century, the monastery gains an ever growing respect with rich donations flowing there like a river of gold — treasures of art, lands and big sums of money.

Alexander Bulatnikov, the cellarer of the monastery in 1622-41, is remembered for the masterpieces of the Russian applied art made by his orders: a big (over 50 cm in diameter) cup for the blessing of water and panagia (pectoral image), a precious, intricately engraved jewelry piece inlaid with diamonds. The form of the cup is traditional for Russia but two massive lion heads with rings in their jaws is an obvious influence of West-European style. The cup, though big, is perfectly proportioned. On its outer brim and semi-circled scenes in the margins one can sec a beautifully engraved name of the donator.

In the time of the cellarer Bulatnikov quite a few buildings were added to the ensemble. Among them — the monastery hospital with the hipped-roof church of SS. Zosima and Savvaty, constructed the early 17th century tradition to moderate the contrast between the church and secular styles. Although the church dominates here it is no more than an element of a secular complex.

Precursor's building for cells by the Holy Gates (the early 17th century) is a regular edifice with small windows and pilasters on its facade and a row of seperate rooms — cells — inside.

Other buildings for cells — Varvarinsky, Kaznacheisky, Economovsky, Uspensky and Inspektorsky — were constructed at the same time. Later on they were sufficiently rebuilt. Only Precursor's building has in 1960 been restored to the original look.

In the middle and the second half of the 17th century the monastery carried out a particularly large-scale construction. Big money made it possible to start repairs. The walls of the fortress, damaged during the seigc were restored, their raised by the third tier. Six towers — Krasnaya, Sushilnaya, Zvonkovaya, Kalichya, Pivnaya and Lukovaya — were considerably rebuilt; new powerful octahedrons of Pyatnitskaya, Utochya, Plotnichya and Vodianaya towers and the rectangular Kelarskaya tower were erected at the angles of the fortress.

The Utochya Tower with its tracery top and a white stone duck on the spier is the most beautiful among the towers. The legend says this was the place from where Peter the Great used to shoot ducks in the neighbouring White Pond.

The Kalichya Tower at the entrance, rebuilt in 1759-78, is also of some architectural interest. Its hipped-roof is covered with glazed tiles and the high chetverik is decorated with orders.

The most significant buildings of the late 17th century were the Refectory with the church of St. Sergius (1686-1692) and Tsar's Chambers build according to the Moscow barocco style.

Standing on the high basement and surrounded by an open gallery, the Refectory is made of brick and is decorated with the frieze of shells and white stone columns, vines winding around them.

The sculptural composition of the building corresponds to the multi-colored check painting of the walls. The Refestory has a big dining hall inside ceiled by the vault without intermediate bearings — one of the first examples of such a ceiling in Russian architecture.

Stucco molding on the vaults and the walls of the hall and the Church of St. Sergius shows an outstanding skill of the engravers. The door to the church is framed with a portal and entrances to the lobby and sacristy are decorated with carved columns.

The iconostasis of the temple has not lasted out to our days and in 1949 was replaced by another one from the Church of St. Nikolas the Big Cross, built in 1688. Still the iconostasis is not discordant to the graphic and plastic system of the interior and looks as if it belonged in the Church of St. Sergius right from the start.

According to the architects plan, the Refectory and Tsar's Chambers were to complete the architectural composition of the main square from the North and from the South as they correspond to each other in size and decoration. Like the Refectory, the Chambers are the two-storied building of brick with white stone carving and barocco wall painting. Multi-colored enamel tiles on the window lintels blend into a congruous whole with their bright, eye-catching painting, and add to the fancy look of the building.

Two enfilades of chambers in the Palace are ceiled with vaults and decorated with stucco moldings (mid-18th century). The former dining room and the bedroom of Empress Elizabeth have the best ceiling decoration in the palace. In the dining room you can see the Victory with two carved medallions in her hand — half-length portraits of Peter the Great and his wife Catherine. The Goddess is surrounded by 32 smaller medallions with scenes of Peter's battles. The composition was designed by N.S. Kamensky, carving on gypsum and alabaster done by Mikhail Zimin in 1748.

In the bedroom the flat mirror of the ceiling is surrounded by ten big oval panels with cupids amidst the trees, picturesque buildings and explanatory inscriptions beneath.¹⁰

The 18th century stoves coated with fancy tiles arcamong the most beautiful items of the interior. The stove in the dining room has a complicated shape with many colonettes, ledges and niches, and is decorated by multi-coloured tiles with vegetable ornament.

The other stove lacks architectural excesses but each of its tiles shows a historical scene or an allegory painted blue on white. Some scholars think such tiles could be made in the monastery itself.

The interior of the Church of St. John the Precursor Over the Gates is also decorated with a tiled stove. Built on the money of an influential merchant family, the Stroganovs, the church has all the features of the so-called "Stroganov" style.

The architectural theme of the Refectory, Tsar's Chambers and the church over the gates is developed by a small chapel over the well. This lavishly decorated, perfectly proportioned building has a rectangular basement with three octahedrons tapering to the top crowned by the dome with the cross. Against the white background of thick, high walls of the Assumption Cathedral the chapel looks a carved ingenious toy.

This trick — placing a large building near a small one — was later on twice used by the architects: in 1734 when the Mikheycvskaya Church, as tiny as the chapel over the well, was erected near the massive Refectory, and in 1790s, when a small church of the Mother of God Hodcgetria appeared next to the majestic bell-tower.

Although the Mikheycvskaya church is rather plain it looks nice near the imposing edifice of the Refectory, while the church of the Mother of God Hodegetria stresses the dominant, unifying the role of the multi-tiered bell-tower — the centre of the ensemble and its highest building.

The foundation of the bell-tower was laid in 1740 but the construction was finished as late as in 1770. It was designed by I. Shumakher, the royal architect.

There was nothing new in Shumakher's project — he suggested to construct the bell-tower according to the traditions of his time. The credit for the choice of the right place for it should be given to T. F. Mitchurin, the architect in charge of the construction. He suggested to move the bell-tower northwards from the axis of the Assumption Cathedral, and the tower thus became a real centre of the ensemble.

Construction of the bell-tower was finished by the gifted Russian architect D. V. Ukhtomsky. It was he who suggested to add two more tiers to the thrcc-ticrcd bell-tower. They were built in less than there years, although it took fifteen years to decorate the bell-tower with flowerpots, white stone bas-reliefs, corbels and columns with intricate capitals. The gilded crown-like top was also designed by Ukhtomsky.

The Church of the Mother of God Hodegetria, also attributed to Ukhtomsky, was erected near the bell-tower — opposite the Monastery Hospital — in 1745-48. The church is designed as an octahedron with curvilinear facets. Its brick stuccoed walls with semicircular pediments and two rows of windows are decorated with flat doubled pilasters placed on a white stone pedestal. A small drum a pear-shaped barocco top crowns a high octahedron dome.

Four porches with two-way stairs add to the symmetry of the building. The inside of the church is harmoniously organized and full of light. The altar is separated from the rest of the temple by the wooden carved iconostasis which in 1956 replaced the original one.

The fire of 1746 burnt off many monastery buildings which were later on restored according to a special plan, while others, like Tsar's Chambers or Governor-General's Rooms, were rebuilt and decorated anew.

Decoration works in the Metropolitan Chambers were also finished about this time. Among the rooms of the upper floor (the building is three-storied from the South and two-storied from the North) special attention should be given to the vaulted reception hall usually called Tsar's Chamber. Its walls are ornamented with murals and stucco molding. On the ceiling you can see portraits of Peter the Great and his wife Catherine. A fancy-looking stove in the left corner coated with multi-colored tiles harmonizes with other elements of the interior in color and shape.

The Monastery Sacristy — the two-storied brick edifice constructed in the austere style of early — was built in 1782 next to the Metropolitan Chambers by Moscow architect I. Yakovlcv.

One of the richest in Russia the Treasury of the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery possessed the best samples of the Old Russian applied art and icon painting, some of them made by local artists. Four rooms on the second floor housed this unique collection which after the Revolution helped to set up the museum.

Now the building of the former monastery sacristy houses the department of Old Russian applied art (the 14th-17th centuries) which has opened its new layout in 1974.

You can see there masterpieces of the right-side and ornamental embroidery, gold and silver work, plastic art. As the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery is very near to Moscow and the higher clergy in the monastery were always close to royal families, visitors of the Zagorsk Museum can learn there about the rise of Moscow style in art.

The still existing monastic documents — catalogues, books on donators and donations, Synodicons — provide invaluable data for a comprehensive historical study: they tell us how these pieces of art were made and used.

The Sacristy collection of icons (the 14th-17th centuries) has since 1969 been exhibited in the former Kaznachesysky building for cells. Part of the icons are gifts. Some of them were old family relics of princes, and boyars, clans brought to the monastery on the coffins of the deceased, others were donated in order to preserve the most precious icons for descendants or in memory of an important event in the life of a family.

Sometimes the monastery specially ordered a famous artist for an icon, in other cases were made by monastery icon painters. The documents started mentioning them as early as in the 15th century.

After the Revolution the collection of icons was replenished by the works bought by the museum or found by its workers in their expeditions, like the icon "Saint Martyress Barbara" (1470s), brought from the town of Volokolamsk.

First and foremost, the museum workers searched pieces of art in the villages around Zagorsk, whose life has been directly linked with the history of the monastery. Thus in 1959 they found a 17th century icon "St. Aleksius, the Man of God", and in 1961 brought quite a few 16th and 17th centuries icons from the village of Novaya Shurma.

The collection of the 18th- early 20th centuries works of the Russian art also began with the monastery possessions: paintings and drawings, samples of gold and silver work, china, pottery, glass and crystal items, pearl embroidery, fabrics and furniture.

The museum takes pride in works of Zubov brothers, famous 18th century engravers, miniatures of Gavrila Skorodomov, watcrcolours by Italian painter F. Camporezi and portraits of I. Nikitin and A. Antropov by unknown artists.

The collection of decorative applied art is no less impressive. The barocco style prevailing at the time is felt in pearl embroidery fo sticharion and phelonion and in many gold and silver items: a chased soup bowl by Moscow craftsman P. Vorobey (1765), a large tabernacle decorated with filigree, enamels and gems and a silver salt-cellar with niello heraldic symbols of the Russian Empire.

A noteworthy piece of the 18th century applied art is the frame of the Gospel with intricately engraved heraldic symbols and picturesque enamels by an unknown artist.

Some collections of the museum has been started as late as in the 20th century. Such are departnents of Russian folk art of the 20th century. Such are departnents of Russian folk art of the 17th - early 20th centuries and Soviet decorative applied art, whose opening was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Revolution.

The collection of Russian folk art comprises works of nonprofessional craftsmen: wood, pottery and metal items. Russian folk dresses and fabrics.

In the department of wooden sculpture you can see unusual starling-houses of the late 20th century — V.Savinov, their author, a peasant from Ryazan province, made them look like a man and a woman; northern okhlupens — ornamental horses or ducks on a peak of a gable, and a variety of wooden items for everyday use.

A three-leaved mirror of the 17th century decorated with tracery metal plaques and painted mica cover plates is one of the museum's unique possessions.

The collection has every variety of fabrics, embroidery, female festive dresses and headgear ambroided with pearl, mother pearl, beads and gilded threads..

The department of Soviet decorative applied art exhibits works of both professional and non-professional artists of Paiekh, Khokhloma. Zhostovo, Fedoskino, Gorodste, Dulevo, Verbilki, Zlatoust. Semyonovo and other national centers of handicraft industry.

Zagorsk itself used to be a toy-making centre known for its small wooden brightly painted figures of wet-nurses, hussars and ladies. It was also a birthplase of the first Russian architectural toy "The Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery" (late 19th century).

Zagorsk was famous for its toys of papier-mâché popular in the 19th century. To make such a toy craftsmen first prepared a carved wooden pig — bolvashka. You can sec some of them in the museum, for example the late 19th century bolvashka-horse by A. Ryzkov, a forefather of the dynasty of gifted engravers.

Apart from the toy-makers the town was a home for the miniaturists family, the Khrustachevs, painters Mirandins, A. Vishnyakov and O. Favorskaya. artists in lacquered decoration on papier-mâché and metal.

A famous handicraft centre in the neighbouring village of Bogorodskoyc follows the toy-making traditions of Zagorsk. However they do not paint their toys and sculptures but preserve a natural color of the material. Works of Bogorodskoye craftsmen are varied in shape and technique.

The department of artistic industry exhibits china, pottery, glass and crystal items.

The Zagorsk museum with its collections widely known in and outside the country is one of the best museum in the USSR. It has received enthusiastic comments from many outstanding artists, art lovers and art critics in this country and abroad. These comments serve a proof of unabated interest towards the history and cultural heritage which is preserved and advertised by the museum.

NOTES

1. Four among the few manuscript copies of St. Sergius' Life are illustrated. The best one is now in the holdings of V. I.Lenin State Library of the USSR. Decorated with 65 f miniatures it was apparently specially made for the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery, which preserved il in the sacristy for three hundred years.

2. Baldin. V.I. The architectural ensemble of the Trinity- St. Sergius monastery. Moskow, 1976, p. 104. — In Russian.

3. Ibid., p. 105

4. See: P. I. Neradovsky. Restoration of murals in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-St. Sergius monastery. In: Cultural Heri tage. Restoration and Research, Second Issue, Moscow. I960, p.p. 139-70: S.S.Churakow, Andrei Rublev and the Murals of The Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. In: An drei Rublev and His Time, Moscow, 1971, pp. 194-212.—In Rus sian

5. The place of this icon (to the right of the Royal Gates) has since 1929 been occupied by restorer Baranov's copy. Not far from it, in the first row of the iconostasis, one can see two 15th century icons: The Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria and St. Sergius With His Life (Dionisius school); a late 16th century copy of Rublev's The Trinity (the gift of Boris Godunov); Saviour Not Made By Hand (Nerukotvorny) (1974), Saviour on the Throne (1684) by Simon Ushakov, and others. Above the grave of St. Sergius of Radonczh there had once hanged a small 14th century icon of St. Nicolas, which, as the legend says. St. Sergius had kept in his cell. (Now it is in the Zagorsk museum).

6. See V.N.Lazarcv. Painting and Sculpture in Old Russia. — The Rise of Russian Art. Moscow, 1955; Andrei Rublev and His School. Moscow, 1966: — In Russian; Andrei Rublev and His Time. A collection of articles. Moscow, 1971. — In Russian; M. A. Ilyin. Zagorsk. Leningrad, 1971. — In Russian.

7. They were replaced by the Royal Gates of the 17th century.

8. Hidden beneath the precious 18th century frame ordered by earl Sheretnetiev, the monument was re-discovered by Yu. A. Olsufiev as late as in the early 1920s.

See Yu. A. Olsufiev. The Second Allegedly Authetic Monument Ascribed to Vassily Yermolin, the 15th century Russian Sculptor and Architect. — Yu. A. Olsufiev: Three reports on the Study of Monuments in the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. A collection of articles. Sergiev, 1927; See also: G.K.Vagner. From symbol to Reality. The Rise of Plastic Image in Russian Art of the 14th—16th centuries. Moscow, 1980, pp. 236-48.

9. See V. A.Nikolsky, A Russian Jeweller of the 15th century. -- Amidst the collectors, 1922, No. 4, p. 16-20: P. A.FIorensky, Yu. A. Olsufiev. Ambrosius, the Monastery En graver of the 15th Century. Sergiev, 1927, p.58 (ill.); T. V. Nikolayeva, The Monastery Engraver Ambrosius and His School. — In the catalogue: Small Sculpture of the 13th-17th Cen turies in the Collection of the Zagorsk Museum, Zagorsk, 1960, p. 59-76.

10. Stucco moldings designed by N. Kamensky still decorate plafonds, window embrasures and lower parts of the walls in some chambers of the second floor.