windward passage yacht photos

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

World’s coolest yachts: Windward Passage

• Toby Heppell
• May 10, 2023

We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. Luca Bassani nominates Windward Passage

“A very modern boat for her times: very large stern (almost like today’s naval architecture) and semi-round bilge hull made her very fast in reaching – and with a flush deck!” says Luca Bassani. “For a long time she was the fastest boat in real time in the SORC regattas – ie the world’s fastest boat – and she can be considered the first modern maxi yacht.”

Windward Passage was designed by the late Alan Gurney as an ocean racing record breaker for lumber tycoon Robert Johnson and built in laminated wood in 1968. The semi-planing hull was radical for the time, particularly beamy with a shallow canoe body, a fin keel and an elegant run aft to a broad transom – a shape described on launching as a ‘73ft dinghy’. Windward Passage won and set a record for the Transpac Race in 1971. Originally designed as a ketch she was later refitted to a sloop rig designed by Doug Peterson.

Photo: Windward Passage/D Ramey Logan/Wikimedia Commons

“A true yet forgotten myth,” concludes Bassani.

Make sure you check out our full list of  Coolest Yachts .

Windward Passage stats rating

Top speed: 25 knots LOA: 73ft/22m Launched: 1968 Berths: 12 Price: €500,000 Adrenalin factor: 50%

Luca Bassani

The visionary founder of Wally Yachts, Luca Bassani created an iconic brand and can be credited with shaping the trend for clean Italian aesthetics in yachting. As well as being ahead of the curve with yacht design, he has won world championships in sailing and industrial design awards for his innovative style.

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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker, and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport. Specializing in fitting the proper vessel for your needs. Cruising and Racing Sailboats , Down East Style Power & Pre-owned Duffy Electric Boats. Please contact me at (714) 931-6710 or [email protected].

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Notes from my tour of windward passage:.

17 comments:

Len, thank you for this article about one of the most beautiful and timeless yachts of the last 50 years. I was astounded when I (as a 13-year-old boy) first saw the profile drawings of this incredible Alan Gurney design in a boating magazine. I try to walk down the Ardell Marina Dock to view it every time I visit Newport. The boat is maintained in utterly bristol condition. The owners have really done right by her. During her first few years, I enjoyed reading about her many new course records set. Then, one day while laying on the beach at the Balboa Bay Club, the sky went dark. I looked up and saw 7077 on a gigantic sail that was momentarily blocking the Sun. WP was sailing up the bay. I was dumbfounded! I stole a friend's boat and collected another close friend who was also a WP fan. We were so impressed with the boat, and with the 19.5' beam when seen from behind. Great to see interior photos. What a fabulous yacht!

Len--this is an outstanding tour of a dream yacht. I first encountered her in the SORC in 1970. Specifically, the St. Petersburg to Venice Race the last week of January. I was a young chap living in Venice at the time and watched with envy as the "big ones" roared down the coast in front of a blustery norther with Passage leading the pack. And, I waited on the Venice Jetty until the wee hours to see them come beating back up the coast into the 35 knot "breeze". Unfortunately Passage over stood the turning bouy in Boca Grande and let American Eagle slip inside her for the 30-odd mile beat north. Once Eagle started up wind there was no keeping up with her and she was first to finish and first overall. After passage finished in the pre-dawn hours it appeared to me that they mulled coming in the Venice Jetty inlet but misjudged the channel and would up stuck on a sandbar southwest of the inlet. It took a tug to get them off and I seem to recall it bent the keel a bit. Still--she has remained iconic in my mind as I formulated my thoughts of what a great ocean racer should be. She was it and while she may be a bit off the pace now I am glad she is still stout and showing so well. Thank you for this article!

Sailed on many races on Windward Passage..... Notable was the Bermuda Race in 1972 when hurricane Agnes swept through followed by the slow Trans Atlantic Race from Bermuda to Vigo, Spain.... 25+days... ran out of everything but Beck's beer and canned food. She always had a great crew in those days with Don Vaughn, Rex Banks, John Rumsey, Peter Bowker, Kirk Elliott, Dick Haskell and of course chef, Reverand Sandy McKenzie and of course Mark and Fritz Johnson. So great to see her in such beautiful condition.

As a young kid sailing Clearwater Prams and then Opti's, I became aware of the powerhouse WP, no match for the Ondines in the day, well raced for sure.....what a beautiful overlook of how she is today...love this boat, the history....would be happy to test her racing speed today with all the mods....truly an amazing machine, and thankfully the owners get that...a legend, and one of a kind....

Thank you! The Windward Passage just cruised by us over and over at the Huntington Beach Airshow 2017. My family was on deck of the Nordic Blue and we were stunned and mesmerized at the beauty of this amazing boat slowly Navigating between all the anchored boats. So mesmerized I shared about her on FB, and my friend who captains boats got me some info online to learn about her. I love the history and the workmanship keeping her so pristine... Thanks for the pictures!

I had the thrill of watching windward passage come across the finish line at Diamondhead when Mark Johnson was the Skipper, I was on board gary mulls design 33 footer and was racing for the Waikiki yacht club at the time, it was a beautiful site, with the white spinnaker Full, she had a bone in her teeth. Nice to hear she's still alive.

I had the privilege of being aboard the Windward Passage in 1973 (?) Sail checks and such before the Transpac. I’m no sailor, but was so impressed. Lived in Newport for many years and was always so impressed with Windward Passage. A timeless beauty.

Sailed from Ardell's to Honolulu in about 1980 to deliver Passage to the Can Am series of races off Oahu. My close pal was Fritz Johnson back then and he surprised me with the trip of a lifetime. 6 adults and a teenager (Robbie Johnson) Mark's son did the delivery. Dave Birchenough was the boat professional and crew member that moved the boat around for each race at that time. Two other guests were from Flyer, that had won the around the world race the previous year. Scant but dedicated boat pro's and myself and another with no experience outside of a bathtub. What happened in the mid-pacific has been etched in my memory for near 40 yrs. We encountered some wind behind us and had blooper up in front of the mainsail. In no time at all the sea grew to epic conditions with 47 knot winds behind and passage screaming down giant troughs and heeling over trying to mount mountainous waves. The life jackets and lifelines were somewhere under the tomatos in storage. Watched the knot meter bounce off of 20 knots on an upright sprint down a trough. Had a Barient wench in a headlock to survive the crises. Finally the pressure was so great the blooper sail exploded it's frame and the crises of too much sail in too much wind was eased a bit. We were able to reef the mainsail and survived my first time on a sailboat. More adventures were to confront us before we reached Waikiki Yacht club. Don Vaughn met us the next day and laughed about the novices adventure. He was larger than life to be sure. A novices first adventure

I first saw Windward Passage in the water at San Pedro when racing my P-Cat (#465) out of Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club back in the early 1970's. She and several other big yachts were also setting up to race out of the Los Angeles Yacht Club at the time. I was taken by the beautiful lines of this magnificent yacht as I watched her glide by some 10 yards away from me. When she passed by, she left no track or wake... a testament to her smooth hull design. God, what a yacht! One of the few regrets I have is that I never got the chance to sail on her.

I remember this yacht so fondly. It was laid up on a beach. It was originally a ketch. I remember doing a night race once in the late 80’s off Sydney. WP and Apollo were always doing battle. Someone brought a projector on board either WP or Apollo and in light north easterly winds with a huge white spinnaker XXX porn was projected into the kite. Purely to distract the competition. Made the local newspaper as it raised some eyes going past Bondi. It is so glad to hear it is still around and in such great shape. To all involved thanks! Brings back so many fond memories

thank you for posting those pictures as a young guy growing up in sydney australia ,she was a dream boat ,loved seeing her again

I know the Johnson family well and have heard all the accounts of the races. You should see there trophy room!!

I went on board her in Auckland, 1987, hoping to get a paid job. This was my first attempt at being paid to go sailing. Unfortunately they were crewed up. I was in awe of her back then and remain the same today

I had the good fortune to have raced on Passage during her years competing all over the world. Lots of stories!! We did the Bermuda Race in 1982 sailing through Hurricane Agnes and blew out every sail except the storm jib and reefed main. I remember Dottie Johnson asking me if we were going to sink!! After two weeks in Bermuda refitting everything we raced to Vigo, Spain.... The Atlantic High dominated the weather and it took 26 days!! Our cook, Rev Alexander MacKenzie was prepared for a 22 day crossing so the last few days we ate food that no one could imagine..... Mark and Dottie Johnson were great to sail with!!

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Published on May 10th, 2023 | by Editor

Windward Passage: World’s coolest yachts

Published on May 10th, 2023 by Editor -->

Yachting World has been asking top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times, and Wally Yachts founder Luca Bassani nominated the 73-foot Windward Passage. Here’s the report :

“A very modern boat for her times: very large stern (almost like today’s naval architecture) and semi-round bilge hull made her very fast in reaching – and with a flush deck!” says Luca Bassani. “For a long time she was the fastest boat in real time in the SORC regattas – ie the world’s fastest boat – and she can be considered the first modern maxi yacht.”

Windward Passage was designed by the late Alan Gurney as an ocean racing record breaker for lumber tycoon Robert Johnson and built in laminated wood in 1968. The semi-planing hull was radical for the time, particularly beamy with a shallow canoe body, a fin keel and an elegant run aft to a broad transom – a shape described on launching as a ‘73ft dinghy’.

Windward Passage won and set a record for the Transpac Race in 1971. Originally designed as a ketch she was later refitted to a sloop rig designed by Doug Peterson.

“A true yet forgotten myth,” concludes Bassani.

Windward Passage stats rating Top speed: 25 knots LOA: 73ft/22m Launched: 1968 Berths: 12 Price: €500,000 Adrenalin factor: 50%

For Yachting World’s list of cool boats, click here .

Tags: coolest yachts , Luca Bassani , Windward Passage , Yachting World

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22 December 2022

Windward passage (gurney maxi).

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July / August Issue No. 299  Preview Now

May / June 2021

Windward passage.

The maxi-yacht WINDWARD PASSAGE began her ocean-racing career soon after her launching in 1967. She was immediately successful, taking line honors in some of the world’s major events. “PASSAGE,” as she is affectionately called, is seen here soon after the start of the 1975 Sydney-Hobart Race.

"No maxi ever built can match WINDWARD PASSAGE I for pure glamour,” wrote the author Preben Nyeland is his book Maxi: The Ultimate Racing Experience. “Just the drop of her name at a sailor’s bar can focus attention and start a long conversation.”

There’s nothing ordinary about this 73' cold-molded racing rocket or her 53-year history. She gained nicknames such as the “Wooden Whale,” “Big Dinghy,” and “Passing Wind” from envious competitors such as the hard-charging Jim Kilroy in his maxi KIALOAs and Sumner “Huey” Long in his ONDINEs. But to her loyal crews and admirers, she has always been known simply as “PASSAGE.”

The legend of WINDWARD PASSAGE began in 1963 when Robert F. Johnson, a yachtsman and controlling shareholder of the Georgia Pacific lumber juggernaut, launched his quest to break ocean-racing records. Without regard to racing rules and handicap formulas, he sought line honors and jaw-dropping elapsed-time postings in major Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean, and Southern Ocean races. “It was all about being the first boat to finish,” says PASSAGE’s professional skipper for the past 30 years, David “Halfdeck” Johnson, who is not related to the yacht’s original owner.

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Professional BoatBuilder Magazine

Windward passage in print.

By Chris Caswell , Dec 12, 2023

M y wife dropped the 7-lb package on my desk, asking, “What the heck is this?” It turned out to be a book from WoodenBoat Publications called  Windward Passage : A Maxi Yacht in Her Sixth Decade . I dove in.

As someone who has raced aboard  Passage , raced against her, and admired her graceful aging for more than half a century, I can say that calling this coffee-table tome spectacular is like calling Niagara a waterfall.

Written by longtime waterman and talented wordmonger Randy Peffer, with a host of superb photos by Steve Jost, my old California friend, this is truly a tribute and something to be treasured by anyone who has ever heard the name  Windward Passage .

Engrossed in the words and images spread across the 335 12 ”  x 12 “  pages, my memory bell clanged at seeing old crewmates from old races, all aboard the legendary  Passage . Intended to finish first and set course records for every race she entered, she was designed by Alan Gurney with nary a look at meeting any handicap rules. (For more on Gurney’s design career, see “Passage Maker”  Professional BoatBuilde r No. 151, page 24.)

The 73′ (22.2m) ketch Windward Passage, built for lumberman Robert Johnson, was a defining early step in the evolution of modern maxi yachts and the most renowned of the designs of naval architect Alan Gurney.

Robert Johnson, of  Ticonderoga  fame, wanted a no-holds-barred ocean racer, had admired Gurney’s  Guinevere , and understood that the new Cal-40 was tearing up the offshore circuit with its shallow body, fin keel, and spade rudder. Gurney—an Englishman who apprenticed with Bill Tripp but was then on his own at just 30—and Johnson had agreed on lines Gurney sketched on a cocktail napkin. Alan then singlehandedly churned out the plans from his basement studio on New York’s East 54th Street. Johnson, a lumberman, sailor, and pilot, built her (out of wood, of course) on a Bahamas beach, and the rest is history.

Windward Passage  set the stage for the newest of maxi yachts, but there’s that twist in the tale: she was wooden. No one had built a really powerful maxi racing yacht from wood in years: the  Kialoa s  and  Ondine s  were aluminum. Gurney’s big surfboard design was as much a surprise as her construction material—layers of cold-molded spruce veneers and aerospace epoxies, and way off the charts in every way. One look told you she was designed to be a surfin’ fool on long Pacific swells.

Windward Passage is a Bluewater Boat

I was a regular aboard  Ragtime , also built of wood, which was sometimes a speed bump in the  Passage  road. We ( Ragtime ) beat  Passage  in the California Cup, where it was clear that  Passage  was designed for races where the finish line was thousands of miles, not three or four marks, away. She was a Peterbilt truck in the Indy 500.

Windward Passage’s cold-molded Sitka spruce hull was built on the beach near Freeport, Grand Bahama, in 1968.

I drove my wife crazy with each page turn, calling out, “Hey, here’s Don Vaughan, who I got ripped with at St. Francis Yacht Club on Ramos Fizzes. Look, that’s powerful Arnie Schmelling, who practically tore my arms off when I was opposite him on a  Passage  coffee-grinder winch in the Big Boat Series. Hey, there’s John Rumsey, who Vaughan towed on water skis as  Passage  reached past longtime rival  Kialoa  just to show who ‘owned’ the Big Boat Series.”

The entire book was a most delightful walk down memory lane. But this lavish hardcover is distinguished by more than just photos of old sailing buddies. It is a fine tribute to a fabled yacht, and Steve Jost photographed it as though he were shooting a Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry catalog. Genoa blocks sparkle like diamonds, the coffee-grinder winches (oh, my aching shoulders!) are like ubercool appliances in Williams-Sonoma, and even the lowly pulpit gleams as though sterling silver and not just steel. A teak table literally glows like the finest Scandinavian furniture.

The book includes photographs and detailed drawings of the yacht’s evolving keel designs.

The layout of the book, by Ronald Geisman, is impeccable, and each turned page brings another delight, another prize, another intake of breath. Carefully curated to match Peffer’s perfectly crafted text, the entire  Windward Passage  saga is laid out, heavy on anecdotes, people, and places from Bahamas beaches to victories in TransPac, from SORC to Sydney-Hobart.  Windward Passage  dominated every race with power, speed, grace, and, most of all, just sheer beauty. The pictures show her majesty, rolling down seas with main, huge spinnaker, mizzen, and oversized mizzen spinnaker—proud and unconquerable.

And this book is a fitting tribute to that beauty, with never-before-seen images and a level of resolution that make you want to cut them out to frame, if only the book itself wasn’t so gorgeous.

It has a lovely dust jacket, but if you remove it, you’ll find embossed the whale that was on the  Windward Passage  transom, now a sad memento of Lahaina Yacht Club, which is still smoldering from the Maui fires as I write.

Unlike Lahaina YC,  Windward Passage  soldiers on, perfectly maintained by new owners with grand adventures in mind. Modern rating rules do not take kindly to wide, shallow yachts designed to surf the Pacific swells, but ratings never mattered to Gurney or Johnson or any of the throngs who sailed aboard her in a relentless quest for first-to-finish and course records. The “Barn Door” trophy for first-to-finish TransPac is, of course, inscribed with the name  Windward Passage .

About the Author:  A former editor of  Sea Magazine  and  Yachting , Chris Caswell has written nine books on boating and has owned many power, sail, and rowboats.

Editor’s Note:   Windward Passage :   A  Maxi Yacht in Her Sixth Decade  is  published by  Professional BoatBuilder ’s parent company, WoodenBoat Publi cations Inc. Copies are available  from The WoodenBoat Store .

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Smooth Sailing in the Windward Passage by Monica Pisani Journey, our 42-foot sloop, Captain Jonathan and myself, his loyal first mate, started our sailing adventure on December 2013 leaving from Florida, although our home was New York City. We sailed the Bahamas, Haiti, the Dominica n Republic and Puerto Rico, and we made our way as far south as Grenada. Since December 2014, we have been sailing north towards the Virgin Islands. When we began to plan our route from Florida through the Bahamas and into the Caribbean, we realized there were two possible choices. The most popular was the Mona Passage, and the more unusual choice was the Windward Passage. With the first choice, you leave the Bahamas via Turks & Caicos, to the northern coast of the Dominica n Republic, and then down through and across the Mona Passage. The second choice was through the Windward Passage, leaving the Bahamas from Great Inagua, passing between Cuba and Haiti, then heading east towards the Eastern Caribbean. Our research included reading forums and magazine articles, and talking to anyone who had done either passage. One day, we found "A Cruising Guide to Haiti" by Frank Virgintino (www.freecruisingguides.com). It was all we needed to solidify our route choice. We opted for the less traveled road, the Windward Passage. We chose Clarence Town as our staging point. We needed a five-day weather window to make it to Great Inagua, the southernmost island of the Bahamian chain, then down through the Windward Passage, an almost 400-nautical-mile trip. The stop at Great Inagua had to be a quick one. The anchorage at Mathew Town is exposed to all but east winds, and the roll is tolerable only under light conditions. The weather window opened up. Journey and another yacht, Fidelis, left Clarence Town bound for Great Inagua on an overnight sail. The wind was manageable but the seas were quite rough, with waves from every direction. Towards the end of the afternoon, the constant banging on the waves caused Journey's boom vang to snap off the boom, crashing onto the deck and cracking the salon hatch. As if that wasn't enough, our jib furler jammed, and would not unfurl. Great start! Luckily, we were close enough to an anchorage called Windsor Point, where we dropped our anchors in the dark, to deal with the problems the following morning. Well, we woke up to a beautiful clear-water anchorage, and two fishermen trying to sell us the freshest lobsters. Our captains worked all day taking care of the boom vang and the jib furler, and as a reward, we all had the best lobster dinner ever! We were underway early the next morning heading to Great Inagua. It was an uneventful overnight sail. We arrived early morning, we topped off fuel, water, provisioned, and checked out of the Bahamas, all in one long hot day. Then we spent a night in the rolliest anchorage ever. No surprise there! We were up with the sun, and on our way south through the Windward Passage to Haiti. We raised our sails minutes after leaving the anchorage. We had light steady wind on our port bow, the sea was calm, and we were filled with anticipation. As we got closer to the passage, Haiti and Cuba grew tall from the ocean floor. It was a welcome sight, after three months of beautiful but flat Bahamas. At dusk, we had Haiti on our port side and the sun setting behind Cuba on our starboard side. The ocean and the sky were painted with every shade of orange - unreal! I could almost hear Celia Cruz singing with her unequivocal raspy voice, and saying, "Azucar"! As the night fell upon us, so did the moon lighting up our path. Bright night with calm seas, almost eerie, with hardly any waves or even ripples. The haze over the mountains and the smell of fires burning filled the air. That smell followed us throughout our time in Haiti. There is a very busy commercial shipping channel in the Windward Passage. Be aware. We motored a bit, but sailed most of the way to the end of the passage, although we were expecting to lose some wind halfway south in the lee of Haiti. Our plan was to reach the southern tip of Haiti, and turn east at night, and take advantage of the lighter easterly winds, thanks to the katabatic effect. As we turned east, we had our last 50-plus nautical miles to go. We stayed only one mile offshore, to get as much protection from the trades as possible. We arrived at Ile-à-Vache, Haiti, by mid-morning. Our nine-day stay in Haiti was one of the most incredible experiences we have ever had. It gave us an insight into human perseverance and resilience, and we learned that no matter what one can always find joy and hope. Beautiful people, beautiful spot! We'll tell you more about that in next month's Compass.

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Windward Passage: A Maxi-yacht in Her Sixth Decade

Description.

by Randall Peffer. Photographs by Steve Jost. Design by Ronald Geisman

Conceived by a lumberman-sailor, drawn by a young and then-untested designer, and built of spruce on a Bahamian beach in 1968, the 73’ ocean-racing maxi-yacht WINDWARD PASSAGE had an improbable rise to stardom during her twenty-year racing career. When he first laid eyes on her soon after her completion, the legendary designer Olin Stephens called the yacht “a masterpiece.” In the ensuing years, WINDWARD PASSAGE and her crews roamed the planet, winning the world’s major ocean races and attracting legions of admirers and competitors. She continues today, stronger and swifter than built, as a world-cruiser.

"Publisher Rand Randall Peffer, who profiled WINDWARD PASSAGE for WoodenBoat magazine in 2021, now presents a book-length biography of the storied ocean racer. Randall Peffer, who profiled WINDWARD PASSAGE for WoodenBoat magazine in 2021, now presents a book-length biography of the storied ocean racer."

Published in association with WoodenBoat and printed in Italy on 100-lb stock, Windward Passage: A Maxi-yacht in Her Sixth Decade, is a lavish hardcover presentation, equal to the quality of the yacht itself.

Customer Reviews

The book is so very well done. It's obvious so much love and attention to detail went into making this beautiful account of Passage's story. I remember reading of her and her successes as a young man. This book tells so much more! The words and photos truly pay homage to a one of a kind and iconic vessel. Should be in every sailors library. M.S.Allen s/y Sonata

Windward passage was one of the last big boat constructive wood. It’s a beautiful boat when I was in college I used to sailed my Star by-when it was in Newport Beach California. The book is full of short stories, beautiful pictures and we brought me back 50 years in the past it’s a heavy book so your coffee table better be substantial I also remember the graciousness of the crew and the owners, allowing other sailors, and people to at least go on her decks and look around, especially during fundraisers for events

What an amazing boat, this should be made into a movie. The story about how it was build is fantastic.

Killer book about a legendary yacht.

A wonderful book with great stories

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Yacht: Windward Passage

Race: Sydney Hobart

See more from this race

One of the most beautiful and timeless yachts of the past fifty years, Windward Passage encountered a wind shift in the 1975 race, which they had not identified soon enough. They lost 20 minutes and could not make up the time against Kialoa III.

Winning the Sydney Hobart yacht race is not just about going fast but having the right strategy and adapting to ever-changing conditions.

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Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

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