Fodor's Expert Review Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior

Surrounded by white, 10-foot-thick walls, this attractive complex was the site of northern Russia's first school of higher education, dating to the 13th century. It houses several magnificent churches and is where Ivan the Terrible took refuge in 1571, when the Mongols were threatening Moscow. Dating to 1516, the Holy Gates entrance to the monastery, on the side facing the Kotorosl River, is the oldest extant structure in the compound. A six-story belfry rises high above the round-dome Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior.The clock in the belfry hung in the famous Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin until 1624, when it was purchased by the merchants of Yaroslavl.