This pilgrimage is intended as an educational course on the Russian/Byzantine Sacred Art and Architecture and an incredible opportunity for all participants to learn about Russian Orthodoxy by visiting many of the holiest sites and venerating some of the most sacred relics of Faith. The emphasis of our tour is on the Icon, but along our tour we will see a lot of various breathtaking things in both world famous and very secluded locations of rural Russia. Knowledgeable travelers have to understand that it is impossible to cover everything along our way, but even under such circumstances group members will, in addition to a comprehensive study of the Orthodox Spirituality and Sacred Art, get a good idea of the Russian Church and State history. Tour dates: May 24 - June 8, 2008.
Tour Itinerary:
Day 1: Group arrives in Moscow. Dinner, orientation session and transfer to the hotel for o/n.
Day 2: We will start our day with an introductory lecture by Irina Yazikova, professor of iconology at Kolomna Theological Seminary and Lecturer in Sacred Art at St. Philaret Theological University. Then we will continue to the magnificent Moscow Kremlin. While all of the cathedrals are interesting and significant for our exploration, special attention will be devoted to the Dormition Cathedral - important for its age and its role in Russian church and state history. It is also very important as a museum since it houses a very fine collection of the earliest Russian icons. After a short break for lunch we will visit the Red Square with its famous Cathedral of the Protection of the Theotokos, more famously known as St. Basil’s, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, rebuilt just 15 years ago and the Chapel of our Lady of Iveron. So is “Christ the Savior” Cathedral that is marked in all tour books as a “must see” attraction. It is indeed so. But few people know that, along with its mammoth glory, it contains some of the nicest modern icons in its lower church and a fascinating collection of Medieval Byzantine and Russian Icons in one of its galleries.
Day 3: We will start our day with a visit to Novo-Spasskiy Monastery, another significant religious site in Moscow, adorned with an iconostas and frescoes from the 17th century and Andronikov Monastery, home to the second largest (and probably second best) collection of Russian Medieval Art. In the afternoon we will visit Novodevichiy Convent, with its magnificent iconostas and frescoes that are preserved undisturbed from the 17th century. We’ll end our day with a visit to Arbat Street for some book and souvenir shopping. For those who wish, a visit to the church of St. Simeon, one of the most perfectly restored medieval gems of Moscow, may be arranged.
Day 4: After a morning visit to Visoko-Petrovskiy Monastery that serves as a wonderful example of the restoration where various styles of iconography are organically co-exist, we’ll tour the best icon collection in the world in Tretyakov gallery. We plan to spend several hours here. Later in the afternoon we will transfer some three hours east of Moscow to explore the city of Vladimir.
Day 5: This morning, we will explore the Medieval Russian Capital of Vladimir. Here, our plans are to visit Dormition Cathedral with some surviving frescoes by Andrei Rublev, St. Dimitry Cathedral with its fantastic stone bas-reliefs, Cathedral of Knyaginin Convent, with frescoes dating back to 1649 and the newly restored/rebuilt Bogoyavlenskiy Monastery. After the tour of Vladimir we will transfer for lunch to another important medieval city of Suzdal’. It is practically impossible to try to describe that miracle little town, doubtlessly the jewel of the Russian Golden Ring and of all Russia. Multiple churches and monasteries always leave something new to explore for an attentive visitor, no matter how many times you have been in Suzdal’. Here we will visit the Suzdal’ Kremlin with its fascinating Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos, built in 1220’s. Along with the cathedral we will see the collection of church artifacts and the icon museum in the former archbishop’s palace. The we will explore the architectural ensembles of Pokrovskiy (Protection) and Spaso-Ephymiev (St. Ephymius) Monasteries. The latter is especially famous for its magnificent cathedral adorned with splendid frescoes. Time permitting, we’ll try to visit the 12th century church of St. Boris and Gleb in Kideksha. The church is rather small and is in a very humble state. But the curious visitor will have the joy of observing some 12th century frescoes – a rarity not only for Russia, but for most places worldwide.
Day 6: Early in the morning we will transfer to Yuriev Pol’skiy, a small and for the most part neglected town that nevertheless has some spectacular sites to offer. We will explore St. George’s Cathedral (built in 1152), in age and quality of artistry rival to that of St. Dimitry in Vladimir; then the Archangel Michael Monastery with its small, provincial, and perhaps due to that, even more precious museum. After another short transfer we will continue our day with the exploration of Pereslavl’- Zalessky, the home town of the Russian Duke Alexander Nevsky. Here we will visit the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral (dated back to 1152-1157) and Goritsky Monastery (museum now) with its fascinating baroque cathedral and art museum with a collection of Russian icons. After lunch, we will travel west, back toward Moscow to the small town of Sergiev, famed for its astounding Holy Trinity Lavra that needs no introduction. Holy Trinity Lavra, being a functioning monastery for several hundred years, also became a museum under the open sky with lots for anyone to see. Its Holy Trinity Cathedral contains not only the relics of one of the most beloved Russian saints and Lavra’s founder – St. Sergius of Radonezh - but also has the only surviving intact iconostasis attributed to Andrei Rublev. The main church of Lavra, Dormition Cathedral strongly resembles the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, and has some fine icons and frescoes painted by masters from the city of Kostroma. After our visit to the monastery, we will visit a little church with a unique white stone iconostas with frescoes by Fr. Zenon. For overnight we will return to Pereslavl’
Day 7: After breakfast we will transfer to yet another “jewel” of the Golden Ring, the “fairy tale” city of Rostov the Great. Being small, it nevertheless fully lives up to its name “the Great” due to its stunning monuments – Kremlin, monasteries, churches and a museum full with ancient artistic treasures. After lunch at the restaurant in Rostov, we will depart for the city of Yaroslavl’, our home for next couple of nights. In Yaroslavl’ we will start the exploration of the fascinating architectural treasures of the city with a visit to the Holy Transfiguration Monastery on the city’s main square. Monastery was turned into museum some decades ago and became a perfect storage place for a fascinating collection of icons. The main Cathedral of the monastery is well worth a visit. At the end of the day an optional tour to the small town of Tutaev - one of many Volga’s jewels may be organized.
Day 8: Today we will continue the exploration of Yaroslavl’ – the greatest icon center of medieval Russia. Its artistic treasures easily can compete with those of Moscow and Novgorod. We will continue our tour with visits to some of the most famous churches that will give us a good overview of the history and splendor of the Yaroslavl’ fresco school. Among them: Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, St. Nicholas Church (“Nikoli Nadeina”), St. Elias (perhaps most famous of them all), ecclesiastical complex of St. John in Tolochkovo, and Church of the Holy Theophany. Later in the afternoon we will visit Tolga Monastery on the outskirts of the city, to honor, to admire and to adore the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. We will have a brief tour of the monastery as well. There isn’t anyone who was not moved by the site of the efforts that the sisters made to bring this desecrated convent to its former glory.
Day 9: This morning we will spend getting to the city of Vologda that Russian Tsar John the Terrible envisioned to be the northern-most capital of Russia ever. That city at times is justly called the “sleeping beauty of Russia”. Vologda will “treat” us with its monumental Kremlin Cathedral, collection of church antiquities, icon gallery that can compete with the world famous icon collections of St. Petersburg and Moscow, the splendid church of St. John in Roschenie and the picturesque Spaso-Prilutskiy Monastery.
Day 10: Today we’ll be spending in rural Russia – the legendary Belozerye or country of the White Lake. Being remote and distant from all major Russian cities, this land still is invaluable in Russian state, church and art history. Our trip here will be rewarded with visits to the town of Kirillov and the village of Ferapontovo. Kirillov is the location for one of the most famous and important Russian monasteries in all of Russia, that of St. Cyril of Beloozero or of the “White Lake”. It is functioning as a museum now, although the faithful are allowed to worship in a little church on the monastery grounds, where the relics of its founder St. Cyril are. Besides being a place for pilgrimage, the monastery has a very important icon collection on display in the museum and in two churches that are converted into exhibition halls. This remote place has such a magnificent collection that the visit here is absolutely “a must”. In the village of Ferapontovo, another monastery still has awe-inspiring and well-preserved frescoes by Dyonisios, one of the most famous and talented medieval Russian iconographers. The state of art and quality of preservation of these frescoes earned Ferapontovo the name of Northern Sistine Chapel. We will get on the train in Cherepovets, a modern industrial city where, prior to our departure for St. Petersburg, we will have a supper after a brief visit to a small, but unique in many respects, collection of Russian icons that represent the Russian “northern style”.
Day 11: Upon arrival to the Northern Russian capital - the glorious city of St. Petersburg we will explore the State Russian Museum and the Cathedral of the Savior “on the Spilled Blood” (a splendid example of 19th century Russian mosaic art). From there we will continue to the Modern Icon Gallery, where you’ll be able to purchase some modern icons and iconographical supplies. From the gallery we will go to the Cathedral of our Lady of Kazan. Later in the afternoon we will transfer to the Ancient City of Novgorod.
Day 12: Novgorod for centuries was the rival center to all of the Russian capitals and cultural centers. The magnificent remnant of this splendid glory can be seen till the present day. We will start our exploration of the city with several surviving churches on the former site of Novgorod’s market place, after that we will see the Grand Icon museum, perhaps with the most icons on display anywhere in Russia. After a visit to St. Sophia’s Cathedral, also in Novgorod Kremlin, you’ll be given a choice to visit Novgorod Treasure Gallery at Granovitaya Palata or to go back to study the treasures of Novgorod Icon Museum some more. In the afternoon we will see Transfiguration Cathedral with some frescoes done by Theophane the Greek, Znamenskiy Sobor, with some good 17th century frescoes, the Church of St. Theodore the Stratylates, also with frescoes from the 14th century and the Church of St. Simeon the God-receiver in the former Zverin Monastery.
Day 13: Today we will start our day with a visit to the restorers’ workshop. People from that workshop literally saved dozens of square feet of frescoes from the churches in and around Novogorod that were ruined during WWII and that were considered to be lost forever. We will see some restored churches, among them Church of Our Savior on Nereditsa, Church of the Nativity on the Red Field (Rozhdestva na Krasnom pole), the Annunciation Church (Blagovescheniya na Myachine). Besides that we will see St. Anthony of Rome Monastery, St. George’s Monastery with its famous 11th century cathedral and the Museum of Wooden Architecture “Vitoslavlitsi”. Following that we will transfer to another ancient Russian city of Pskov, in medieval times the western-most outpost of the Russian Lands.
Day 14: After transferring to the ancient Russian city of Pskov, we will start with a visit to the Holy Trinity Cathedral with its fascinating 17-18th century iconostas, historical museum with its excellent icon collection, and special chambers where many more icons that are never seen on general display are stored. Then we’ll continue to explore the treasures of Pskov – among them Mirozhskiy monasteries with 12th and 13th century frescoes. Mirozhskiy Monastery also hosts the monastic icon workshop and a church with another white stone frescoed iconostasis completed by contemporary iconographer Fr. Zenon. After that we will visit the most ancient church in Pskov – the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (12th century) where another famous Russian iconographer – Fr. Andrei Davidov tried to recreate icons and frescoes in a style that would be contemporary to the cathedral’s founding age.
Day 15: Today we will explore the Byzantine Collection of the State Hermitage, and then the largest church of St. Petersburg - St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Late in the afternoon we will make a couple of stops on Vasilievskiy Island to see the Cathedral of St. Andrew and historical Smolenskoe Cemetery. In the evening you may attend a folk show, a ballet/opera concert or just have some quiet time during a boat ride on the canals of St. Petersburg.
Day 16: Departure back home.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
The current cost of the trip is 3100 USD/2300 EUR (based on the Ruble exchange as of June 30, 2006) per person, based on double occupancy in a group of 26 people. Single supplement: 1000 USD/750 EUR. The price might change based on the actual exchange rate or number of participants.
Price includes:
- Accommodations in *** hotels
- Meals as per itinerary
- Private motorcoach
- An overnight train ride
- Admissions to the museums
- Professional guides
- English speaking coordinator
Price does not include:
- Personal health/accident insurance
- transportation to/from the airport in the US
- Russian visa fee
- Private transfers, optional tours/tickets
- Newly introduced fees
- Tips to bus drivers & guides
Sign up deposit is $400.00. Deposit is non-refundable. Sign up deadline/full amount due: February 14, 2008.
Also see tour packages in:
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Russia
Church Tours
Pilgrimage/Spirituality
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