Authors

Zarochintseva Olga V.
THE PLACE OF A MONASTERY IN THE FABRIC OF A MODERN CITY. THE St. TRINITY LAVRA OF ST. SERGIUS

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №3 (43) September, 2013

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is the spiritual centre of Russia. The monastery is located in the downtown and is its main high-rise dominant and a visual reference point. The monastery is also a public center –the road to the monastery turns in to a marketplace of local souvenirs every day. Since the late 1990s the government has been returning its pre-revolutionary possessions to Russian Orthodox Church, and the material resources of the monastery have been growing. As the buildings of the church are returned and restored, so are their pre-revolutionary functions, but in modern reinterpretations. The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius conducts a lot of social work in the city (military, prison, hospital services), and is actively involved in charitable (material and moral support to vulnerable groups of the population, help with social adaptation) and educational activities (Moscow Theological Academy, an orthodox school, Sunday schools, a spiritual and educational centre, a printing house, a film studio). Being an historically and culturally significant location in the country and an orthodox centre, the Monastery annually attracts a huge number of pilgrims and tourists, thus promoting the development of the city’s hospitality infrastructure and attracting investments. The Monastery is producing an impact on the city and its cultural, spiritual, social and material environment.

Zarochintseva Olga V.
THE EFFECT OF THE HOLY TRINITY-St.SERGIUS LAVRA ON THE SHAPING OF SERGIEV POSAD CITYSCAPE

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №1 (41) March, 2013

The purpose of this study is to review the growth of the city around the monastery and the changing role of the monastery over time, and to define its place in today’s city context. The author has examined the social, cultural and material context of the city, analysed the maps and identified the place of the monastery in the city fabric, as well as the role of the monastery in today’s city context. Sergiev Posad is a symbol city, a symbol of Orthodox Faith. It originated and developed around the Holy Trinity monastery (Lavra since 1744), and the connection between the city and the monastery has always been was very strong. A review of literary and graphic materials on the monastery and city plans has shown that to Holy Trinity-St.Sergius Lavra influenced the city plan since the origin of a settlement around it throughout the entire history. The monastery has always been a spiritual centre (attracting a lot of pilgrims), a centre of culture and education (for centuries, Lavra has been collecting a unique library and accommodated the Moscow Spiritual Academy since the early 19th century; the monastery gave origin to local handicrafts and ran a school of crafts). Also, the monastery had a strong impact on the physical environment of the settlement (it was only the monastery that erected stone buildings in the city till the second half of the 19th century). During the Soviet period, spiritual life in Sergiev Posad was stopped, with the monastery nationalised and closed down. Today, after the reopening of the monastery in 1991, it is justly considered to be the principal spiritual and educational centre of Russia (still accommodating the Spiritual Academy, running a library, a printing house, and conducting missionary work among visually and hearing impaired children; the monastery assisted in setting up an orthodox grammar school in Sergiev Posad). Today Sergiev Posad is positioned as a centre of tourism and religious pilgrimage.