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Yaroslavl is a big town, so probably you'll prefer public transport to walking to move around the city. However, it's better to walk around the old historical center. Svobody street goes from the main railway station to the centrum, and finishes between the Red square and Spassky monastery, which are about 1 kilometer apart. If you walk another 700 meters straight ahead, you'll come on the embankment of Volga river, there are many interesting old houses, churches and museums. The oldest part of the city includes the architectural ensemble of the Strelka (the place where the Kotorosl river flows into the Volga), built in 1658-68, two-story Metropolitan's Chambers (1680s), the Church of Elijah and Tikhon (1825-31), Church of the Savior -na-Gorodu (1672), and Church of St. Nickols Rublenny (of-the-logs),built in 1695. As most of the ancient Russian towns Yaroslavl was originally a wooden fortress.
Yaroslavl starts from the Spassky monastery (Saviour monastery), that was founded in the 12th century at the place where Kotorosl river meets Volga river. The main entrance to the monastery were the Saint gates (Svyatye vorota), that were built in 1516, but were changed since then (the decorations and the small church on top were added in 1621). The monastery was surrounded by powerful walls, parts of which you can see nowadays (they are almost 400 years old). The main church of the monastery is also the oldest building left in Yaroslavl: Spaso-Preoprazhensky cathedral (Savior Transfiguration cathedral), which is almost 500 years old (the foundation is 800 years old). It was built very skillfully in the best traditions of Russian architecture of the time. It was the idea of the creators, that the cathedral will be different, depending from which side you to look at it: the domes are put non-symmetrically, there are different arches and various paintings on the different sides of the cathedral. The Transfiguration of the Saviour Cathedral (1506-1516, decorated with wall-paintings in 1563-1564), the Holy Gate (1516), the Bell Tower, the Refectory and the Cross (Nativity) Church were built after a fire. In a rich library an original old Russian epic “The Lay of Igor's Host” was found in the 1780s.
Nowadays, on the territory of the monastery there's also a museum of history of Yaroslav region, and an exhibition of ancient Russian paintings, crafts, old hand-written and printed books.
Spassky monastery: 25, Bogoyavlenskaya sq. Phones: (4852) 30-38-69. Open hours: 10.00-17.30, day off: monday.
Next to the monastery there's the richly decorated Epiphany church (Tserkov Bogoyavleniya). Built in the end of the 17th century, this church had more Moscovitan than Yaroslavl look.If you walk from the monastery to the direction of Volga river you'll see the white Church of Ilia the Prophet (Tserkov Ilii Proroka) with five green domes. It was built in 1647-1650, and is considered to be one of the main sights in Yaroslavl. The main attraction are the fresoes made by Gury Nikitin and Sila Slavin – the famous masters from Kostroma, who decorated at least one church in every Golden Ring town in the 17th century. The frescoes depict the life of saints.
The Tolgsky Monastery Ensemble (17-19 c.c.) is situated on the left bank of the Volga River. The Tolgsky Monastery was founded at the beginning of the 14 c. on the occasion of the appearance of the icon of the Holy Virgin. As the legend has it, in 1553 Ivan the Terrible was cured there. Right before the Millenium of the Christening of Russ in 1987 the revival of the cloister as a nunnery started there.
Remarkable in its beauty the church ensemble in Korovniki (middle of the 17th-18th centuries) embellished the Korovnitskaya Sloboda (settlement), at the mouth of the Kotorosl River. The oldest building of the complex is the Winter Church of St. John the Chrysostom. Between the two churches there is a 37m high bell tower (1680s). For its height and slender shape the citizens called it the “Yaroslavl candle”.
A unique peculiarity of the Governor's House is the park-museum “Governor's Garden”, where modern sculpture is represented, flower exhibitions are organized and music is often heard.
In the first private museum of Russia “Music and Time”, owned by G.Mostoslavsky, a unique collection of old clocks, musical instruments, bells and domestic utensils is presented.
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