Rostov

 

 

Location: Yaroslavl Oblast

Population: 31,000

 

Transportation

Hotels, motels and where to sleep

Restaurant, taverns and where to eat

 

Description of Rostov

Rostov the Great is one of the oldest cities in Central Russia. Many confuse it with another, southern Rostov, although it is enough to know that there is a Kremlin in Rostov Veliky, which Rostov-on-Don does not and could not have. The Rostov Kremlin is a rare example of light architectural kitsch and one of the most characteristic views of the old, pre-Petrine Rus'. In addition to the unusual Kremlin, the city has a number of monasteries and temples of the 16th-18th centuries, as well as surprisingly well-preserved ordinary buildings. Rostov stands on the shores of the large lake Nero and fits well into its landscape. The city is included in the route of the Golden Ring of Russia.

Located on the shores of Lake Nero, Rostov is very picturesque, and even after visiting its most important sights - and one day is not enough for them - you will find something to do here, at least for another day. Or you will definitely come back here. Rostov was lucky, and during the years of Soviet power, its historical center retained both the old layout and most of the historical buildings, represented by stone public buildings in the center and wooden residential buildings on the periphery. Of course, the historical center was not without interspersed with the heritage of the Soviet era, but the chamber dimensions of the houses of that era somewhat smooth out the dissonance they introduce. The modern elite is also writing its own chapter in the history of local construction, creating grandiose cottages, the owners of which hide their mansions behind high opaque fences either out of fear or shame in front of less prosperous fellow citizens.

 

Orientation

The center of the city is the Kremlin (bishop's court), which is adjoined from the north by the former trading square. Almost everything of interest is located within a few hundred meters from the Kremlin, and the Kremlin itself, in turn, is located a few hundred meters from the shore of the lake. In the areas east of the Kremlin, the concentration of historical buildings is such that it makes sense to inspect all the streets, since there are not many of them. Outside the center are the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery and the Church of the Savior on the Sands, to which you go a couple of kilometers along the lake to the southeast, as well as the Avraamievsky Monastery, which is about the same distance, but to the northwest. There is no embankment in the strict sense of the word, that is, an asphalt road running along the shore of the lake, in Rostov, but it is possible and recommended to walk along the shore. Finally, the Church of St. John the Theologian on Ishna and the Varnitsa Monastery are located quite far from the center: you need to go to them by public transport or by car, or count on a long walk that will take several hours.

City Information and Tourist Center , st. Stone bridge, 7. ☎ +7 (48536) 6-57-03. 9:00–17:00 except Sun.

 

Rostov History

Early history of Rostov traditionally begins with appearance of Sarskoye Gorodishche or Citadel of Sara. It is  modern name reflecting that the village was established on the banks of Sara river that flows into Nero Lake. Today it is situated south of Medieval Rostov Kremlin. First inhabitants of these lands were Merya tribe. This group of indigenous inhabitants of Eastern part of European Russia belonged to Volga Finn groups of native population and eventually mixed with Slavs forming modern ethnicity known as Russians. Merya settlement was a diverse community. Archaeological digs in the area proved that Vikings used Sara as one of the most important site for trading route between Northern Europe (and Scandinavia) and Middle East.

 

Russian historic records indicate that in 862 AD when Rurik was invited to rule over Slavic tribes, Rostov was already an important town. In 1207 Rostov became the capital city of independent Russian state. Under leadership of Constantine Vsevolodovich (1214- 1231) Rostov became one of the most powerful principalities of medieval Rus. Unlike other Russian cities Rostov didn't provide any resistance of Mongol- Tatar forces during their invasion in 1230's, however its residents started a rebellion against Tatar yolk in 1262 as a protest against high taxes. Rebellion was quickly defeated and the city plundered by the Mongol armies. During Battle of Kulikovo with the Tatars armies from Rostov joined a coalition of Russian princes against a common enemy. This time they were victorious and wiped out much of the enemy army.

 

Rostov however remained a town on frontiers of the Russian principalities. It was again besieged and captured by enemy troops under leadership of Tatar ruler Edigu in 1408. Rostov was reconstructed and grew in size. Moscow Principality started to take Rostov lands in the late 14th century through marriage or simply by buying it. Eventually in 1474 the whole state became part of Muscovy Principality. During Time of Trouble after death of the last tsar from the Rurik dynasty, Rostov was captured by the armies of the Polish armies.

 

Rostov was an important site of religious site in a life of a Russian Orthodox Church. In the 14th century its spiritual leaders gained a status of archbishops and in 1589 they became known as Metropolitans. In the 18th century metropolitan title of Rostov Veliky or Rostov the Great was transferred to Yaroslavl. However Rostov still remained an important trading town in the region.

 

Rostov Travel Destinations

Monastery of Saint Boris and Gleb (Борисоглебский монастырь)

Holy Trinity Sergiev Barnickiy Monastery (Троице-Варницкий монастырь)

Abraham Monastery (Авраамиев Богоявленский монастырь)

Spasso- Yakovlevsky Monastery (Спасо-Яковлевский монастырь)

The main attraction of Rostov is the monasteries and temples of the 16th-19th centuries. There are dozens of well-preserved pre-revolutionary buildings in the city. The vast majority of them are located inside the former city rampart, that is, directly in the Kremlin, to the north and east of the Kremlin, as well as on Leninskaya Street, leaving the Kremlin to the west.

Rostov Kremlin
Rostov Kremlin (Ростовский Кремль) (Metropolitan's Court, Bishop's Court). 10:00–17:00, on Fridays and Saturdays, the Kremlin courtyard and the museum drawing room are open until 20:00; Kremlin walls and temple frescoes are only available from May to September. Entrance to the territory: 70 rubles, individual expositions: 60-200 rubles, single ticket: 650-700 rubles. The most notable object of Rostov is the Metropolitan Court, better known as the Rostov Kremlin. It is not a Kremlin (in the sense of a fortress), and from the very beginning it was built as the residence of the Rostov metropolitan. Although the Kremlin is surrounded by an outer wall, it was immediately clear that no one would ever attack it, so the walls with towers have a purely decorative function - for example, there are simply no loopholes in them. The Kremlin is divided into three parts: the ancient Cathedral Square adjoins the Bishops' Court, fenced with high walls, from the north, and the Metropolitan Garden with the Church of Gregory the Theologian from the south. Most of the buildings that have come down to us were built in 1670-1683. under Metropolitan Ion Sysoevich, therefore, a real architectural ensemble with towers, churches and various auxiliary premises turned out. In 1787, the metropolitan's chair was transferred to Yaroslavl, and the Rostov Kremlin was not used at all for a long time, or was used for who knows how. Only at the end of the 19th century, attention was paid to it, restored, and in 1883 a museum was opened, which to this day occupies most of the premises.
From May to September, you can see three well-preserved fresco ensembles in the Kremlin - in the Church of the Resurrection, the Church of St. John the Evangelist and the Church of the Savior on Senya. Made in blue tones and occupying all available areas of the walls and ceiling inside the church, they make a strong impression. The Kremlin is an absolute must-see: you might miss something else in Rostov, but if you haven't seen the Kremlin, then consider yourself wasting your time. For a family visit, the Metropolitan Garden, the observation deck on the Water Tower and the passages along the walls of the Kremlin are recommended. Thus, you can not buy a single ticket, but only see the most interesting. Museum expositions will attract mainly lovers of icon painting and archeology. The view from the observation deck on the Water Tower is much better than from the Cathedral belfry of the Assumption Cathedral. On the territory there are a couple of small cramped cafes and a good restaurant of Russian cuisine "Collection", a visit to which can be a good excuse to enter the territory for free, as well as in the evening when the Kremlin is closed to visitors.

Assumption Cathedral   (Northern section of the Kremlin). The cathedral is the oldest surviving building in Rostov. It was built in 1508-1512, and during the construction, the ruins of an older cathedral, apparently from 1161, were used, and the restoration later discovered frescoes as far back as the 12th century. There was no Kremlin then, and in this case, Iona Sysoevich specially chose a place for the bishop's court next to the Assumption Cathedral, which at that time was the cathedral of the Rostov and Yaroslavl diocese. The cathedral is brick (the plinth and some details are made of white stone), five-domed and, as it should be for a building of the 15th century (for example, the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin are an example of this style), it has a laconic exterior decor. Bulb domes - and the nobility of their form, perhaps, surpasses all the onions of the country - appeared under Metropolitan Jonah, replacing the former helmet-shaped ones. Inside are the iconostasis of the 18th century and the burials of famous princes and bishops - among them the legendary Prince Vasilko, nephew of Sergius of Radonezh, and Iona Sysoevich himself. The cathedral is active, taken out of the museum-reserve and available free of charge throughout the day, but it is better to admire the temple from the outside: inside it is undergoing a sluggish restoration, creating tightness and unkemptness, and the safety of the interior leaves much to be desired.
In the belfry, attached to the cathedral in 1682-1687, there is the Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem and an observation deck (100 rubles must be paid to the gatekeeper for the entrance). 15 bells of the belfry and ancient melodies of holiday bells are a matter of special pride for museum workers of the Rostov Kremlin.

Hodegetria Church  (near the northern wall of the middle section of the Kremlin). This is the youngest (built in 1692-1693, already under Metropolitan Joasaph, who replaced Ion Sysoevich) and, probably, the most spectacular church of the Bishop's Court, it is distinguished by its unusual coloring - yellow rhombuses on a white background create a sense of relief. Single-domed, two-storey, rectangular in plan, the church is adjacent to the previously built wall of the Bishop's Court and differs from the rest of the temples by an open balcony running along the perimeter of the upper floor. The church itself occupies the second floor, and its interior is notable for its stucco cartouches framing nearly dead murals. Currently used as a museum.
Resurrection Church (near the northern wall of the middle section of the Kremlin). This, on the contrary, is the first church built under Ion Sysoevich in 1670. The Church of the Resurrection is over the gate, it stands above the Northern Gate of the Bishop's Court. In addition to the five-domed church itself, there are gates with three bays, two towers on both sides of the gate, and a gallery. There is a small belfry on the wall near the church. Inside, the entire church is painted with frescoes, made simultaneously with the construction of the church by unknown masters, presumably by the team of Gury Nikitin.

Church of John the Evangelist (near the western wall of the central segment of the Kremlin). Above the western gate stands the Church of St. John the Evangelist, the construction of which was completed in 1683. It is considered the most perfect creation of the Ionian masters and is a rather complex structure: the gate from below leads to the Kremlin not directly, but at an angle, a gallery leads to the second floor. Outside, the church is decorated with decorations, inside it is completely painted with frescoes.

Red Chamber (State mansions) (middle section of the Kremlin, in the southwestern corner). The largest civil building (chamber) of the Kremlin was built in the 1670s and adjoins the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Initially, it was built as a guest courtyard, but after the transfer of the episcopal chair to Yaroslavl, it was not used for its intended purpose. In the 19th century there was a warehouse here. The building has a rather non-trivial architecture and stands at a corner. Its most recognizable element is the carved porch leading to the second floor.
Judgment order (near the Church of the Resurrection). The former administrative building (1650-1660) is one of the oldest in the complex. However, it cannot be attributed to the most interesting outwardly; Outside decor, although there is, but rather minimalistic.
House on the cellars, near the eastern wall of the middle section of the Kremlin. Residential building of the 17th century. The lower floor is brick, the upper is wooden. The inside is now a hotel.

Samuilov Corps (center of the middle section of the Kremlin). This building is significantly younger than most of its neighbors. You may have to visit it, as there is a museum of enamel on the second floor. In addition, on the third floor there is an art gallery with a small and relatively standard collection of Russian paintings: however, this is an unusual luxury for a regional center.

Church of the Savior on Senyah (south of the Samuil Corps). Former home church of the Rostov metropolitans. It was built in 1675 and stands on a high basement, that is, the entrance to it is at the level of the second floor of neighboring buildings. At the entrance level there is the so-called ambush - a platform connecting the church with the Samuil building and the adjacent White Chamber, a small building from about the same time and rather complex architecture with external decoration. The Church of the Savior itself is primarily remarkable for its frescoes, created simultaneously with the construction of the church by Dmitry Grigoriev, Fedor and Ivan Karpov from Yaroslavl. All accessible surfaces inside the building are painted, the fresco of the Last Judgment on a separate wall makes a particularly strong impression.

Church of Gregory the Theologian (in the southern section of the Kremlin). The church was built in 1680 and belonged to the Grigorievsky monastery that stood here. It is of the usual Moscow architecture, five-domed, but almost without decor, typical for other buildings of the Kremlin.

Water tower. Apr-Oct 150 rubles; + museum cinema + transition along the eastern wall: 250 rubles. If you love panoramic photography, this is the place for you. The observation deck on the tower can be reached by walking along a narrow and steep interior staircase, and then overcoming a slightly less steep wooden staircase. The main reward will be an excellent view of the Church of the Savior on Senyakh against the backdrop of the lake, but the panorama of Rostov is also worthy of the attention of lovers of views from a height.

Kremlin walls. 120 rub. A walk along the transitions of the walls of the Kremlin starts from the Church of the Resurrection, and the route itself runs along the perimeter of the walls to the White Chamber, from where, leaving on the gulbish, you will find yourself in the Church of the Savior on Senya. Her visit, as well as the inspection of the murals of the Church of the Resurrection and the Church of John the Evangelist, are included in the price of the walk. Well, amateur photographers are additionally offered less hackneyed angles of the Rostov Kremlin.

 

Around the Kremlin

Earth ramparts. From the side opposite the lake, the Kremlin is surrounded by a rampart running from west to east almost continuously. Inside the rampart ring there is also a trading area and several quarters of regular buildings. The ramparts were here even before Iona Sysoevich, they were originally built in 1632-34. for the old fortress, and designed by the Dutchman Jan Cornelis van Rodenburg, specially ordered to Russia. This is clearly visible: in terms of plan, the shaft has the shape of a nine-pointed star and resembles the fortification of European cities, especially Dutch ones - for example, Zwolle. You can even distinguish the bastions, although no structures on the rampart have been preserved. Why the rampart was built is not very clear: in the 1630s, there was absolutely no one to defend Rostov from. Apparently, it was an experiment to see if such fortresses could be built in Russia. We do not know the result of the experiment, but, in any case, they did not return to it before Peter. The completely unnecessary fortress became, however, decisive in the formation of a plan for regular development of the 18th century: a horseshoe-shaped market square overlooking the lake was organized, from which 11 radial streets fanned out. Now the ramparts are the core of a large park area located between the city center and Okruzhnaya Street.

Church of the Ascension of the Lord (Isidore the Blessed on the ramparts), st. Karl Marx, 25a (northeast of the Kremlin). According to legend, in the 15th century, the German holy fool Isidor Tverdoslov came to Rostov on foot and, having converted to Orthodoxy, settled in a hut in a swamp. He became famous for his asceticism and numerous miracles, and therefore a wooden church was erected over his grave near the former hut in 1474. In 1566, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the old church was replaced with a stone one. It was built by Andrei Maloy, who, according to legend, was executed by the tsar after the completion of work because the stone church turned out to be smaller than the wooden one. According to the device, the one-domed, pillarless church with cross-vaults repeats the contemporary Moscow township churches. In the 19th century, a vestibule, a chapel and a tiered bell tower were added to it. The murals were made around the 1720s, at the same time the original carved iconostasis was dismantled, and a new one was made in its place with wall painting. In the 1930s, the church was closed and services resumed only at the beginning of the 21st century. Inside, the ancient royal gates have been preserved, and the relics of Isidore the Blessed are still kept in the silver tomb. The ramparts mentioned in the name of the church surround it from almost all sides and are either the remains of an unfinished earthen fortress of the late 16th century, or a curtain wall of the 17th century fortress, made specifically to protect the church. Nov 2020 edit

Shopping arcade, st. 50 years of October (near the outer side of the northern wall of the Kremlin). In any self-respecting county town of European Russia, shopping arcades should have stood on the main square, and Rostov is no exception. Its main square adjoins the Kremlin, and many shopping arcades have been preserved. They make up three complexes. The oldest ones stand directly at the northern wall, parallel to them, but a little further, occupying a whole block. The side opposite the Kremlin wall is called the Yemelyanovsky Rows, after the names of the owners, the Yemelyanovs (1780-1798, architect Levenhagen), the rest of the buildings belonged to other merchants. Finally, to the east is Gostiny Dvor (1841, architect Melnikov). All rows are in good condition and used for their intended purpose.

Church of the Savior at the Market (Church of the Savior of the Holy Image at the Market (Ruznaya Church)), Sovetsky Lane, 6. The church was built in 1685-1690 and, apparently, did not have its own parish, but was used by merchants who traded nearby. At the same time, the Kremlin was being built, in the ensemble of which the church fits well. This is a five-domed temple on a high basement, similar to the Church of Gregory the Theologian in the Kremlin. The walls are decorated with decor. There is no iconostasis inside, and the icons of the 18th century are written directly on the wall - however, salaries were made for them later, so it is almost imperceptible. The bell tower was added in the 19th century.

Church of Boris and Gleb, 3rd passage of Tolstovskaya embankment (south of the Kremlin). Built in 1761, the baroque church lost its bell tower and dome during the Soviet period. It is interesting not so much in itself, but because it stands on the rampart of the 17th century and on the foundation of the pre-Mongolian temple. Presumably it was the home church of the Rostov princes. However, it is not yet possible to see the foundation. In a brighter future, it may be reopened and opened to the public.

Church of St. Nicholas on Podozerye, st. Sakko, 20 (east of the Kremlin). The parish church was built in 1745 and has a rather simple composition: the main temple is square in plan (chetverik) with one cupola, a low refectory connects it with a two-tiered bell tower. The dome and spire of the bell tower were destroyed in Soviet times and restored only recently.

Nativity Monastery  Wikidata item, Sovetskaya Sq. 14 (slightly east of the Kremlin). The monastery was founded at the end of the XIV century by Fyodor of Rostov, now it functions as a female monastery. The first stone church of the monastery was the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, built under Ion Sysoevich at the end of the 17th century. Construction, however, continued for quite a long time and ended only in 1702, and the cathedral was painted in 1715. The paintings have been preserved. The cathedral turned out to be one-domed and two-story, plus another dome stands above the large refectory. The Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (1842-1846) was heavily rebuilt in the 19th century and lost its domes. The monastery also preserved buildings and even a section of the wall with several towers. These buildings have come down to us from the 18th-19th centuries.
Belfry of the Vozdvizhenskaya Church, Sovetskaya Sq. 19a (east of the Kremlin). The four-tiered bell tower, built in the middle of the 19th century, belonged to the Exaltation Church, which was demolished under Soviet rule. The bell tower was saved by the fact that it was converted into a tower of the fire department, and in this capacity it has survived to this day.
Mytny yard (1836), st. Karl Marx, 30. In search of a fire tower, you will not pass by a huge square-shaped building framed by a covered arcade. This is the former Mytny Dvor, built in the era of urban redevelopment by the architect A.I. Melnikov. The building stands on one of the former fairgrounds and is now used by the central city market, which operates on even days of the week.

Gymnasium named after Kekin, st. Moravskogo, 6. Built by the architect P.A. Trubnikov in 1910 with funds bequeathed to the city by the St. Petersburg merchant Alexei Leontyevich Kekin (1838-1897). A native of Rostov, Kekin lost his son-heir and decided to invest in the construction of a male gymnasium in his native city. The main building of the gymnasium is designed in the neoclassical style, and the neighboring building connected with it, originally intended for the residence of teachers, is made in the Art Nouveau style. The gymnasium is still in use today.
Tolga Church (Church of John the Merciful), st. Decembrists, 11 (behind the rampart, northwest of the Kremlin). Former parish church built in 1761. The main volume is cubic with one cupola, next to the bell tower. This is the only church in Rostov that was not closed during the Soviet era, so it has kept the interiors. The iconostasis was created simultaneously with the construction of the church. Inside, the relics of the famous Rostov Saint John the Merciful, who died in 1582 and was initially buried near the wooden predecessor of the current church, the Church of St. Blaise on the Moat, are kept.

Church of St. Nicholas on Vspolya, st. Gogol, 13-a (in the suburb, outside the rampart). There was once the Sretensky Monastery, of which nothing remains, and the church was built in 1803-1813 on the site of burnt wooden churches, which, in turn, stood on the site of the monastery. This is a fairly standard church in the style of classicism, with a large dome (an octagon on a quadrangle) and an attached three-tiered bell tower with a spire. The church is active. If you manage to get inside, note that some of the icons are much older than the church itself. The iconostasis is said to include, among others, icons from the 15th and 16th centuries.

District street. The magnificent stone house at No. 18 (the house of P.V. Vanchagov) was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the Moscow architect P.A. Trubnikov for the manager of the Rolma factory P.V. Vanchagov. The building is considered the best example of Art Nouveau in Rostov, which can be easily seen by comparing it with other representatives of this genre, located on the same street at numbers 5, 21 and 51, the last two are also made of wood. Okruzhnaya street is built up only from the outside, and the houses on it, contrary to the usual rules, are numbered in a row.

 

Western edge

Leninskaya street. The former Moscow and Pokrovskaya streets run from the center in a western direction parallel to the embankment and are interesting for the buildings of the 18th-19th centuries in their middle part. The merchant estates of the Galashins (house No. 28), the Kekins (No. 32) - now the museum of the Rostov merchants, the Pleshanovs (No. 36) - now it is a hotel, Polezhaevs (No. 37) and Titovs (No. 56), Zemstvo hospital (No. 40) have been preserved here . On the street, you will certainly meet cute wooden houses, decorated with carvings with geometric and floral ornaments.
Church of the Intercession, st. Leninskaya, 31. Quite simple in architecture and lost during the years of Soviet power, the bell tower and side cupolas, a two-story church built in 1795.

Spaso-Yakovlevsky Dimitriev Monastery, st. Engels, 44 (on the shore of the lake to the west of the Kremlin). ☎ +7 (48536) 7-43-69. The only fortified monastery that has survived in Rostov is located on the shores of Lake Nero, a couple of kilometers from the Kremlin, and the easiest way to get to it is along the embankment. It was founded in 1389 by the Rostov Bishop Jacob, who, being expelled from the episcopal chair, settled here. Later he was canonized as a saint, and the veneration began almost after his death, and Jacob of Rostov was canonized in the 16th century. The monastery was closed in 1923 and reopened in 1991. Saints Abraham and Dmitry of Rostov are buried here. The oldest and most interesting building of the monastery is the Zachatievsky Cathedral built in 1686. This is a huge five-domed temple, decorated on the outside with patterns, and inside it was completely painted during construction by unknown Yaroslavl masters in the same blue tones as in the Rostov Kremlin. In addition to it, there are two more churches: the unusually shaped Dmitrievsky Cathedral (1795-1801) and the Yakovlevskaya Church, both in the style of classicism, a three-tiered bell tower of the 18th century, as well as buildings and a fence with pseudo-Gothic gates and towers. Women without a scarf will not be allowed into the monastery, but a scarf can be taken from the gatekeeper. Otherwise, the monastery pleases with a friendly attitude towards visitors and a willingness to show them not only Christian shrines, but also provide quite secular entertainment in the form of a walk along the fortress walls and an observation deck built on the southwestern tower. This is accompanied by magnificent views of the monastery buildings and panoramas of Lake Nero.

Church of the Savior on the Sands (Church of the Transfiguration), st. Engels, 44 (near the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery). The only building that has survived from the women's Spaso-Pesotsky Knyaginin Monastery that once stood here. The monastery was founded in the XIII century, and in 1764 it was abolished. The buildings were handed over to the neighboring Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery and gradually dismantled. The church was built in 1603, rebuilt in the 17th century (two lower tiers survived from the original building) and, in general, makes a strong impression. This is a five-domed temple on a high basement, decorated on the outside with rich decor. The church is closed, you can’t get close to it, but it can be clearly seen from the observation deck of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery.

 

Eastern outskirts

Proletarian street. This street is symmetrical to Leninskaya, but runs parallel to the coast to the east to the old Yaroslavl road. At the very end is the Rolma textile factory built at the end of the 19th century (house 86), behind which is the Avraamievsky Monastery. Several noteworthy merchant mansions have been preserved on the street (houses No. 14, 22, 21-23 and 46).
Church of Cosmas and Damian, Perovsky per. 8 (on the shore of the lake, halfway to the Avraamievsky Monastery). The brick church, quite simple in architecture, was built in 1775 on the site where the monastery of the same name was located in ancient times. Adjacent to it is a three-tier hipped bell tower, connected to the church by a one-story refectory, and this is the only hipped bell tower in the city. The decor is available, including brick architraves on the windows, but, of course, it is much poorer than the Kremlin churches. The church is worth seeing on the way to the Avraamievsky Monastery if you go to it along the lake shore.
Rostov Linen Manufactory ("Rolma"), st. Proletarskaya, 86. Founded in 1878 by the St. Petersburg merchant A.L. Kekin, who decided to create new jobs for the local population. Its strange second name is an abbreviation for the full name of the enterprise. At the end of the 19th century, a red-brick building was built for the factory, and at the beginning of the 20th century, an administrative building in the Art Nouveau style. In 1917, the manufactory was nationalized, it successfully worked until the 1970s, after which production volumes began to decline. At the beginning of the 21st century, the enterprise went bankrupt, and now the buildings arrive in a derelict state, although plans periodically arise in the city to use the available space.

Abraham Monastery, st. Zhelyabovskaya, 32 (on the shore of the lake, east of the Kremlin). The monastery was first mentioned in 1261. It is believed that it was founded by Abraham of Rostov at the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century. In 1929 it was closed, in 1993 it was reopened, in 2004 it was transformed into a women's one. Most of the monastery buildings, including the fence with towers, have not survived to this day, but three churches, for which it is worth visiting the monastery, still stand. In the center is the Cathedral of the Epiphany (the first stone building of the monastery), built in 1553-1555 in memory of the capture of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible: this is a huge five-domed church, a gallery with a bell tower is attached to it from the south. This type of church is typical for Yaroslavl, and the cathedral, apparently, was built by Yaroslavl craftsmen. The Vvedenskaya Church was built in 1650, already under Ion Sysoevich, but earlier than all his construction in the Kremlin. This is a one-domed temple of rather simple architecture. The Gateway Church of St. Nicholas dates back to 1691, but in the 19th century it was heavily rebuilt, losing its appearance. It is interesting mainly because the only two surviving towers of the old monastery fence are attached to it. Two service buildings were built in the 19th century.
Petrovsky Monastery, st. Leningradskaya, 13 (east of the Abraham Monastery). Several separate buildings have been preserved, and they are in a deplorable state. Currently being restored.

 

Behind the railroad

Two important Rostov sights are located on the other side of the railway, in fact outside the city and at the same time quite far from each other:

Church of St. John the Evangelist on Ishna. ☎ +7 (980) 653-03-81. May to September: Wed–Sun 10:00–17:00. The only old wooden church in the Yaroslavl region was built in 1687 in the suburbs of Rostov, in the small village of Bogoslov. Its dedication is connected with the local legend of the 11th century about the appearance of John the Theologian to Avramius of Rostov. Saint Abraham received from the apostle a miraculous rod, with which he crushed the terrible stone idol of Veles. The unusually harmonious location was the reason for another local legend, which says that the church itself sailed here from Lake Nero along the Ishna River and stood in its current place. It is also well preserved, having lost only the southern part of the unusual gallery on the consoles; the bell tower and boarding belong to the 19th century. If the church is open, it is worth visiting its interior. True, the original Royal Doors of 1652 by the master Isaiah were taken by the Rostov Museum, but the church has a copy of them, made in 1884 by V.L. Nikolsky.
How to get there: from the Rostov bypass turn to Shurskol and Zhoglovo, then after the railway crossing to the right to Bogoslov, from the center of Rostov 5-6 km. On foot, you can cut a little by walking along the path along the Ishni, but keep in mind that the area is very swampy, and it is impossible to get out of the church to the Borisoglebsky tract, although it is not far from the map.
Varnitsky Monastery (Trinity-Varnitsky Monastery)  (Savinskoye Highway, about 2 km from the railway station and about 3 km from the city center). The monastery was founded in 1427 in Varnitskaya Sloboda near Rostov by Archbishop Ephraim. Sergius of Radonezh was once born in Varnitsy, and the monastery was founded just after his death, presumably at the place where Sergius was born. Sloboda, in turn, is named after the salt pans that were here until the 17th century. Unlike other Rostov monasteries, nothing remained from the time of Iona Sysoevich, and the oldest building of the monastery - the Trinity Cathedral - was built in 1763-1771 in the Baroque style. In Soviet times, it was practically demolished and restored in 2000 from the ruins, as they say, as close as possible to its original forms. The Winter Vvedenskaya Church in the style of classicism appeared in 1826-1828, and this is the only surviving pre-revolutionary building of the monastery. In 1919, the monastery was closed and lay in ruins until the 1990s, after which it was restored and now functions as a courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

 

What to do

The main Rostov museum is the Kremlin, which shows historical expositions, a collection of secular paintings and icons, as well as an exhibition of enamel. In addition, there is a separate museum-shop of enamel at the factory, where you can try to book an excursion, including directly to the production.

1 Museum of Rostov merchants, st. Leninskaya, 32. Wed–Sun 10:00–17:00. 60 rub. Branch of the Rostov Kremlin Museum. Life of Rostov merchants and exhibition of porcelain. The most interesting photographs of the pre-revolutionary city.
2  Stable yard, st. Stone bridge, 1. Restored, or rather, rebuilt building of the end of the 17th century, which is planned to be used for temporary exhibitions from the collections of the Rostov Kremlin.

3 Museum of the Frog Princess, Leninskaya st. 20. 10:00–18:00. 150 rub. Not a single city of the Golden Ring can do without modern entertainment museums, and Rostov is no exception. The Museum of the Frog Princess at the hotel of the same name is designed for children who are introduced to the heroes of fairy tales and are entertained by theatrical performances. The museums "Lukova Sloboda" and "Pike Yard" with the corresponding restaurant are suitable for an older audience.
✦  Museum "Rostov Compound", st. 50 years of October, 7 (at the hotel). ☎ +7 (915) 966-17-26. 10:00–18:00 except Mon. 150 rub. Another museum, created at the hotel, reconstructs the atmosphere of a peasant hut, an old tavern, a Rostov fair, and even a traditional Meryan dwelling from the times preceding the founding of the city.
4 Russian Vertograd, st. Podozerka, 31. ✉ ☎ +7 (920) 139-37-83. 12:00–20:00. 100 rub. Under one roof, there is a museum of domestic life and an art gallery. The museum, which the creators themselves call the museum of old junk, presents chests, irons, samovars and, in general, everything that flourishes so much along the Golden Ring for the amusement of the mass tourist. The gallery also exhibits the works of the artist Mikhail Selishchev, who uses enamel, glass, wood, steel, ropes and, it seems, everything that comes to hand in his works. The artist himself, who is also the creator of the entire complex, is a personality far from being a provincial scale and maintains, no less, an English-language blog. Not the fact that you will like it here, but it is curious to at least look.

 


Transportation

Getting in

Rostov is located between Moscow and Yaroslavl an hour from the latter, so if you are heading by train from somewhere in the Urals or Siberia, then you will most likely go through Yaroslavl, and if you fly by plane, then most likely through Moscow. Yaroslavl also has an airport, but flights there are not every day, if at all.

By train
The city stands on the main line Moscow-Yaroslavl, where trains run very often, but not all of them stop in Rostov. From Moscow, it is most convenient to travel by express trains running 4-5 times a day to Kostroma and Yaroslavl, reaching Rostov in 2.5 hours. Ordinary long-distance trains cover the same distance in 3-3.5 hours. In any case, there is no problem leaving for Rostov in the morning and come back the same day in the evening.

From Yaroslavl, fast trains take 40-50 minutes, and besides them, electric trains run 4 times a day, but they are much slower and drag on to Rostov for almost an hour and a half. Some of these electric trains then follow to Aleksandrov (2 hours).

Railway station (station Rostov Yaroslavsky) , st. Dostoevsky, 1. ☎ +7 (48356) 3-23-86. Rostov greets travelers with a refurbished and very technologically advanced Soviet-era station building, the appearance of which in no way reminds you that you have arrived in one of the oldest cities in Central Russia. However, the station is decorated with a high spire with a boat - a symbol of the city. Buildings in the area of the station do not inspire optimism either. To the center 1.5 km along Lunacharskogo street; you can go by minibus number 3 or number 7, but the latter makes a big detour through the southwestern outskirts of the city.

By bus
All buses from Moscow to Yaroslavl stop in Rostov. From Moscow 4 hours, from Yaroslavl about an hour. From Yaroslavl, you can also take buses to Borisoglebsky passing through Rostov. You can go to Uglich once a day on a passing Yaroslavl bus, very rarely there are buses to Gavrilov-Yam through the village of Velikoye. There are no buses in the direction of the Ivanovo region. Current schedule.

Bus station (in the building of the railway station). ☎ +7 (48536) 3-54-76. Please note that the bus station is not the final destination for suburban buses, and some of them do not approach it at all.

By car
From Moscow (200 km) along the M8 Kholmogory highway through Pereslavl-Zalessky (65 km). From Yaroslavl (60 km) along the same Kholmogory highway. Local roads lead west to Uglich (90 km) and east to Ivanovo (130 km). Please note that two roughly equivalent roads lead to Ivanovo, through Teikovo and through Gavrilov-Yam, both depart from the M8 north of Rostov. It is possible to go around Lake Nero from the south, through Porechie-Rybnoye, only by off-road vehicle, although the road to Porechie itself is decent.

The route passes directly through the city past the railway station, where you need to turn into the center. If you follow the signs and turn off the road already at the entrance to Rostov, then you run the risk of making your way along city streets with badly broken asphalt. You can leave your car in the parking lot in front of the entrance to the Kremlin.

 

Transport

It is quite possible to get around Rostov on foot, although the full route to all the sights will turn out to be very tiring. City buses run along several routes, but most often - along Dekabristov Street, Okruzhnaya and then Proletarskaya, skirting the center: this is exactly what the bus driver does with an interval of 10-15 minutes. bus number 1, the most frequent in Rostov. Some routes are looped, and then they also pass by the station, but there are fewer of them. Information on the city website. Ticket: 20 rubles. (2020).

Walks on Lake Nero are among the main tourist attractions. The lake offers a postcard view of the Rostov Kremlin, and the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery can be seen quite well. Private boats and boats waiting for tourists on the shore will help you capture these beauties. If there are no boats or you don’t want to ride them, you can go to the village of Ugodichi on the other side of the lake and look at the city from there. In winter, the lake freezes over and you can walk on it.

 

Shopping

Traditional Rostov souvenirs are black-polished ceramics and enamel. A whole factory is engaged in the production of enamel (images with enamel on metal) in Rostov. She makes paintings of various sizes, from tiny "plates" to full-size canvases or icons, as well as jewelry, but their cost is highly dependent on the quality of the metal. There are a lot of high-quality silver items, and they are, of course, expensive. The best choice of enamel is in the shop at the factory, although the prices there are no lower than at the souvenir stalls in front of the Kremlin (they say, however, that the quality is higher).

Black-polished ceramics are products made from fired clay, which acquires a brilliant black color due to special pre-treatment and annealing conditions. This craft flourished in Rostov in the 19th century and was revived in the late 1990s. Now there are hundreds of similar products in Rostov: dishes, figurines and, which is especially touching, whistles.

Factory "Rostov Finift", Borisoglebskoye shosse, 3. ☎ +7 (48536) 7-49-21. Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 10:00–17:00. A company store with a small museum, but they are only allowed in with a guided tour (by reservation). It is said that individual groups managed to see the production itself.
House of Crafts, 2nd pr. Tolstovskaya embankment, 16. 10:00–18:00, black-glazed ceramics: 9:00–17:00. All kinds of handicrafts, but especially ceramics and dolls.
Various interesting things can also be purchased at the Khors Gallery (aka the Russian Vertograd Museum) by Mikhail Selishchev.

 

Hotels, motels and where to sleep

Rostov hotels are intended mainly for tourists and like to change prices depending on the day of the week. Below are prices on weekdays, when even mid-range hotels are quite cheap by Russian standards, and there are simply no expensive ones in the city. On weekends everything is 20-30% more expensive. On holidays, prices change in an unpredictable way, but always upwards, and most hotels become expensive: a double room with amenities will cost at least 3,000 rubles.

Cheap
✦  Guest house of the Khors gallery, st. Podozerka, 31. ☎ +7 (48536) 6-24-83, +7 (960) 539-80-10. Double room: 900 rub. (without amenities), 1500 rubles. (with amenities). Guest rooms at the museum "Russian Vertograd". In summer, you can choose between rooms with and without amenities, in winter - only with amenities. There is a shared kitchen and the opportunity to get acquainted with the work of a local artist-enthusiast indefinitely. Conflicting reviews. According to some guests, it is cool here and unreasonably expensive.
✦  Hotel "House on cellars", on the territory of the Kremlin (if the gates are closed, contact the guard). ☎ +7 (48536) 6-12-44. Double rooms without amenities: 1000-1500 rubles, suites with amenities: 2500-3000 rubles. It is a rare case when an economy class hotel is located on the historical territory: unpretentious (most rooms without amenities), but clean and comfortable. Many rooms are sheathed with boards, although there are rooms that are more reminiscent of an ordinary Soviet-era hotel (they are in the so-called "stone" part). For guests, free entrance to the Kremlin at any time of the day; you can walk around the territory when there is no one there. Very good reviews, Wi-Fi.
1  Hotel "House with a mezzanine", st. Leninskaya, 5 (center). ☎ +7 (915) 960-21-18. Double room: about 1000 rubles. An old mansion turned into a small private hotel. Rooms for 2-3 people, amenities on the floor, there is a kitchen. Mostly good reviews.
2  Guest compound "Nero", st. Leninskaya, 30. ☎ +7 (48536) 7-66-64. Double room: 1000 rub. (without amenities), 1600 rubles. (with amenities). Large wooden house on the main street: rooms for 2-3 people, mostly without amenities, but well renovated. There is hot water, Wi-Fi. Generally good reviews, although guests complain about noise and problems with heating.

Average cost
3  Boyarsky Dvor Hotel V Kontakte Russian V.png , st. Stone bridge, 4 (next to the Kremlin). ☎ +7 (48538) 6-48-00. Double room: 1600-2400 rubles. The hotel is located directly opposite the Kremlin in an old building of the end of the 18th century - Figurin's house. All rooms are double, with amenities: relatively small, furniture and appliances are not new. The corridors of the hotel are labyrinths, but you quickly get used to it. If you take the cheapest rooms in the attic, you should be prepared for the fact that in half the room you will not be able to stand up to your full height. The staff is good.
4 "Lion" hotel, st. 50 years of October, 9/6 (center). ☎ +7 (48536) 6-49-49. Double room: from 1700 rubles. A revived pre-revolutionary hotel with modest double rooms, all with amenities. WiFi.
5  Hotel-estate "Podozerka", st. Podozerka, 33 (center). ☎ +7 (985) 643-30-84. Double room: 2000 rub. Guest house with 6 rooms, all with amenities. When entering and leaving, be prepared for a very corrosive attitude of the owner. According to reviews, he forces guests to draw up accommodation contracts, wash dishes, and so on.
6  Hotel "Russian Compound", st. Marshal Alekseev, 9 (in the center). ☎ +7 (48536) 6-42-55, +7 (905) 631-28-88. Double room: from 2200 rubles. An extensive number of rooms, in which ordinary rooms are adjacent to individually designed suites: Gzhel, Khokhloma, Zhostovo. Mostly good reviews.
7  Selivanov Hotel, st. District, 5. ☎ +7 (48536) 6-57-55. Double room: 2000 rub. The gaudy interior of the merchant's mansion does not penetrate, fortunately, into the rooms, which are decorated in a laconic and modern spirit. Mostly good reviews. WiFi.
8  Hotel "Pleshanov's Estate", st. Leninskaya, 34. ☎ +7 (48536) 7-64-40, +7 (48536) 7-64-41. Double room: from 2500 rubles. Another hotel in an old pre-revolutionary house. Contradictory reviews point to problems with heating. Wi-Fi either does not exist at all, or does not work.
9 Hotel Azimut (former Moskovsky Trakt), st. District, 29A. ☎ +7 (48536) 7-90-98. From 1950 rub. for a double standard with a modest breakfast. The largest hotel in Rostov, unlike others, is located not in an old pre-revolutionary mansion, but in a relatively new three-story building built in 2006. It has a large area with parking, located 800 meters from the Kremlin. The rooms are quite spacious, but sometimes there are problems with not the newest furniture and appliances. There are few staff in the hotel, one person can often perform several functions, but everyone is polite. If you do not build high expectations based on the expensive appearance of the hotel, then you can have a normal rest.

Expensive
10  Merchant's house, st. Nekrasova, 18. ☎ +7 (960) 540-54-14. 4000 rub. The most unusual accommodation option: the first floor of an old house is rented out as a whole, with two large rooms - a bedroom and a living room. Both are decorated in a retro style, with vaulted shelves and a fireplace, but not without modern details like the kitchen located behind the breakfast bar. WiFi.

 

Restaurant, taverns and where to eat

Nearly all establishments are centered around the Kremlin and are chronically overcrowded or cater to tour groups at peak times, and they don't handle crowds well enough to make simple meals easily take up to an hour to prepare. The most reliable dining option is canteens and cafeterias, where locals usually go.

Cheap
1  Children's cafe, st. 50 years of October, 6/4. 10:00–20:00. A self-service cafe with quite decent food and a children's playroom atypical for establishments of this level. Not suitable for dinner as it closes quite early and the hot food runs out even earlier.
2   Cafe "Nero", st. Stone bridge, 6a. 10:00–22:00. Hot dishes: about 150 rubles. It looks like a dining room, but in fact it is something in between a dining room and a cafe. Food must be ordered at the counter, it will be warmed up and brought. Visitors note that prices for canteen food are somewhat overpriced.
3   Cafe "Pelmen", st. Karl Marx, 24. Mon–Fri 9:00–15:00, Sat 8:00–14:00. Portion of dumplings: less than 100 rubles. An utterly authentic establishment, the menu of which consists of two main items: dumplings with sour cream and dumplings with vinegar. Sometimes pies, cabbage salad and hodgepodge cooked from offal are added to them - to keep the tradition and complete the sensations.
4 Cafe "Pogrebok", Kremlin. 9:00–17:00. Small cafe with drinks and pastries.
5  Confectionery "Slastyona", st. Karl Marx, 15. Mon–Fri 8:00–17:00, Sat 9:00–15:00. A classic cafeteria with a bunch of cheap cakes, good pastries and loose salads. High tables, you need to eat while standing.
6  Dining room "Kharchevnya", st. 50 years of October, 3. 8:00–18:00. The most ordinary dining room, which for some reason is adjacent to a cafe in the style of a Russian tea house, decorated with samovars and Khokhloma. At the same time, the tea house sometimes works as an independent establishment with service, sometimes it is limited to drinks, sometimes it simply doesn’t work and provides its tables to visitors to the dining room, which leads to some confusion, although in the end everyone is happy: you can eat here inexpensively and tasty, and if you’re lucky, and drink freshly brewed tea. And an hour before closing, good discounts are offered.

Average cost
7 Cafe Alyosha Popovich, st. Karl Marx, 1. 🕑 9:00–20:00. Hot: from 250 rubles. A small one-story building hides a solid cafe of Russian cuisine, where they serve pancakes, dumplings and even homemade tinctures, and they also offer to try on chain mail and a pair of helmets. There is a children's menu, pastries. On weekdays, half the tables are reserved by noon, and in general there are few places in this institution, and there are many people who want to eat, so it is better to book a table in advance.
8   Cafe Appetite , Sobornaya sq. 2. 9:00–22:00. Hot: from 300 rubles. Unpretentious interior and a fairly standard menu - pizza, burgers, dumplings and a few hot dishes with a side dish. Mostly good reviews.
9 Cafe "Atrus", st. Lunacharskogo, 48 (next to the station). 10:00–22:00. The cafe is adjacent to the brand store of the Atrus bakery and meat processing plant, whose stew is known far beyond Rostov. From the outside it looks like a restaurant with lush curtains and white tablecloths, but the patrons aren't thrilled.
10 Sobranie Restaurant-Museum, Kremlin. 10:00–21:00. The word “museum” in the name in this case does not mean a collection of trinkets or even folk costumes that are allowed to be tried on, but a location right inside the museum - on the territory of the Rostov Kremlin, where you can go outside the official opening hours under the pretext of visiting a restaurant. Russian cuisine is on the menu, visitors praise it.

Expensive
11 Restaurant "Russian Compound", st. Marshal Alekseev, 9. 12:00–24:00. Hot: from 500 rubles. A creatively furnished restaurant of Russian cuisine, which is offered to try in two halls - Izba and Fusion. Visitors agree that the food is not bad, but the extremely slow service allows you to take a good walk around the city while your order is being prepared.
12 Restaurant "Pike Dvor" (People's Academy of Fish Soup), st. Dostoevsky, 41 (on the highway, 400 m from the railway station). 11:00–22:00, Thu to Sat: until 23:00. Hot: from 400 rubles. A place for those who want to try local fish: pike perch, pike and, of course, several types of fish soup are on the menu, as well as an indispensable onion, from which they even make jam. Visitors like it, but not everyone.

 

Connection

Post office, st. Proletarskaya, 37. Mon–Fri 8:00–20:00, Sat 9:00–18:00. Access to the Internet.

 

Neighborhood

In the village of Borisoglebsky (20 km northwest of Rostov) there is a majestic monastery, one of the largest in Central Russia. Then the same road leads to Uglich. You can, of course, go further along the Golden Ring to Pereslavl-Zalessky or Yaroslavl. Fans of little-known places and untrodden paths should pay attention to various small villages between Rostov and Yaroslavl, including the cozy town of Gavrilov-Yam and the village of Velikoye located next to it, ready to compete with another large city with its temples and stone buildings. Such villages, which never became cities, are one of the characteristic features of the Yaroslavl and Ivanovo regions.

In the immediate vicinity of Rostov, there are dozens of churches of the 18th-19th centuries, mostly dilapidated. Some of them are quite curious, and besides, it is worth stopping by Porechie-Rybnoe, another large village that has not become a city.

Ugodichi is a village on the eastern shore of Lake Nero opposite Rostov. There used to be a pier, to which a cobbled road leads. From the site of the former pier, there are wonderful views of the Rostov Kremlin. In the village itself you will see the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1709), the second Russian-style monument after Sknyatinovo in the vicinity of Rostov. Nearby is the crumbling bell tower of the Church of the Epiphany (mid-19th century). Buses to Ugodichi run several times a day (No. 110, 132, 230).

 

Petrovskoe

Petrovskoye is a large settlement on the M8 highway, 25 km from Rostov. The village of Petrovskoye has been known since the 13th century. In 1777, by a lucky chance, it became the city of Petrovsky, and even the center of the county, but already in 1796 Petrovsk lost its own county, turning into a provincial town, which it remained until 1925, until it degraded back into the village of Petrovsky. The former status is reminded of the Petrovsk railway station opened in 1870 and subsequently avoided renaming, as well as the Church of Peter and Paul (1783) built in 1783, shortly after gaining city status, on the central square, directly opposite the bus station. The church was built in the forms of early classicism according to the project of I. M. Levenhagen, one of the students of A. Rinaldi. The streets around the church keep traces of the regular planning of the second half of the 18th century and even individual buildings in the spirit of provincial classicism: this is almost the only village in which such a thing can be found at all. Another church, Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya (1834), is located at the city cemetery in the southern part of the village. All buses on the Yaroslavl highway in the direction of Pereslavl stop in Petrovsky.

Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Church in Spas-Smerdino (20 km from Petrovsky to the west). A curious example of not even provincial, but rural classicism. The church was built in 1804-10. and with its central volume it resembles the Church of Peter and Paul in neighboring Petrovsky, however, instead of one large round dome, five small ones are planted on the roof, and there is some strange semicircular completion on the bell tower, although earlier there may have been a spire. The interior of the temple is well preserved, including frescoes. Public transport does not go to the village, with the exception of very rare buses to Lazarevo (No. 139).

Kazan Church in Sknyatinovo (halfway between Rostov and Petrovsky, away from the highway, not far from Porechye). The oldest church in the Rostov region outside of Rostov itself and the monasteries. The church was built in 1693 in the Russian style, and therefore differs from the churches in the surrounding villages and villages that are thoroughly permeated with baroque and classicism. Pay attention to the stone decor of the architraves and domed drums. The murals of the late 18th - early 19th centuries have survived. Sknyatinovo is located a couple of kilometers from the village of Debolovskoye, which is on the M8 highway.

 

Porechye-Rybnoe

Porechie-Rybnoe is an ancient village, now an urban-type settlement on the southern shore of Lake Nero, 15 km from Rostov. Once the inhabitants of the village enjoyed the exclusive right to fish in the lake, from where the name Porechie-Lovetskoe came from, which later turned into Porechie-Rybnoe. Having lost their right to fish, the Porechans took up gardening, which is now reminded of by the local museum of the gardener and the cucumber day held in the village (early August). Porechye amazes with the scale of stone construction. In the 19th century, the number of stone houses reached 80, and many of them are still standing: these are solid two-story houses, which in other cities would be called merchant's mansions, but here they belonged to wealthy peasants. It is interesting to look at these houses from the inside - they still have ceiling moldings and vaulted cellars in some places - but apparently there is no official way to get inside.

If the stone houses at the very least stand, then the temples of Porechye are in a terrible state:

Temple complex of Porechye, st. Central, 64-66. There are two churches in the center of Porechye: the unrestored Church of Peter and Paul with a hipped bell tower (1768) and the Church of St. Nikita the Great Martyr (1799), which lost its vault, over which, like all of Porechye, a huge 94-meter bell tower dominates - one of the highest in Russia. It is higher than the Moscow bell tower of Ivan the Great, and at the end of the 18th century it was forbidden to build such bell towers, but the locals managed to deceive the inspection that arrived in the village: according to one of the legends, earth was piled at the base to reduce the apparent height of the bell tower, and according to another, the bell tower was purposely built in the valley. Now this once luxurious temple complex is in disrepair. The monument to Lenin standing in the middle of the temples and not inferior to them in its shabbyness looks especially surreal.
Trinity Church (at the entrance from Rostov). Cemetery church built in 1865.
Museum "Porec gardener", st. Mologskaya, 18a. ☎ +7 (48536) 2-01-09, +7 (48536) 2-02-74. A private museum, created by the efforts of local historians, who caught on to the information that the Porechensky peasants studied gardening even in Holland, where Peter I sent them for an internship. It is better to arrange a visit to the museum in advance.
How to get there: a suburban bus runs from Rostov to Porechye 6 times a day (the final one is Klimatino). You can get to the turn on Porechye by any transport in the direction of Petrovsky, from the turn to the village another 5 km. In Porechye there is a small hotel with a restaurant attached to it.

 

Semibratovo

Semibratovo is a village on the Yaroslavl highway, 15 km north of Rostov. The name is associated with the mysterious seven brothers, who in the 15th century, during the princely civil strife, robbed in the surrounding forests. Later, a postal station was built in Semibratovo, which was replaced by a railway station at the end of the 19th century. However, the modern appearance of the village contains absolutely nothing historical, reflecting only the latest industrial history: at first there was a chipboard factory, and now they produce gas cleaning equipment. For those who travel to Yaroslavl by car, Semibratovo offers several roadside cafes and the possibility of unplanned communication with traffic police officers. With the exception of the pre-revolutionary mill located on the edge of the village, the old buildings in Semibratov have not been preserved, which the locals are trying to combat by creating museums that are not devoid of creativity.

Staraya mill (from Moscow, left turn after the bridge over the river, 0.5 km from the railway crossing). The red-brick building of the mill of the second half of the 19th century is an outstanding monument of industrial architecture for these places. Nearby for a long time there was a wooden dacha of local industrialists Vakhrameevs, which burned down in 2014. The prospects for its recovery are bleak.
Buckloaf museum and jam library (1.5 km behind the old mill, on the same road). ☎ +7 (4852) 64-75-61, +7 (910) 973-43-64. 10:00–17:30 except Mon. Few people now remember that in Rus' they called the blank of a wooden object: for example, a spoon. The museum shows how to beat the buckets correctly, and then how to make something useful out of them. Nearby, in a quite logical way, there is a museum of jam, which is most delicious to eat with a wooden spoon. Finally, if all this seemed not enough to you, you can visit the “birdhouse faculty” and the “bear corner”, where two rather big bears live.

Tatishchev Pogost is the family estate of the Tatishchevs, a noble noble family, whose representative was one of the first Russian historians Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686-1750). In the village, located 6 km west of Semibratovo, there is the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1810) - perhaps the best monument of classicism in the entire Yaroslavl region. The church was built in the spirit of Palladian architecture and is very reminiscent of temples of the same period in the vicinity of Torzhok, which gave rise to speculation about the involvement of the capital architect N.A. Lvov. However, by the time the church was built, Lvov had already died, and apparently one of his students was involved in the project.

How to get there: buses of the 100th route from Rostov run every hour to Semibratovo. Some of them (No. 109) then go to Tatishchev Pogost. Semibratovo can also be reached by infrequent electric trains or intercity buses in the direction of Yaroslavl.

 

 

History

The emergence of the city
The name of the city is traditionally associated with the Slavic personal name Rost (cf. Rostislav), from which the possessive adjective is formed with the help of the suffix -ov. Rostov is mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. The entry for 862 speaks of it as a city owned by Rurik and where the "first inhabitants" belonged to the Merya tribe:

The Russians said Chud, Slovenes, Krivichi and all: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." And three brothers with their clans were elected, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came, and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed. The Novgorodians are those people from the Varangian family, and before that they were Slovenes. Two years later, Sineus and his brother Truvor died. And one Rurik took all power, and began to distribute cities to his men - Polotsk to that, Rostov to that, Beloozero to another. The Varangians in these cities are nakhodniki, and the indigenous population in Novgorod is Slovene, in Polotsk - Krivichi, in Rostov - Merya, in Beloozero - all, in Murom - Murom, and Rurik ruled over all of them.
Laurentian list, edition of 1116 (translated by D. S. Likhachev).

In the future, the chronicle reports that "the prince is in Rostov side, there is a living under Oleg."

Alexei Shakhmatov believed that the mention of Rostov under the year 862 was made in a later edition of the chronicle of the beginning of the 12th century. According to archeological data, the ancient large Sarsk settlement, the first fortified settlement on Lake Nero, arose in the land of Mary in the 7th century and for a long time was the Meryan tribal center.

The city on the right bank at the mouth of the now buried Pizherma River begins to take shape no earlier than the middle of the 10th century. The earliest dendrochronological date in Rostov was obtained from the excavation near the Clock Ringer in the Kremlin - 963. At the Konyushenny excavation site, in the absence of dendrota, according to the composition of the finds and the features of the ceramic collection, layers 19, 20 date back to the second half of the 11th century.

There are various hypotheses about the time of the emergence of Rostov itself: some of them suggest the emergence of the city in the pre-Slavic era, others - the transfer from the pagan Sarsk settlement with the preservation of the name Rostov in the 10th century, and for some time both cities (tribal and princely) existed simultaneously. Just in the 9th-11th centuries, in the era of transition to a fairly strong princely power, various specific princes quite often founded their strongholds (pogosts, camps), at first small, not inside the populated center, sometimes large, but next to it - in the nearest a place convenient for defense and at the same time near the water, at a distance of several to 15 kilometers. Perhaps the inhabitants of the princely centers enjoyed the right of extraterritoriality. Similar double cities could have different fates: merge into one; the population of the princely, slowly or quickly, for various reasons, passed into the more ancient (Murom); the population of the older one more often passed into the new; at the same time, the name of the old city could be transferred to the new one.

The researcher of Rostov, archaeologist Andrey Leontiev considers the Sarskoye settlement to be the tribal center of Mary, and Rostov - the center of princely power.

According to local historian E. Pleshanov, Rostov arose as a Meryan settlement at the end of the 8th century or a little earlier. During the time of Rurik, it became the center of tribute collection in favor of Novgorod, remaining in other respects a suburb of the Sarsk settlement; with the intensified Slavic colonization that began in the 920s-930s, Rostov, as the base of the Slavs, acquired dominant importance.

Kazan history mentions Cheremis as the indigenous inhabitants of Rostov, who did not want to be baptized and therefore left the city. The local Cheremis-Mari had a self-name "mäpӹ", which was preserved by the ethnic group of the northwestern Mari living in the Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions.

As excavations in the 1980s showed, the Meryan settlement on the site of Rostov occupied the edge of the coastal terrace to the west of the mouth of the Pizherma River. It was not fortified, but was defended by Pizherma, the swampy lowland of the Ishni River and, apparently, notches in the surrounding forest and underwater palisades on the Kotorosl River and in the lake. The settlement was located opposite Rozhdestvensky Island, a huge remnant stone revered by the Merians, and served as the center of the cult of a deity similar to the Slavic Veles, and also associated with the bear cult. Back in the 19th century, the memory of him lived in the Rostov proverb: "He is as angry as the idol Veles." In the lives of Bishops Fedor, Leonty, Abraham, Isaiah and in the "Tale of the establishment of Christianity in Rostov" the Chudskoy end in Rostov Veliky is mentioned, where there was a stone idol of Veles, which was worshiped by local pagans until the beginning of the 12th century. They repeatedly expelled the sent bishops and, according to some reports, even killed them.

At present, a legend about the foundation of Rostov is known, deriving the name of the city from the phrase "Rossov Stan" and attributing this foundation to Tsarevich Ross-Vandal. The plot first appeared in the 19th century in the book Tales of Veliky Novgorod, Recorded by the Merchant Alexander Artynov. The legend accurately dates the event to 1793 BC., and Ross-Vandal calls the son of the biblical Raugil, the great-grandson of the patriarch Jacob. However, this version is frankly fantastic.

 

Rise of Rostov

According to the chronicle, in the 9th century, Rostov, along with all the possessions of the Meryan tribe, was annexed to the state of Rurik with its capital in Ladoga or Novgorod. In Prince Oleg's campaign against Tsargrad, the Rostovites participated as allies: in the text of Oleg's treaty with the Greeks, they pledged to pay tribute to individual Russian cities: Kiev, Chernigov, Peryaslavl, Polotsk, Rostov and Lyubech. From 989 to 1010, young Yaroslav the Wise reigned in Rostov.

Since the second half of the 11th century, Rostov has been one of the two main cities of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality, the territory that became the basis of modern Russia.

From the end of XI (nominally, according to church historiography, it is considered to be from 991; but the first two bishops, St. Theodore and Hilarion, sent to Rostov, were expelled). Rostov at that time was the center of the Rostov bishopric, one of the largest and oldest in Rus'.

Until the 12th century, Rostov was divided into two ends - Chudskaya (Meryansky) with a pagan temple and Russian with a Christian church. The two peoples got along well with each other, in case of any threat they gathered together the militia. But if a Meryanin was baptized, then he was already recognized as Russian and had to leave his former place of residence, move to the other end of the city.

When the capital moved from Suzdal to Vladimir, a riot broke out in Rostov and Suzdal. The old cities did not want to recognize the new capital.

In 1160, on the site of the burnt wooden Assumption Cathedral, built according to legend as far back as 991 by St. Theodore, by order of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky, the construction of a white-stone building was begun, which was destroyed by a fire in 1204.

In 1207, an independent Rostov principality appeared, which quickly became one of the most influential political centers of Russian princes. The founder of the principality, the eldest son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, Konstantin Vsevolodovich rebuilt the Assumption Cathedral in 1214-1231. By that time, the Rostov inheritance had become the second most important after the Vladimir one. Rostov was always bequeathed to the eldest son or brother.

At this time, the city experienced an unprecedented economic and cultural upsurge. Rostov was one of the largest cities in the northeast; the area of its fortified part, surrounded by a rampart and a moat, was more than 100 hectares. The city had princely and episcopal courts, large bargaining, more than 15 churches, several monasteries. Abraham's Monastery was founded in the 11th century and is thus one of the oldest Russian monasteries.

In 1237, Rostov did not resist the Mongol troops, because of this the city suffered little. Since the squad of the Rostov prince Vasilko Konstantinovich, as part of the combined Vladimir-Suzdal troops led by Grand Duke Yuri, participated in the battle with the hordes of Burundai on the Sit River in 1238; Vasilko was captured and then executed. His young son Boris became the prince, during which, in particular, the largest uprising against the Tatar tax collectors took place in 1262.

In 1297, the Rostov prince Konstantin Borisovich married his daughter to the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich. This did not prevent Yuri in 1317 with the Tatar detachments of Kavgady and Astrabyl from burning Rostov and expelling the prince from it, apparently Alexander Konstantinovich, who took the side of Tver in the dispute between Yuri and Mikhail of Tver for the grand throne. According to the hypothesis of V. A. Kuchkin, around 1328, the Rostov principality and the city of Rostov itself were divided into two parts: Borisoglebskaya, to the east, which was received by Prince Fedor, and Sretenskaya, to the west, which was received by Prince Konstantin.

The Sretensky part, perhaps, was soon declared part of the Vladimir Grand Duchy and, in fact, became completely dependent on Moscow. According to another version, the entire Rostov Principality fell under the authority of Moscow in 1328. It was to this time that the resettlement of local boyars from the city, including Cyril, the father of Sergius of Radonezh, dates; the author of the life of the saint writes on this occasion: “alas, Rostov and his princes, they took power, reign, estate and glory from them.” The Rostov squad participated in the battle on the Kulikovo field. Under Vasily II the Dark, the Rostov Principality actually finally became part of Moscow: in the 1430s. the Grand Duke's governor is present there, and according to his spiritual 1461/2, Vasily bequeaths it to his wife Maria in full ownership. In 1473-1474, the princes of Borisoglebsk sold the remnants of their princely rights to Ivan III.

 

As part of the Russian state

Despite the loss of political independence, Rostov continued to be the residence of the metropolitan and the largest church center.

In 1565, when Tsar Ivan the Terrible divided the Russian state into oprichnina and zemshchina, the city of Rostov became part of the latter and belonged to it until the beginning of 1569, after which it was taken into the oprichnina.

During the Time of Troubles, Rostov did not escape the tragic fate of many Russian cities. In 1608, it was burned and plundered by Tushino detachments, who captured Metropolitan Filaret (Romanov), the future patriarch and father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. In the history of Rostov, this was the last invasion of the invaders. In 1632-1634. By order of the king to strengthen the city around its central part, the Dutch engineer (“resident of the Dutch land of the city of Amsterdam, city master”) Jan Cornelius Rodenburg built an earthen fortress. It entered the world culture as a monument of the old Dutch fortification system.

 

Rostov diocese

For many centuries, Rostov retained the importance of a religious center. The territory of the Rostov diocese extended far beyond the boundaries of the modern Yaroslavl region, and the Rostov hierarchs were among the most influential church rulers. At the end of the 14th century, the Rostov bishops received the rank of archbishops, and in 1589 - metropolitans. The Rostov Metropolis was one of the richest in Russia. In the second half of the 17th century, on the initiative of Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich, the construction of a new bishop's residence began in Rostov. In a short time - about 20 years, a majestic ensemble of the metropolitan court was erected in the center of the city, consisting of religious, residential and utility buildings, surrounded by fortress walls with high towers, known as the Rostov Kremlin. A unique belfry was built on Cathedral Square at the Cathedral of the Assumption, for which huge thousand-pound bells were cast. In the XVI-XVII centuries, the formation of architectural complexes of numerous urban and suburban monasteries took place, a significant part of which has survived to our time.

Rostov in the XVIII—XIX centuries
At the end of the 18th century, the center of the Rostov-Yaroslavl diocese was moved from Rostov to Yaroslavl. According to the provincial reform of 1778, Rostov became the county center, the redevelopment of the city began according to a regular plan.

From the second half of the 18th century until almost the end of the 19th century, the famous Rostov Fair was held in the city, thanks to which Rostov retained its importance as an important commercial and economic center of the Yaroslavl province. In terms of size, the Rostov Fair was second only to the Makariev and Nizhny Novgorod fairs. At that time, the enamel industry was developing in the city. Rostov becomes one of the centers for the production of painted enamel.

In 1885, the owner of the Rolma factory made the first urban 10-kilometer water pipe from Kotorosl to the factory. Subsequently, he bequeathed to the city all his funds, for which the water supply was expanded, a gymnasium was founded and it was planned to open a university.

Since the second half of the 19th century, restoration and restoration of architectural monuments of the Rostov Kremlin began in Rostov. In 1883, the "Museum of Church Antiquities" was opened in the Kremlin, which is currently a significant cultural and scientific center.

 

20th century

By 1900, Rostov had 14,500 inhabitants, 4 schools, a religious school, a women's gymnasium, an arts and crafts school, 21 factories, 22 churches and 5 monasteries.

February 11, 1944 Rostov received the status of a city of regional subordination.

On August 24, 1953, a tornado swept through Rostov. The whirlwind arose a few kilometers northwest of Rostov. At about 5 pm, a tornado broke into the city through the railway line, overturning two wagons with bricks and lime, then proceeded along Dostoevsky and Fevralskaya streets, causing them serious damage. Parallel to the first tornado, another funnel rushed. After both funnels connected, a tornado (F2 category on the Fujita scale) flew into the Rostov Kremlin, tore off almost all of its domes and caused serious damage to the churches of St. John the Theologian and Gregory the Theologian. The tornado went into Lake Nero, where it scattered boats within a radius of half a kilometer, raised a water column of several hundred meters, moved along the water surface for some time, “pouring out” sheets of iron, logs and other objects, and eventually lost its destructive power. In the same year, restoration work began in the Rostov Kremlin under the leadership of Vladimir Sergeevich Baniga, which was completed only by 1957.

Now the state museum-reserve is called the Rostov Kremlin. He owns the richest collection of monuments of ancient Russian art - unique collections of icons, ancient Russian facial embroidery, paintings and graphics of the 18th-20th centuries, ancient Russian manuscripts and documents, archeology. In 1995, the Rostov Museum was included in the List of Especially Valuable Cultural Heritage Sites of Russia.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the city was part of the Golden Ring tourist route, a hotel was being built in it, most of the Rostov Kremlin was given over to the Rostov Youth Tourist Center. Several factories are being built on the outskirts of the city, mainly for defense purposes: an optical-mechanical, experimental and radio plant. Infrastructure is also being created for these enterprises: sewerage, water supply, gas supply, the Nero electrical substation is being built, several microdistricts are appearing in different parts of the city.

 

Symbolism

The earliest Rostov emblems can be considered images on the coins of the Rostov Principality of the late XIV - early XV centuries. Various coins depicted: a man or only his head, sometimes in a hat, with an ax, sword, spear, shield, saber, wind instrument or purse in his hands; two people facing each other; a four-legged beast, sometimes with its head back to its tail in the form of a shamrock, etc., as well as tamgas of the Rostov princes.

In addition, a common plot was a standing man with an ax in front of a tree, on which a bird sits on some coins, a human head lies under the tree. Sometimes the head or mask is repeated in the circular legend with the name of the prince. The reverse depicted a human head in front inside a circular legend. VL Yanin interpreted this image as a warning to counterfeiters. I. V. Volkov and N. V. Chekunin consider it a transformation of the image from the English noble, which also served as a model for the “shipman” Ivan III. G. A. Fedorov-Davydov saw in it an illustration to the gospel sermon of John the Baptist about the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven: “Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 3:10 ). In his opinion, the composition is borrowed from the Byzantine illustrations of the Gospel.

Similar images from the middle of the 15th century are found on icons. The image on the reverse in this case is the severed head of John. Similar plots are present on the coins of other principalities, but they were widespread in Rostov. According to S. V. Sazonov and D. B. Oinas, this plot could appear and be fixed on coins as an indication of the unifying role of the Rostov diocese (the annals mention the Church of John the Baptist - the house church of the Rostov hierarchs in the episcopal yard) in the Rostov principality, divided from the beginning of the 14th century into two princely destinies - the Sretensky and Borisoglebsky sides (but the coins were in circulation in both parts). According to the assumption of these authors, the bird on the tree, in accordance with Christian symbolism, could symbolize the departed soul of the executed John.

 

Economy

The volume of shipped goods of own production, in manufacturing industries in 2009 amounted to 3.11 billion rubles.

Instrumentation
This industry appeared in Rostov in 1975, when an optical-mechanical plant was built in the city. Quite quickly, this enterprise became a city-forming enterprise (having pushed aside the Rolma factory from the first position). After some time, a pilot production of NITIOP was built in the city, diamond powders and other diamond tools were produced at this plant. In 1990, these enterprises merged. In the 1990s - early 2000s, ROMZ OJSC produced civilian (from 100% to 50% of Russian exports) and military night vision devices, which made it possible to contribute up to a third of the district budget. Now only military products are produced, the share in the city and district budgets has decreased several times.

mechanical engineering
Until 2009, only 2 relatively large productions could be attributed to this category: OJSC 751 Repair Plant (FGUP 751 RZ MO) and Rostov Aggregate Plant OJSC Avtodiesel, but the last plant was closed and production was transferred to Yaroslavl. 751 RZ is engaged in the repair of vehicles and the production of tankers. The share of these enterprises in the budget of the city and district is insignificant.

Production of building materials
In 2009, the ZAO MD RUS plant producing skylights was launched. Velux Corporation invested 1,500,000,000 rubles in the project. Since 2019, the plant has been liquidated. Since 2019, Gulbahar RUS LLC has been manufacturing tobacco products on the territory of the plant.

Medicine
In Rostov, there is a large research and production complex for the development and production of active pharmaceutical ingredients "Farmoslavl" (part of the R-Pharm company), as well as the Rostov Pharmaceutical Factory.

Energy
The city has the Rostov branch of the Yaroslavl Sales Company (serves the Rostov, Borisoglebsky, Gavrilov-Yamsky, Pereslavsky and Uglichsky districts) and the Southern branch of Yaroslavloblgaz (serves the Rostov, Borisoglebsky and Pereslavsky districts).

food industry
The oldest industry in the city. Some enterprises were created in the 19th century (Aronap CJSC (former Vakhromeev and Co. Partnership) and the Russian Kvass plant of ATRUS CJSC (former Selivanov Partnership) were engaged in the processing of agricultural products produced in the peasant farms of the Rostov district. After nationalization these two productions were reconstructed: the former plant of Vakhromeev from chicory became a coffee and chicory plant, and the treacle plant of Selivanov began to produce kvass wort and kvass.Of all the enterprises in this industry, the following can now be distinguished: CJSC ATRUS, OJSC Rostov Feed Mill and CJSC "Aronap". The latter lost its importance in the late 1990s. CJSC "ATRUS" occupies one of the first places in the Yaroslavl region in the production of food products. It owns a meat processing plant, a bakery, a factory "Russian kvass", the production of pasta, sewing production, construction and installation management, a motor transport company, a printing house and a chain of stores in the Yaroslavl region .

Construction
Construction in the city is carried out in two districts of the city: in the southwest and in the north. In the southwestern region, ATRUS CJSC is the general investor and contractor. In the north, construction is carried out in two directions: the construction of the first stage of the 3rd microdistrict and the construction of the second stage of the 2nd microdistrict.

Souvenirs
Rostov is the center of enamel production. It is produced both handicraft and at the Rostov Finift factory. Over the 90 years of its existence, the factory has grown from a small artel into a large jewelry enterprise.

In addition to enamel, black polished ceramics have been produced in Rostov since the 16th century. A workshop for the production of ceramic products operates on the territory of the Rostov Kremlin.

Tobacco production
Gulbahar Rus, the Russian representative office of the international tobacco manufacturer Gulbahar Tobacco, is located in Rostov. The opening date is October 7, 2019.

Banks
Branches and additional offices of Sberbank of Russia, Rosbank, Rosselkhozbank, Sovcombank, Rus-Bank and Severgazbank, as well as RBA Bank are located in Rostov.