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Suzdal'
[Suzdal]

[Picture]
1024

Suzdal
is the region centre in Vladimir area, standing in 27 kilometers from Vladimir on the river Kamenka. The population is 12.1 thousand people. The town was the capital of Rostovo-Susdalsky state. In today's Suzdal there are more than 200 monuments of architecture, the life of the town in many respects is oriented to accomodation and services for the tourists.

To reach Suzdal is most convenient:
From St.-Petersburg by train going to Nizhni Novgorod (1 departure per day) up to station Vladimir.

From Moscow by suburban train to Vladimir (3,5 hours).

From Vladimir there are regular bus trips (30 min).

In the town there is a hotel and a whole complex for reception of the tourists.

Suzdal is famous for an amazing amount of monasteries and churches constructed on the small area.

Suzdal is a town-museum.

In the boundless fields on the bank of the shallow river Kamenka there is an ancient town of Suzdal. The river in these places loops and forms some peninsulas surrounded by water on three sides. Probably, this circumstance has predetermined the foundation the of a town just in this place. The river could be used as an additional barrier on the way of enemies. On one of these peninsulas there is the Kremlin. Presently the Kamenka has not lost its strategic significance, and on the adjacent peninsula a tourist complex was erected. The main urban constructions are concentrated on the left bank of the Kamenka, and are divided by two main highways. One goes from the north, from Ivanovo to the south, to Vladimir. The other starts from the central square and goes to the east. If you go along this road approximately five kilometers it is possible to reach the village of Kideksha, in which an ancient church and a decorative stone wall were reconstructed. In the outskirts the town turns into village with typical wooden houses and vegetable-gardens. The banks of the Kamenka in some places lift high above the water, as though creatibng a pedestal for large-scale urban constructions. The views of the Spaso-Efimiev monastery from the Pokrovsky monastery (the former stands on the higher coast) and vice versa are beautiful. The ancient town-planners skillfully used the features of the relief for greater monumentality of their constructions.

The cathedral of Boris and Gleb.
Within such small area of Suzdal there are 4 monasteries and one Kremlin. When you go through the town, at least, one of them, and some small separately standing churches are constantly seen. So the expression "town-museum" more than corresponds to the facts. And as well as in any museum, in the town there are "the exhibits". They are perfect products of ancient architecture, which "are much better" than real life. But, nevertheless, it is necessary to visit Suzdal to see the monuments of architecture in an excellent condition, not in ruins, as they are in lots of places, which are not included in "the Golden Ring". Another interesting fact. On the town plans published in 1990 across the river Kamenka there are much more bridges than are actually constructed. I had to "take a walk" along the river about kilometer because of the absence of the bridge indicated on the map.

Suzdal is convenient for visiting together with a lot of cities of "the Golden Ring", located nearby. The bus terminal where buses come from other cities, is located rather far from the centre on the way to Kideksha. In the town there are bus routes, but I wouldn't advise you to use them, as the buses are seldom, and it poses no problem to cross all the town on foot.

Pages of History

The Pokrovsky monastery.
The date of birth of the cities, of which the exact time of foundation is not known, is considered the first of survived up to our time mention of them in any annals. In one of them it is said that in 1024 after a poor harvest, in Suzdal and it's neighbourhoods a revolt broke out. Jaroslav Mudry arrived from the capital Kiev to suppress it. The annals do not tell us how Jaroslav has suppressed the revolt, by wisdom or by force, but the disorders were stopped. Probably, the life in the town flowed peacefully and rather richly till 1024, otherwise we would have found the earlier mentions about the existence of the town. There were fertile lands around, numerous fields near the woods, the river was flowing. Nearby there were the trade routes. In a word, there were all conditions for quiet and wealthy life in a remote place of Kiev Russia, in a thousand kilometers from the capital. It proceeded this way till 1054, when the legendary governor of Kiev died. Jaroslav's children divided all everything brotherly. The brother Vsevolod received Suzdal, Rostov, Belosersk and a lot of other towns, and later his grandson‚Vladimir, more known as Monomakh inherited these cities. Monomakh returned Suzdal to Mstislav, but Mstislav prefered Novgorod. Eventually, the town passed to Jurij Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. In 1096 prince Oleg Chernigovsky encroached on Monomakh's territories and seized a part of them. Having found out that Mstislav was going from Novgorod to punish him, Oleg retreated and set the unprotected Suzdal on fire. "Justice", as always, triumphed, the lands returned to their owners, but the town had to be built up anew. However in ten years the town again had problems. This time from Volga the Bulgarians came, devastated the neighbourhoods and besieged Suzdal. In 1108 Monomakh came to Suzdal and get his territory back. Some time later small Urij grew up and became a strong prince, the ruler of Rostovo-Suzdalsky country. He constructed his residence in Kidekscha (5 kms from Suzdal) and erected an earthen wall with oak palings around the town. Round these fortifications there were the moats, connected with the river Kamenka. Soon after Urij's death (he was poisoned after realizing his dream to seize Kiev) the capital of the country was transferred to Vladimir, but Suzdal continued to grow, around it the new monasteries were created, the fortifications were repaired.

The Nadvratnaja church of the Pokrovsky monastery. The 16th century.
However, the fortifications turned out to be powerless against Tatar-mongol's hordes. Mongols attacked at once Vladimir and Suzdal (1238), and the army of the latter was at this time in a campaign (from which it did not return). The town was seized, burned down, and the peoples were killed or captivated. For some time the town paid tribute independently, and in 1392 Moscow prince received from Mongolian khan the right to govern Suzdal. Obviously, it was difficult for the khan to collect levies from the minor states and he started uniting Russian states. Since then the town lost the independence forever, but it didn't find piece. The invaders continued to attack Suzdal, causing a bad damage.

In the 16th century the stone construction in the town began to grow, Ivan Grozny personally came here. This testified to the high status of Suzdal.

The beginning of the 17th century was unsuccessful for the town. In 1611 after semi-annual siege Suzdal was destructed by Polish and Lithuanian invaders led by Lisovsky. In 1634 Suzdal suffered an attack of Crimean tatars. And in 1644 town was given as a dowry to the Danish prince Voldemar, future husband of princess Irina. In 1654 a plague completed to ruin the town, having exterminated almost half of all the population.

The gallery of the Pokrovsky cathedral of the Pokrovsky monastery. The 16th century.
From the end of the 17th century the period of a heyday of the town began. The monasteries were surrounded by stone walls, the numerous stone cathedrals were erected. The wall around Spassky monastery the wall had 12 towers!

In 1788, in the time of Ekaterina the Great, the new plan of the town was set up. On the map of Suzdal there were rectangular quarters and long direct streets. In the town in that time there were 17 tanning, 3 brick and 7 malt factories, a silk factory and 138 shops. The cultural establishments were represented by 4 monasteries, 12 inns and 34 churches. All this together promoted further growth of the town, up to 1862. That year the railway was built, but it bypassed Suzdal.

Already in the days, close to our time, in the 60th years of the 20th century the steps to make Suzdal the tourist Mecca were taken. Lots of monuments were restored, a necessary tourist infrastructure was constructed. In fact< for a while the stream of the tourists was rather great. Probably, hereafter tourism again will begin to bring to the town a noticeable income.

Places of Interest

Kremlin..

The Kremlin.
When I saw for the first time the cathedral of Nativity of Our Lady (in that time it was just being restored), it seemed to me that I can all day look at it's dark blue domes. The cathedral, standing in the middle of the Kremlin, was constructed in the 12th century. However, later it was rebuilt, and we can see it such as it was since 1530, when under the order of Moscow king Vasilij III, the cathedral was restored after the raid of Kazan khan. The cathedral is also known thanks to its "Golden gates". The doors of the gates are divided into squares, in each of which the pictures are represented. The age of the gates is about 700 years. In due course they were richly decorated with gold. The gates were put in the western and southern parts of the cathedral. The walls of the cathedral are decorated with decorative columns and stone carving. To approach the cathedral it is necessary to go inside of a belt of the Kremlin walls, which seem very low, unsufficient toa guard the town. On the contrary, the Spaso-Efimievsky monastery have strong fortifications. Round the Kremlin here and there the residuals of ancient survived earthen shaft, wich haven't suffered much from the destructive effect of time. Today on the territory of the Kremlin there is a museum, which takes some premises, including the Archiereiskie chambers - the residence of the clirical government. In 1635 on the territory of the Kremlin the belfry was erected. This is a very massive and low structure. It is connected with Archiereiskie chambers with gallery, so that clergy could reach the place of work without leaving the premises. Opposite to the Kremlin on the other bank of the Kamenka stands the museum of wooden architecture one of the best in the country.

Spaso-Efimievsky monastery

The Spaso-Efimjevsky monastery.
In 1352 to the north of the town centre on the high bank of Kamenka Spaso-Efimievsky monastery was founded. It was done under the order of Suzdal-Nizhniy Novgorod's prince Konstantin. The monastery was designed as a fortress and was originally surrounded with a wooden wall (desroyed by the Poles). The today's reddish brick walls of the monastery were erected in 4 years (1640-1644). The high-power fortifications have 12 towers constructed with allowance of possibilities of the artillery, which appeared in that time. When the monastery lost its significance as a fortress, it found a new application - it became a prison. And this place acquired ill reputation. In 1905 the prison was abolished.

All the complex of monastery constructions is in an excellent condition. Behind the walls there can be seen the Spaso-Preobragensky temple, Uspenskaia church (1525), monastery household and residential constructions and the belfry. Presently the belfry is completely restored, and bells hang on it again. You may be lucky to attend a bell-music concert.

Near the walls of the monastery prince Pozharsky was buried. His funeral was held in 1642, but the tombstone on the grave was built only in 1974.

On the other coast of Kamenka, opposite Spaso-Efimiev monastery, in 1364 Pokrovsky nunnery was founded. The nunnery was used as a place of the exile for the noble women and even of the wives of great princes. The local inhabitants tell a legend, that between the monastery and the nunnery there was an underground course, which was made by the monks and the nuns to meet, and it is said that the women dug 2/3 of the way, and man - only 1/3. But such an underground course is a complicated technical structure. And such a legend is the obvious absence of understanding of psychology of the people, leaving in the monastery. More plausible seems the existence of another underground structure - prison.

The ensemble of the monastery consists of white-stone walls with 9 spherical towers, unique Blagoveshchenskaja church, several monastery buildings, Pokrovsky cathedral, Zachatievskaja church. Today in the monastery it is possible to see the monks, though main today's purpose of the monastery is to be a museum.

The third nunnery is Risopolozhenny. It was based in 1207 by Suzdal bishop Ioan. However, in the 16th century the wooden constructions were replaced by stone. Main sight of this monastery are "the Sacred gates" in the southern wall, facing the town. It is better not to come inside of wall - the restoration is not completed, and the monuments of old time afflict with their condition. On the territory of this monastery there is the belfry (1819) 72 meters in height, contrasting with all the architecture of the ancient town. In my opinion, this structure is completely inappropriate and has no architectural dignities. Most likely, creating it, the founders wanted to show, that in Suzdal they can build not worse, than in metropolitan St. Petersburg, therefore the town has acquired the construction alien to it.

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