Church bells at Novgorod

Thanks for sticking around while I was on a blogging recession recently. Since its been over 14 months since I returned from Russia, these pictures are quite dated but I still intend to complete the Russia series and post interesting stories from my travels.

Stored outside the Cathedral of St. Sophia, built in 1052 AD in the little town of Veliky Novgorod (वेलीकी नोव्गोरोद), were a number of old Church bells. The massiveness of these bells struck with me and on touching them I felt a strange kind of buzzing, empty feeling.

All these bells have been decommissioned now, small and efficient electronic bells often taking over their jobs (I don’t know about this particular place), but perhaps one could imagine the glorious old days of Church’s rule when these bells occupied immense importance.

In my previous post, I wrote about the orchestra of bells at Orthodox Churches. Here in Novgorod, we were lucky to catch a little musical show at the bell tower. It seems an important part of tourist infrastructure, as you can buy tickets in advance and climb up the tower to see the orchestra in action.

I thought that these bells were huge, but they are dwarfs compared to the Tsar Bell in Moscow’s Kremlin, which is arguably world’s biggest bell.

Bell ringing in Eastern Orthodox Church (including Russian Orthodox) is complex, with particular bells being rung in particular ways to signify different parts of the services. Russian bells are usually fixed, and are tolled by pulling on a rope that is attached to the clapper so that it will strike the side of the bell. Very interesting to observe that.

An idle one-street town on the outskirts of Moscow, Pereslavl Zalesskiy was the last orthodox religious center I visited…. by then I was stuck with church fatigue.

I had seen so many Russian churches, that I grew tired of them… they all start appearing the same after a while, don’t they? You get the same fatigue after spending a week visiting Bhutan’s Buddhist monasteries or Peru’s colonial churches.

Purification church of Alexander Nevsky.

Pereslavl Zalesky town and a sign of faded communism.

‘AZS’ fuel station and a convent in background.

More churches… I was so bored that I didn’t bother to go inside any of them.

Small town Russia

Fishing in the still river.

“Здравствуйте!” (Zdravstvuyte झ्द्राव्सत्वुअीच, meaning “hello”). People greeted me, you know how it is in small towns, they wave and smile at you. It seemed that they don’t get many visitors, especially since it was a quaint settlement along the river. I was simply walking along the bank because I found it interesting. I was inviting curious stares too.

Quite quiet.

I want to go home

I waited for what seemed like ages at the bus terminal, waiting for my bus back to Moscow. The scheduled bus at 19:30 was cancelled and the next one was at 21:00. It was cold and dark outside. I was kinda worried to be stranded at that place at such a time – there was nobody to keep me company except a drunk man and a babushka who sat behind the ticket window. She looked grumpy on first look (like most Russians) but as soon as she heard my Russian, she got delighted and asked me to come inside her office. Her office had heating, tea and cookie, wonderful!

Look. If you are learning a foreign language, don’t learn it all the way. You get more points if you are seen to fumble with words yet attempting to talk.

Waiting for the bus… only 2 hours. The floor is clean only because it was cleaned 5 minutes ago.
Ticket and information window.

I reached Moscow at 23:30 – not a good time for an outsider to be on the streets. By the time I changed subways and went to the place I was staying at (other end of the city), it was past 00:30. I will be honest: I was shit scared. Every man looked like a criminal or a skinhead.

While I never had a problem myself, Moscow’s streets are not known for safety at night, especially when it concerns foreigners. There are shady characters, often drunk, and women are seldom seen. My safety index at night is directly proportional to the number of women on streets – I think its one of the most visible indicators of how safe a place is.

Factual information

Peresavl Zalessky is about 2.5 hours from Moscow and buses run few times a day from Shchyolkovsky (श्चयोल्कोव्स्की) terminal. Once you get to the town, you could walk to the interesting places, or take the only Marshrutka that runs down the road from city center to the bus terminal.

Not a highly recommended place unless you want you have a relaxed day walking through a sleepy town and visiting a church or two on the way.

In an attempt to recreate the holy land, the New Jerusalem monastery was founded and populated in 17th century. The place is no longer in the limelight.

New Jerusalem Monastery.

Somewhere in 17^th century, Nikon the patriarch decided to show one and all that Russia deserved to be the center of the Christian world. A site on the outskirts of Moscow was chosen to erect New Jerusalem for its resemblance to the Holy Land. The River Istra represents the River Jordan, and the buildings represent the ‘sacral space’ or holy places of Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem Monastery, also known as the Voskresensky Monastery (Russian: Новоиерусалимский монастырь / नोवोयेरुसालीम्सकी मोनासत्री), is a male monastery, located in the town of Istra in Moscow Oblast, Russia. They even built the Church of Holy Sepulchre.

The monastery is almost entirely undergoing repairs.

The monastery was shutdown in 1918 and came under attack from the retreating Germans. Only recently has it regained attention and restoration work was in progress when I went there.

Horse riders and rear wall of the monastery.

I saw many babushkas filling holy water from a tap. I also saw people riding horses and a dog barking at me. Then finally I saw a woodpecker and one more tourist (I think she was Italian) wielding a camera.

Since I was in Jerusalem, Israel, in late 2007 (my glorious travelogue with 20 chapters is here) and I toured the Christian sites extensively, I was very curious to visit this place. Unfortunately I couldn’t enter the monastery (it was closed for renovations), and overall it did not, even remotely, remind me of Jerusalem.

Woodpecker.

There is nothing (else) to do in Istra, it is a very characterless and bland suburb (or maybe that’s the character). There is one park with a model of an airplane. I did, however, buy lots of chocolates from here because there was a large chocolate store. People are not used to seeing foreigners, and definitely not used to hearing a foreign Russian accent.

Little pieces of cloth tied to trees as prayers.

Factual information

The New Jerusalem Monastery is a convenient half-day trip from Moscow. Suburban trains from Moscow’s Rizhsky vokzal (train terminal) stop at Istra (90 minutes journey). These trains are called Elektrichka (электричка / इलेक्त्रीच्का), which I think is a cute name.

From Istra rail station, a bus will take you to the church complex. Simply ask for a bus going to “Muzey (मुझीए)” (Museum) stop (15 minutes journey). Alternatively, do what I did: Walk to the monastery (so that you see the Moscow suburb intimately and call your walk a ‘pilgrimage’) and come back on a bus.

Istra train station.

Orchestra of the Russian Orthodox Church Bells will blow your mind away

Little did we know,when we went to the Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius, the largest monastery in Suzdal, that we would be listening to a mind blowing performance of orthodox church bells.

Sky filled with splendid colours.

Lets play some music!

Russian Orthodox bell ringing has a history starting from the baptism of Rus in 988 CE and plays an important role in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church. Technically, bells in Russian tradition are rung exclusively by tolling (i.e, moving only the clapper so that it strikes the side of the bell) and never by pealing (swinging the entire bell until it sounds). For tolling bells a special complex system of ropes is developed and used individually for every belltower. All the ropes are gathered at approximately one point, where the bell-ringer (zvonar) stands. Some ropes (the smaller ones) are played by hand, the bigger ropes are played by foot. The major part of the ropes (usually – all ropes) are not actually pulled, but rather pressed. Since one end of every rope is fixed, and the ropes are kept in tension, a press or even a punch on a rope makes a clapper stike the side of its bell.

Set of bells in the orchestra. (picture from Novgodod’s monastery. It was too dark here.)

No melody is employed, as in the Western carillon, but rather a complicated polyrhythmical sequence of sounds is produced. The foundation of Orthodox bell ringing lies not in melody but in rhythm, with its intrinsic dynamic, and in the interaction of the timbres of various bells. These sequences have a very special harmony, since Russian bells (unlike Western European ones) are not tuned to a single note. Western bells usually have an octave between the loudest upper tone (“ring”) and the loudest lower tone (“hum”). Russian bells have a seventh between these sounds. Generally, a good Russian bell is tuned to produce a whole scale of sounds (up to several tens of them). This effect is accomplished both by the composition of the alloy from which the bell is cast and the sculpting of the sides of the bell in the mold.

Birds fly back to their nests, in orchestrated loops, as if applauding the performance.

The bell ceremony started precisely at 17:30 and I was caught unaware. I swear I stood under the bell tower looking up gawking at the spectacular show. When the music ended, maybe after 5 minutes, I released my breath (didn’t realize I was sortof holding it) and proceeded towards the exit, trembled on my path, still mesmerized by the music.

The main cathedral.

Finally, I leave you with an OK presentation of bell ringing from the monastery of Rostov (source)

If you are unable to see the player above, here is the mp3 file: 2009-10-09_rostov-bells.mp3 (594 KB)
I will, soon, play and record some orthodox bell music on my Sitar.

Suzdal town, old and rustic, protected from urbanization.

Suzdal (Суздаль / सुझ्दाल) is a historic small town near Vladimir, about 200 km from Moscow. It was once the capital of several Russian principalities and has many examples of early Russian architecture. I thought it was quite rustic, atypical town, later explained by the fact that this area falls under ‘limited development zone’ and construction projects are controlled. While one can see a little church or chapel in every corner of this town, there are two major ‘church complexes’ and the first one, Kremlin, is discussed here.

The Kremlin at Suzdal

Kremlin’s “skyline”: I don’t remember the details

As explained before, Kremlin is the fortified power-center of a town and the Kremlin at Suzdal, a 1.4km earth rampart, encloses a handful of houses and a bunch of churches.

Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral: Blue domes spangled with gold.

During the time of the Soviet Union, nearly all of Suzdal’s economy was planned around its tourist potential. As a result, very few modern buildings were constructed in Suzdal. Also, a number of wooden structures from other parts of Russia were transported here, and the whole city was converted into an ‘open-air museum’. Unfortunately, Suzdal’s dependence on tourism also meant its economy nearly came to a standstill when tourists stopped coming after the fall of the USSR, only revived during recent years.

Wooden church of St. Nicholas.

Suzdal was probably the only place where I did not find any McDonalds restaurant! Neither did I see any visible signs of westernization such as glossy stores. “Livestock wandering the streets and elderly women washing cloths in the river (and tourists wielding digital cameras) are regular sights in Suzdal,” says Wikitravel.

Market on the plaza outside Kremlin.

The little market was getting ready to close and we were racing against time to reach the next religious complex in Suzdal – The Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius (coming up next).

Market on the plaza outside Kremlin.

I’m sorry for the dull pictures, the weather was not at its best.

Small, simple and off the religious highway makes this place my favorite among the Golden Cities.

The Church at Bogolyubovo, probably my favorite in Russia.

Away from crowded churches and cathedrals of the Golden Ring circuit is this little church in a little village of Bogolyubovo (Боголюбово / बोगोल्युबोवो). The church’s beauty lies in its simplicity, perfect symmetry, beautiful location (next to the river) and isolation (what a strange factor!).

The silence and the simplicity of this place is great!

It is said that this church was built during early days of Christianity in Russia, thus explaining pictures and carvings of birds and beasts on its walls and interiors. Interiors are even simpler and it is tempting to light a candle inside.

Elements from pre-Christian times incorporated in the architecture.

The hills, the birds, the water plus absence of cars, crowds and noise makes this place incredibly beautiful. During spring, the river floods the adjoining area, giving an illusion that the church is on an island. A single hut, habitated by the churchkeeper sells picture frames and lovely photographs of the church. There is also a ‘pay what you can’ toilet.

Factual information

Bogolyubovo can be reached by suburban trains from Moscow’s Kursky terminal (one station after Vladimir). Express trains from Moscow stop at Vladimir (2.5 hrs) from where there are regular buses to Bogolubovo. From the train / bus station, this church is about 1.3 km away, a pleasant walk through meadows. Infact, one can only walk to this church, making it feel somewhat like a pilgrimage.

Walkway. You can reach the church only on foot (or a horse, a bicycle), sortof a pilgrimage!

Blue domes and whitewashed walls of Bogolyubovo Convent.

Bogolyubovo is a little village near the big city of Vladimir, about 180 km from Moscow. The only reason to visit this place is to see an old church (next post), probably among the very first ones. We simply passed the convent without stopping and I couldn’t but admire its whitewashed walls and clear blue domes.

Bogolyubovo Train station and the convent.

The nice thing about Russia (whatever I’ve traveled and heard) is that places are very well connected by buses or trains. They might take longer (and my friend drove me in his car to this particular place) but, unlike North America (except few cities), you are not completely helpless without a car.

Vladimir

Golden Gate, Vladimir

Vladimir is one of the most prominent Golden Ring cities, but we simply drove through it since there was nothing strikingly unusual about the church there – there would be many more and after a while they all feel the same (I’m serious!). The Golden Gate, seen in the picture below was built to guard the entrance to this city from the west (Moscow).

I was trying to remember names of people that are exactly same as names of cities. I know a girl called Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada), and another one called Victoria (British Colombia, Canada). There must be more… do you remember any?

My first time attending a service at a Russian Orthodox Church was full of surprises and discoveries.

I flew from Sochi to Moscow and met my friend at Moscow’s VDNKh metro station (airports of Moscow are quite smoothly connected to the metro system), eager to go explore more of the country. After a quick snack at a street cart, soon we were running around bus stop signs trying to find where the bus to the town of Sergiev Posad departed from. Sergiyev Posad, 60km from Moscow, was going to be my first religious city in Russia, my first step on the outskirts of Moscow, my first insight into a little Russian town and also, as I discovered, my first time witnessing a full fledged service at an Orthodox Church.

Fastfood: I had crêpes (pancakes) stuffed with chicken and mushrooms.

The bus was very comfortable (probably because I was exhausted and slept through most of it) and within an hour my friend was nudging me to wake up as we pulled into the bus stand of Sergiev Posad. From there, one could see spiraling colorful domes and an enormous structure some distance away. This was one of those simple towns: an important temple, one central street and little houses around the vicinity. Being so close to Moscow, the place was quite busy (in relative terms, if I’m allowed to say that.)

Russian Orthodox Church

Monastery complex at Sergiev Posad: Bell tower, Cathedral, Gate-Church

“There is no settlement without a just man, there is no town without a saint” – thus goes a Russian wisdom.

This monastery is considered to be among the most important and most active religious centers in Russia. You can tell, as you approach it, that the place is religious. The young men in shiny leather jackets and young women with high heels that I had seen just an hour ago in Moscow were replaced by old priests with long beards and babushkas carrying holy water. The place was full of devotees, women wearing head scarves and men with bare heads, who were lighting candles or chanting prayers.

Left pic: Cathedral of the Assumption, Chapel at the well and a Tsar’s grave. Right pic: Bell Tower

Orthodox church service

While I was busy taking pictures and feeling thrilled for being inside an Orthodox Church complex, the bell was rung and people started rushing into the central Cathedral. We joined the crowds, about hundred people trying to get in through the narrow door that let in only two or three people at a time, so you can imagine the struggle to get in. Inside it was hot, crowded, and stuffy but I was overwhelmed by the grandiose structure, ambient lighting, murals (saints) on the walls and a large company of priests dressed in black. I was quite puzzled seeing the display of so many icons, symbols and hundreds of paintings of Saints. Isn’t that exactly what the Abrahamic religions object to in Eastern religions? Anyway, my attention was quickly diverted to something unusual I heard: Singing.

The singing wasn’t the commonly heard choir music (what I call ‘Christian music’ for the sake of simplicity) but it was composed of distinctly male voices. Services in an orthodox church are not conducted by a single priest, but by a group of them. They believe that human voice is the most perfect form of music, hence instead of using musical instruments, groups of priests (maybe some altar boys and the choir too) sing the prayers while others accompany them in a harmony. The result is a fine blend of different voices, overlapping tones and varied pitches that somehow still create a wonderful effect. As an Indian Classical musician, I was extremely fascinated by this style, almost never seen in Indian music (except chanting in Hindu/Buddhist temples).

The tempo of singing increased gradually and everyone but me seemed to understand what was going on. You could sense the music reaching climax as the as the length of the verses shortened, variations in singing increased and finally one voice carried the prayer till the end while voices around him faded slowly. It was truly a magical spectacle as hundreds of devotees inside the cathedral bowed town and started moving towards the altar with candles or crosses in their hands and curious eyes now noticing me. I made my way out of the monastery, emerging from a thick cloud of humidity, smoke and incense to the dry and chilly weather outside with the sights and sounds of the place imprinted on my mind.

The bells were ringing, birds were flying, sun was setting and the sky was displaying a brilliant pattern of colors almost as if someone had applauded to the presentation in the monastery inside. Soon I found my friend (I was almost worried that he I was lost) in that crowd and then we were thinking about one of the three basic needs of humans; satisfied promptly as seen below.

Dinner

Factual information

Sergiev Posad, called Zagorks by the Soviets, is about 60km away from Moscow and very easily accessible by public transit. It is one of the most important Golden Ring cities (a number of cities north-east of Moscow that have historical and religious significance).

Bus: Buses depart to Sergiev Posad from VDNKh station on Moscow Metro at about 30-minute frequency. Alternatively, certain buses departing from Moscow’s Yaroslavl Vokzal and going to Pereslavl-Zalessky and beyond stop at Sergiev Posad.

Train: Frequent suburban trains depart from Yaroslavsky terminal and take about an hour to reach.

The monastery: The monastery is a 15-minute walk from the bus and train station. Simply keep walking along the straight road going north (it goes downhill and then climbs) keeping the monastery domes in sight all the time. It’s hard to get lost. Admission is free, and the place is open between 10:00 to 18:00.

Gate-Church: Entrance door to the whole complex

Annunciation Cathedral

Annunciation Cathedral (Благовещенский Собор)

Standing next to the Great Kremlin Palace is the Annunciation Cathedral built in 1489 as a private chapel for the royal family. There are several old murals and paintings inside the church. Ivan the Terrible, who was disqualified from Orthodox Christianity after his fourth wedding, built a small extension so that he could watch the services from a gallery.

This was the first Russian Orthodox Church I saw. I was impressed by gigantic paintings all over the walls, depicting hundreds of saints and godly figures.

Assumption Cathedral

Assumption Cathedral (Успенский Собор)

Standing on the north side of Sobornaya pl (Cathedral Square) located inside the Kremlin, this Cathedral was the focal point of worship of pre-revolutionary Russia. The church was built in 1479 and operates as a museum today. The iconography was very impressive.

Secrets Tower (first tower to be built) and Cathedral of Christ the Savior (located outside Kremlin)

This Cathedral, located close to the Kremlin, is one of the most important Cathedrals in Moscow. Its pretty big and beautiful (details later). The secrets tower is called so because there is believed to be a secret passage from here down to the river.

Hall of Facets (Грановитая Палата) housed the Tsar’s throne and was a place for ceremonies.

I wonder why the Soviet leaders did not destroy these religious structures located right within the Kremlin walls, while they tried to subvert religion elsewhere…

World’s biggest Bell

Tsar Bell

Sadly, this 202 tonne monster never rang. The current Tsar bell was cast in 1737 CE from the shattered remains of the previous 130 tonne bell. When the bell was cooling off, it accidentally came into contact with water, and a small chunk (which was 11 tons!) fell off.

Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Tsar Bell

This bell tower is the tallest structure inside Kremlin and was, ages ago, visible from all over Moscow (since it buildings taller than this were banned).

Tsar Canon

The Tsar Canon was cast in 16th century CE. This Canon or the canon balls around it have never been used either!

A modern canon placed outside the Arsenal

This ends the tour of the Kremlin. It was very interesting to see a cluster of old and new, religious, historical and administrative buildings standing next to each other. Budget 3-5 hours to thoroughly see all the structures.

The riot of color and shapes that is St. Basil’s Cathedral is unmatched anywhere else in the world.

St. Basil’s Cathedral, seen from the ‘other’ side

What’s the building about?

Until very recently, I thought that this colorful fairytale-like building was called Kremlin and its like the Taj Mahal of Russia. This building is actually a cathedral and houses a number of tiny chapels inside. The cathedral was commissioned by Tsar Ivan IV to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan, and built from 1555 to 1561.

A chapel filled with icons, medieval painted walls, and varying artwork

The building is known by many names. The Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat (RU: Собор Покрова что на Рву – The Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God, or simply Pokrovskiy Cathedral – RU: Покровский Собор; better known as the Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed , Saint Basil’s Cathedral – RU: Храм Василия Блаженного) is a multi-tented church on the Red Square in Moscow that also features distinctive onion domes. St. Basil, after whom the cathedral is named, was a preacher who roamed the streets of Moscow trying to win converts during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV.

Spiraling stairway

Although the towers and domes appear chaotic, there is symmetry and symbolism in its design. There are eight domed chapels symbolizing the eight assaults on Kazan: four large and octagonal and four small and square. In the center is a tent-roofed spire topped with a small golden dome.

Bells. Russian orthodox churches play wonderful music by ringing bells of various sizes. These look like decommissioned ones.

The cathedral had a nice cosy, intimate feel, as opposed to most other cathedrals that are grand structures.

Onion Domes

Spiraling onion dome

Some scholars postulated that onion domes were borrowed by Russians from Muslim countries, probably from the Khanate of Kazan, whose conquest Ivan the Terrible commemorated by erecting St. Basil’s Cathedral. The Kazan Qolsharif mosque had been the principal symbol of the Khanate and some elements from there were said to be incorporated into the cathedral. Others state that the elongated, or onion, domes were part of the same proto-Gothic trend aimed at achieving pyramidal, vertical emphasis.

Secret Tips!

Replica of the structure inside another chapel which felt like a meditation room

The cathedral is located at the south-eastern end of the Red square and is a convenient point to either start or end your tour of the Red Square.

Secret tip #1: Entrance ticket for foreigners is expensive (I think RUR 300 / USD 15), but for locals its RUR 100 (USD 5). I asked for a student discount ticket in Russian, and I got in for RUR 50 (USD 2.5). Awesome!

Secret tip #2: Entering the Red Square from this end is not very popular, hence there are few chances of getting checked or bothered by the police. The other entrance is very crowded, filled with souvenir shops and policemen who pry on foreign-looking people checking random passports. So be wiser.

…and you are welcome.
Saint Basil’s Cathedral and statues commemorating the leaders of Russia’s volunteer army against the Polish invaders