Today we are speaking about Russia. We would like to invite you to visit different Russian towns, the towns of the Golden Ring. And we are meeting with the citizens of these ancient Russian towns.
The chairman of the Round Table
Russia is the largest country on the Earth, covering 17 075 000 square kilometers. Occupying the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia, Russia is washed by the Arctic Ocean in the North and the Pacific Ocean in the East. Russia spreads over eleven time zones. When it is midnight in Moscow, it is ten o’clock in the morning on the islands of the Bering Sea.
The State setup of the Russian Federation is defined by the Constitution passed on December, 12th 1993. The Head of the State of Russia and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces is the President. Russia is inhabited by 145, 9 million people and 130 nationalities.
The “Golden Ring” is a tourist route running through a series of cities and towns in central Russia which are remarkable for their ancient history and abundance of historical and cultural monuments.
- Sergiev Posad
- Pereyaslavl-Zalessky
- Rostov the Great
- Uglich
- Yaroslavl
- Kostroma
- Vladimir
- Suzdal
- Bogolubovo
- Yuryev-Polskoy
The citizens of these ancient towns are attending our meeting and they are able to tell about their home towns.
I’ll give the floor to the citizen of Sergiev-Posad.
The citizen of Sergiev Posad
My town occupies a prominent place in Russian culture and history. The very name of the town has a profound sense – it is associated with Russia’s most brilliant spiritual leader St Sergius of Radonezh, the saint of the Orthodox Church revered in Russia for many centuries. St Sergius founded in this area a secluded monastic abode. Soon the skete grew into a monastery and a settlement developed around it. St Sergius Monastery or Laura is one of a few Russia’s most important monasteries.
The tourist from Portugal:
Is the role of the monastery associated with religious purpose?
The citizen of Sergiev Posad:
The role of the monastery is associated not only with spiritual and religious problems but with general historical events, too.
The monastery is skirted by the defensive walls which were erected in the 16th and 17th centuries and proved their might several times. The most interesting buildings determining the image of Sergiev Posad can be found in its heart, the Laura. The principle feature of the monastery is the bell-tower which dominates the town as a whole and visible from beyond the town’s borders.
The largest structure of the complex is the Cathedral of the Assumption dedicated to the Mother of God especially revered in Russia.
The tourist from Great Britain:
What else can be visited and seen in Laura?
The citizen of Sergiev Posad
You can visit the Chapel of St Paraskeva-on-the-Wall.
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, much smaller than the Cathedral of the Assumption, is the spiritual and historical centre of the Laura. The Church of the Holy Spirit which plays a special role in the composition of the Square.
The cathedral of the Holy Trinity looks like a Russian epic hero while the Church of the Holy Spirit appears as the beautiful Russian Maiden.
You can also admire the magnificent Trinity by Andrei Rublev which is acknowledged to be both a masterpiece of world art and the object of religious adoration retaining its role throughout centuries.
The Chairman of the Round Table
Thank you for the pleasure of your story. And now I’ll give the floor to the citizen of Uglich.
The citizen of Uglich:
Welcome to Uglich, the town which is situated at the place where the Volga bed makes an abrupt turn, which probably gave its name to the town – from ugol (“angle”). Uglich flourished in the 15th century. At the end of the 16th century, when the Time of Troubles began, Uglich witnessed the tragic events, which largely determined the town’s further destiny and left a dark imprint on entire Russian history. On May 15th 1591 Tsarevich Dmitry, son of Ivan the Terrible, the only heir to the crown, was killed in Uglich. Popular rumours accused Boris Godunov of being guilty in his death. At the spot where the Tsarevich had died a chapel was soon put up to be replaced over the years with the Church of St Demetrius-on-the-Blood, at first built in wood and later in stone.
Worth of particular interest is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the town – the so-called Chambers of Tsarevich Dimitry.
Uglich has always been famous for diverse high-quality products.
The tourist from Portugal:
What goods can be bought in Uglich?
The citizen of Uglich:
The watch Chaika is produced at the local factory. It is generally known trademark nowadays. Different sorts of local cheese are also very popular. You can buy a lot of souvenirs.
The Chairman:
Thank you. Now we are visiting Yaroslavl and I’ll give the floor to the citizen of Yaroslavl.
The citizen of Yaroslavl<
Yaroslavl is the largest and most urbanized city of the “Golden Ring”. It was founded at the spot where the Kotorosl River empties its waters into the Volga – the place which seems to be destined by nature itself for control of this important trade route. The legend associates its emergence with Yaroslav the Wise – one of the most outstanding rulers of Ancient Russia.
The tourist of Great Britain:
Could you tell us a few words about this historical event?
The citizen of Yaroslavl:
This event is said to have taken place in the early eleventh century. Yaroslav came to the bank of the Volga with its warriors and performed there the act that signified, in the eyes of the local pagans, the affirmation of a new invicible force – he killed by his battle-axe the totemic She-Bear, the mother of the human race. And the She-Bear holding an axe appeared on the scarlet field of the coat-of-arms of the Yaroslavl Principality.
The tourist from Moscow:
What could you recommend us to visit?
The citizen of Yaroslavl:
I would like to recommend you to visit the Monastery of Our Saviour which was the essential link in the urban ensemble of Yaroslavl for many centuries. Incorporated into the system of urban fortification, the monastery played the role of the most important fortification, too. Thus, in the early seventeenth century it successfully withstood the attacks of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. The monastery was a major cultural centre – the first school in north-western Russia was opened in it and a number of first-rate works, now part of the golden treasury of Russian art, was produced in the monastery. Its library preserved a number of literary rarities including the world-famous epic poem The Lay of Igor’s Host.
The monastery has retained its educational role to this day – its territory houses a museum of history and architecture with a very rich collection of icon-painting and decorative and applied art.
The Chairman:
And now from Yaroslavl we are going to Kostroma, a city a history of which is full of mysteries. I’ll give the floor to the citizen of Kostroma.
The citizen of Kostroma
I’ll tell a few words about the history of my native town.
Prince Yury Dolgoruky founded Kostroma in 1152. Not participating in the struggle for leadership and having no ambitions to become the grand princes’ capital, this city won the glory of the “linen capital of the north” – in the Middle Ages it produced the world’s best linen. It was not accidental that the coat-of-arms of Kostroma includes a golden ship with its sails filled out by the wind. Kostroma was a major trade centre of Russia and merchants from the greatest maritime state of the world, England, used to come here to purchase goods. In 1382 the grand prince Dmitry Donskoy and in 1408 his successor Vasily I saved themselves in Kostroma during the Tartar-Mongol invasion. In the seventeenth century False Dmitry tried to find shelter here from the Russian popular militia. The city was a temporary seat of Mikhail Fiodorovich, the first Tsar of the Romanov Dynasty. In the winter of 1613, at the price of his own life, the peasant of the Kostroma district Ivan Susanin saved the Tsar from the Polish invaders.
The tourist from Moscow:
What architectural monument will I be able to visit in your town?
The citizen of Kostroma
The gem of the city’s outskirts is the Ipatyevsky Monastery named after St Hypatius. The former monastery now houses the open-air Museum of History and Architecture famous for its rich collections. The most significant structure of the monastery is the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
The chairman:
Thank you. Now we are travelling to Rostov the Great, one of the oldest Russian towns. And I’ll give the floor to the citizen of this town.
The citizen of Rostov the Great
In the eleventh century Avraamy founded a monastery in this area. And in the twelfth century the town was formed around the monastery and it quickly grew to be called “the Great”, like Novgorod. This was promoted by close political contacts, with Byzantium in particular, as well as by an intense trade and cultural exchange. At the beginning of the thirteenth century Rostov became the seat of the grand duke and such well-known centres as Vladimir, Tver, Yaroslavl, Uglich and even Moscow were then subordinate to it. Further on, however, Rostov lost its political significance, although it retained its role as a very important religious, educational centre.
The tourist from Great Britain:
What is the most important tourist attraction?
The citizen of Rostov:
One of the most important tourist attractions is the Rostov Kremlin. The Rostov Kremlin became one of the last masterpieces of Russian medieval art and culture.
I advise to visit my native town and to see everything with your own eyes.
The chairman:
Now I’ll give the floor to the citizen of Vladimir.
The citizen of Vladimir
Vladimir is one of the most ancient and beautiful cities of Russia. It was founded at the end of the tenth century by Prince Vladimir the Red Sun or, according to another chronicle, by Vladimir Monomachus at the beginning of the twelfth century. In the middle of the twelfth century Vladimir became the centre of North-Eastern Russia and later grew into the main city of the entire Russia.
The period of flowering of Vladimir’s white-stone architecture has left us a number of masterpieces of world significance. The Cathedral of the Assumption was for a long time the principal church of Ancient Russia. This building started the formation of the distinctly Russian architectural school. The perfection of its architectural image led to taking the cathedral in Vladimir as a model for a whole number of major churches in Ancient Russia. Thus, it was to Vladimir that Aristotle Fioravanti, invited from Italy to build cathedrals in Moscow, was sent to study Old Russian architecture on his arrival to Russia.
Grand Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky began the construction of Vladimir’s Cathedral of the Assumption in 1158. Completed after a devastating fire of 1185 that caused dangerous cracks in the walls, it was redesigned into a five-domed one. As a result the building acquired light and at the same time formidable, monumental proportions. The surviving fragments of murals painted by the great Andrei Rublev and his closest assistant Daniel Chorny still further enhance the significance of the cathedral.
Different centuries contributed in various ways to the city’s appearance. The most beautiful church of Vladimir is the Cathedral of St Demetrius. The golden Gate with its monumental shapes is a fine example of medieval fortified structure.
The chairman:
After Vladimir we are visiting the last town of our route. It is Suzdal.
The citizen of Suzdal
It is impossible to confuse this town with no other contemporary or even old Russian town. Suzdal does not meet you by a chaos of precincts and industrial zones, but unfolds in a beautiful panorama punctuated by the striking verticals of churches and bell-towers. It seems that a heavenly fairy-tale city descended to the fertile plain woven with a network of small rivers. The surrounding lands well suited for human habitation were settled even in the pre-Christian times. The first mention of Suzdal in the chronicles dates from 1024. Playing a significant role in the life of Ancient Russia, Suzdal frequently found itself in a turbulent whirlpool of dramatic events. It was sacked several times, but each time revived within a striking short period.
The tourist from Portugal:
Is there the Kremlin in your town?
The citizen of Suzdal:
The dominant feature of the town is the Kremlin. In the centre of the town one can see the trading rows. At some distance from the present-day centre of Suzdal is situated the Spaso-Yevfimiev Monastery (or St Euthymius Monastery of Our Saviour). The main church of the Monastery is the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. In 1767 the monastery began to be used as a central prison for religious and political dissidents – “insane convicts”. This prison was necessary to Catherine the Great whose policies faced a resistance of various forces.
Suzdal remained a small town and this fact makes even more striking the abundance of architectural masterpieces on its streets. In the sixteenth century, only in the Kremlin there were erected, besides the stone cathedral, fifteen towers and seven wooden churches. From the fourteenth century onwards the town became the seat of a bishop. This determined the town’s role as a major centre of Russian culture and education.
The chairman:
Thank everybody for their great stories about Russian Ancient towns. After this traveling we are eager to see everything with our own eyes and to visit Russian towns to form a fairly good idea of the specific mode of life and culture of ancient and present-day Russia.
Список литературы:
- О. В. Афанасьева, И. В. Михеева «Учебник английского языка для VII класса» Москва «Просвещение» 2008.
- “The Golden Ring” P-2 Art Publishers.