Going away on a business trip to Vologda or by the will of fate, when they find themselves in the city, they are wondering what interesting places to visit. One day for excursions is not enough, but wonderful Vologda guides who love and know this city, for whom every house and street is history, can help out. And for those who have previously been to Vologda and wandered through its streets on their own or as part of an excursion, but want to refresh their memories and possibly discover something new, this article is proposed.
Vologda and her antiquity
There are many cities in Russia with an interesting history. Visit this ancient Russian city with a huge number of attractions, and Vologda will open for you its temples of the 16th-19th centuries and wooden architecture. You will walk along its cozy streets and look into the old courtyards. Thanks to the guides, you can make a historic gastronomic trip and take a look at the tavern of pre-revolutionary Vologda.
It is impossible not to mention the history of the city. In the archival documents there is a story about the Rev. monk Gerasim, who came to Vologda from Kiev and eventually founded the Trinity Monastery. It happened in 1147. A small monastery village was the goal of the aspirations of the Russian princes for several centuries and developed rapidly due to its favorable location and rich natural resources. In the 15th century, Vologda joined the Moscow Principality and became a Moscow outpost, as well as an important trading center supplying Europe with handicrafts through the northern rivers and the White Sea.
The role of Russian tsars in the development of the city
Russian tsars made their contribution to the development of the city. The most important period in the history of the city was connected with the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and at that time Vologda was one of the first who received the status of a guardsman and began to enjoy special privileges. Since 1565, stone construction has been underway in Vologda, and it is connected with the far-reaching plans of the tsar: to make Vologda a capital in the North. Five years later, construction began on St. Sophia Cathedral, an exact copy of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. Currently, it is one of the sights of Vologda. There is a legend according to which, during a visit to the cathedral, a plinth (red brick) fell on his head. She hurt the king’s head, and in anger he ordered the cathedral to be dismantled, but then canceled his order. The Tsar left Vologda and never came again. History has not preserved the facts why the cathedral built in two years was consecrated forty years later.
During the reign of Peter the Great, Vologda lost the role of a shopping center, since the emperor shifted the emphasis in trade to Petersburg. And Vologda by the will of the monarch were among the builders of St. Petersburg. The house of the Dutch merchant Goutman, in which the emperor stayed, is one of the sights of Vologda. This house is in the present a museum with an exposition telling about the first Russian emperor (photo below).
Center of Vologda Governorate
Having come to power, Catherine II canceled the restrictive decrees of Peter I, prohibiting trade through Arkhangelsk. She made the city the main city of the province. Since 1772, Vologda has been the center of Vologda governorship, and since 1796, the capital of the large Vologda province. In the city, manufactories emerge and craft industries develop: weaving, candle and leather. Catherine II approves a city development plan with a clear network of rectangular neighborhoods. According to this plan, Vologda developed until the 1920s.
The buildings built during the reign of Catherine II, which are the sights of Vologda, have survived to our days. Such buildings include: the stone Gostiny Dvor (now shopping arcade along Mira Street) and the Stone Bridge. In 1789, the first Vologda City Bank in Russia was created and started operating. It now houses a lace museum. In those years, the bank gave entrepreneurs credit for the development of their business.
Lace museum
Having told a short story about the city, the guides offer tourists to walk to interesting places in Vologda. Typically, the tour begins with Kremlin Square, which houses a unique lace museum. He is the only one in Russia. Visiting the museum, tourists learn that by 1912 40,000 laceworkers were engaged in lace-making.
Vologda lace is a special phenomenon of folk art of the Russian North. Lacemakers performed a variety of patterns, striking the smoothness of lines and the measured rhythm of the ornament. Vologda lace is known all over the world, it has always been appreciated and for a long time personified the glory of Russian lace.
Tourist routes
The Vologda Kremlin will attract the attention of the Resurrection Cathedral in the Baroque style, built in 1772-1776, and the State Art and Architecture Museum in the open.
From the embankment of the Vologda River , city excursions continue to the museum dedicated to the writer Varlam Shalamov and the unique Bench-Pokoyem bench, demonstrating the features of the Vologda dialect. The bench was made as a gift to the city by local blacksmiths. Another feature of Vologda is the monument "Carved Palisade", based on one of the most popular pop songs.
There is a small log house in Vologda, on the banks of the Zolotukha River, in which the Vologda Link Museum is located. This is not a masterpiece of architecture. It just exhibits recent history. We can say that this is not a still cooling memory of generations, causing controversy. Here, in Vologda, many political figures lived in exile: I.V. Stalin, V.M. Molotov, A.V. Lunacharsky and others.
Temples and cathedrals of Vologda
Vologda has many temples and cathedrals. Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery is considered one of the oldest and largest monasteries in the Russian North. Located in Vologda, the Church of Constantine and Elena is one of the most beautiful temples in the city. This federal monument of culture and history was built in the seventeenth century.
The initial consecration of the wooden church, which stood on the site of the current church, was in honor of Dmitry Prilutsky, in the place where the icon of this saint was allegedly found by the troops of Ivan the Terrible returning from the campaign against the Tatars. The Church of Konstantin and Elena in Vologda was erected two centuries later, and the chapel on the first floor was named after Dmitry Prilutsky. This is the current temple.