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Vladimir is the capital of Vladimir Oblast in central Russia, set on the high left bank of the Klyazma River about 180 kilometers east of Moscow. It had about 350,000 people at the 2021 census and is one of the best-known stops on the Golden Ring of old Russian towns.
The chronicles date the founding of the town to 1108 under Vladimir Monomakh, though some historians argue for 990. In 1157 Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky made Vladimir his capital, and in the 12th to 14th centuries it was the seat of the Grand Principality of Vladimir. Its princes raised gates and cathedrals of carved white limestone, and the town survived the Mongol sack of 1238.
Today the white stone monuments of Vladimir are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed in 1992. Visitors walk from the Golden Gate along the old main street to the cathedrals above the river, and they explore monasteries, museums and quiet pedestrian lanes.
The Golden Gate of Vladimir was built in 1158-1164 under Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky and is the only partly preserved ancient Russian city gate. It guarded the rich princely quarter of the town and served as a triumphal arch, and today a museum inside tells the story of the Mongol invasion.
The Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir was raised in 1158-1160 for Andrey Bogolyubsky and enlarged in 1185-1189, and for centuries it was the largest church in Russia. Its walls are covered in carvings, and inside are frescoes painted in 1408 by Andrei Rublev and Daniil Chyorny.
The Cathedral of Saint Demetrius in Vladimir was finished in 1197 by Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest as the church of his palace, built of local white limestone. It is famous for the stone carvings that cover its upper walls, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed White Monuments.
The Nativity Monastery in Vladimir was founded in 1191 by Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest in the eastern part of the old town. Before the rise of the Trinity Lavra it was the main center of monastic life in northeastern Rus, and the famous Laurentian Chronicle came from its walls.
Georgievskaya Street is a 290-meter pedestrian street in the historic center of Vladimir, running past the Church of Saint George along the crest of the high bank where the courts of Yury Dolgoruky and Andrey Bogolyubsky stood in the 12th century. It leads to the Savior and Saint Nicholas churches.
Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street is the main street of old Vladimir, running for 1,869 meters from the Golden Gate along the top of the hill between the Klyazma and the Lybed. It once linked the New Town, the Kremlin and the Vetshany Town, and it was part of the road from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod.
The Knyaginin Monastery in Vladimir is a convent founded around 1200 by Vsevolod the Big Nest at the wish of his wife Maria, who took vows there in 1206. Planned as the burial place of the grand princesses of Vladimir, it was closed in the 20th century, and convent life returned in 1993.
The Ascension Church in Vladimir was built in stone in 1724 in the Baroque style on the site of an old Ascension Monastery first mentioned in 1178. A chapel and a two-tier bell tower were added in 1813, and after decades as a warehouse and a shoe factory it is once again a working church.
The Water Tower in Vladimir stands on Kozlov Val just south of the Golden Gate and was rebuilt in its present form in 1912 to a design by S. M. Zharov. It stopped supplying water by the 1950s, and since 1975 it has housed the Old Vladimir exhibition of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum Reserve.
The Trinity Church in Vladimir is an Old Believer church built in 1913-1916 in the Neo-Russian style to a design by S. M. Zharov, using brick from a local factory. Closed in 1928, it has served since 1974 as an exhibition hall of the museum reserve, and locals call it the Red Church.
The Palaty is a long classical building in Vladimir, built in 1785-1790 for the provincial government between the Dormition and Saint Demetrius cathedrals. It took its name from the treasury and court chambers on its upper floor, and since 1993 it has been a museum complex of the museum reserve.
The Vladimir Academic Drama Theatre traces its history to 1848, when the actor Ivan Lavrov persuaded the governor that every city needed a theater. Its first buildings stood near the Golden Gate, and from 1934 it bore the name of Anatoly Lunacharsky. Today it plays on Dvoryanskaya Street.
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