Torzhok grew as a trading town on the route between Novgorod and Moscow, and its monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb occupies the high bank of the Tvertsa above the old centre. Tradition places its foundation in the eleventh century, which would make it one of the earliest monastic establishments in Russia, and it is dedicated to the two princes venerated as the first saints of the Russian Church. The buildings that stand today are far later: the principal cathedral and the tall bell tower were raised in the neoclassical manner at the end of the eighteenth century, giving the ensemble a clarity and symmetry unusual among Russian monasteries and closer to the architecture of the imperial capitals. Closed during the Soviet period and used for other purposes, the complex suffered heavily and has been undergoing restoration. Filmed from the river and from the surrounding streets, it offers a striking image of the layered religious and urban history of provincial Russia.
