Founded at the end of the fourteenth century by Savva, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, the monastery on Storozhi hill began as a place of retreat above the Moskva river. Its white-stone Nativity Cathedral survives from the following generation and ranks among the earliest stone churches preserved in the Moscow region - a compact, austere form whose interior carries layers of fresco painting. In the seventeenth century royal patronage transformed the site: Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich made it a favoured residence, adding walls and towers, a palace for himself and separate chambers for the tsarina, so that a monastic enclosure became a fortified court. The film reads both registers, the ascetic and the sovereign, and follows the community that occupies the site today. Aerial and seasonal coverage in 4K; well suited to sacred-heritage series and Russian history strands.
