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Yaroslavl is a city on the Volga about 250 kilometres northeast of Moscow and the capital of Yaroslavl Oblast, famous for its historic centre at the meeting of the Volga and Kotorosl rivers, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for its richly painted 17th-century churches. It is one of the best known towns of the Golden Ring, and about 577,000 people live there.
Tradition says the town was founded by Yaroslav the Wise, which makes it the oldest existing town on the Volga. From 1218 it was the capital of its own principality until Moscow absorbed it in 1463. In the 17th century it was the second-largest city in Russia, and during the Polish occupation of Moscow in 1612 it served for a time as the country's capital.
Wealthy merchants of that century built the brick churches of the Yaroslavl school, with frescoes and glazed tiles, and many still stand along the rivers. Visitors walk the Volga embankment and the park on the Strelka, explore the walled Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery and the art museum in the old governor's house, and see plays at the Volkov Theatre, founded in 1750.
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in the centre of Yaroslavl was founded in 1216 by Prince Konstantin on the bank of the Kotorosl. Its strong walls lead many to take it for a kremlin, the text of The Tale of Igor's Campaign was found here, and its buildings now hold the city museum.
Strelka Park in Yaroslavl covers the cape where the Kotorosl flows into the Volga, the spot where the town is said to have begun. It has an upper level in the old town and a lower level on the spit, with flower beds, fountains and views over both rivers, and is one of the main sights of the city.
The Assumption Cathedral in Yaroslavl stands on the Strelka and is the cathedral of the Yaroslavl diocese. The first stone church of the town was begun here in 1215, but the old one was destroyed in Soviet times, and the present building was raised in 2004 to 2010 for the city's 1000th birthday.
Tolga Monastery stands on the left bank of the Volga in Yaroslavl, where Bishop Prokhor is said to have found the Tolga icon of the Mother of God in 1314. It takes its name from the small Tolga river nearby, and after almost sixty years of closure it reopened as a convent in 1987.
The Church of Elijah the Prophet on Sovetskaya Square in central Yaroslavl was built in 1647 to 1650 with money from the rich merchant brothers Skripin. It is a masterpiece of the Yaroslavl school of architecture and painting, and its walls are covered with bright 17th-century frescoes.
The Church of St. John the Baptist at Tolchkovo in Yaroslavl was built in 1671 to 1687 on the bank of the Kotorosl and is the only church in Russia with fifteen domes. Its walls shine with glazed tiles, its bell tower is 45 metres tall, and frescoes from the 1690s cover the inside.
The Church of St. Nicholas Nadein on the Volga bank in Yaroslavl was the first stone church built in the town's merchant quarter. It was paid for by the merchant Nadeya Sveteshnikov, and it began a tradition in which merchants and crafts quarters competed to build fine churches.
The Church of St. John Chrysostom in Korovniki in southern Yaroslavl was built in 1649 to 1654 by its parishioners on the bank of the Volga. Together with the Vladimir church and a tall bell tower it forms one of the finest ensembles of the Yaroslavl school, and it is now used by Old Believers.
The Yaroslavl Art Museum is the main art museum of Yaroslavl Oblast, housed in the former governor's house on the Volga embankment in Yaroslavl. Its rooms show Russian, European and Eastern art, and the museum also holds concerts and changing exhibitions in its historic buildings by the river.
The Metropolitan's Chambers in Yaroslavl were built in the late 1680s and early 1690s as the residence of Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich of Rostov and Yaroslavl. They are among the oldest civil buildings in the city, stand on the Volga embankment, and now belong to the art museum.
The Volkov Theatre in Yaroslavl is counted, with the Alexandrinsky in Saint Petersburg, as the oldest drama theatre in Russia. Its story began on 10 July 1750, when Fyodor Volkov staged Racine's Esther in a leather barn, and its grand building on Volkov Square still hosts plays today.
The Music and Time Museum on the Volga embankment in Yaroslavl opened in 1993 as the first private museum in Russia, in the old Vakhromeev merchant estate. It was created by the illusionist John Mostoslavsky from his own collection, and it now includes rooms of porcelain and samovars.
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