Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius
Suzdal
Founded in the 14th century to protect the town’s northern entrance, Suzdal’s biggest monastery grew mighty in the 16th and 17th centuries after Vasily…
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Golden Ring
Touring the Golden Ring, a string of medieval towns northeast of Moscow, is like settling into the comforting arms of Mother Russia: it's a bucolic realm of whitewashed churches with golden onion domes, rippling meadows blanketed with flowers, and samovars bubbling away in colourful gingerbread cottages. In contrast to Moscow's cosmopolitan chaos, these ancient towns are a cultural salve for the Slavic soul: you'll find the spiritual heart of the Orthodox Church here, as well as historic architecture, religious art, traditional cooking and time-honoured handicrafts. Centuries ago this was the power core of eastern Kyivan Rus, but it declined as Moscow took political centre stage. Largely untouched by Soviet industrialisation, it now attracts flocks of Russian tourists searching for a lost idyll.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
Church of the Intercession on the Nerl
Golden Ring
Tourists and pilgrims all flock to Bogolyubovo, just 12km northeast of Vladimir, for this perfect little jewel of a 12th-century church standing amid a…
Suzdal
The grandfather of the Moscow Kremlin, this citadel was the 12th-century base of Prince Yury Dolgoruky, who ruled the vast northeastern part of Kyivan Rus…
Golden Ring
This red-brick former water tower contains a multistorey exhibit of everyday objects from Vladimir's history (no English signage); the display of old…
Golden Ring
Set dramatically high above the Klyazma River, this simple but majestic piece of pre-Mongol architecture is the legacy of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the…
Trinity Monastery of St Sergius
Sergiev Posad
In 1340 St Sergius of Radonezh founded this lavra (senior monastery), which soon became the spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy. St Sergius was credited…
Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour
Yaroslavl
Founded in the 12th century, the Unesco-listed Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour was one of Russia’s richest and best-fortified monasteries…
Golden Ring
Rostov-Veliky’s main attraction is unashamedly photogenic. Though founded in the 12th century, most of the buildings date to the 1670s and 1680s.
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