The Golden Ring represents a graphic encyclopedia of ancient Russian architecture. It comprises several cities to the northeast of Moscow that have preserved the historical and architectural monuments of the Russia of ancient times and subsequent ages. The Golden Ring's best-known and most frequently visited cities are Vladimir, Kostroma, Suzdal, Uglich, and Yaroslavl. Each city of the Golden Ring is magnificent and unique in its own way.
As a tourist route, the Golden Ring is suitable for all seasons of the year. Moreover, it gives everyone who is interested in Russia's history, culture, and present-day activities to visit its ancient capital and other Golden Ring cities with their relics of the past.

If you have never been to Suzdal, don't miss the opportunity to visit this city, which is rightly held to be the pearl of the Golden Ring. Suzdal appeared in Russian annals in 1024, and marked a whole period in the development of Russian national statehood and culture.

In the 11th century, Suzdal - a major city in the northeast of the mighty Kievan Rus - reached its heyday, becoming the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality and a major trade and industrial center.

Those were the times of the princedom of Vladimir Monomakh's son, Yury Dolgoruky, who became the first independent prince of Suzdal. In 1152, in the village of Kideksha on the bank of the Nerlya, Yury Dolgoruky built the Boris and Gleb Church, which laid the foundation for white-stone architecture in northeast Rus.

Under the rule of Dolgoruky's son, Andrei Bogolyubsky, the princedom's capital was moved to Vladimir. During the Mongol-Tatar invasion of that region, Suzdal was burnt and plundered, and a large section of its inhabitants was taken prisoner.

After several unsuccessful attempts made in the 14th century to regain its past importance and political independence, Suzdal became part of the Moscow principality toward the 15th century. After losing its role as a political center, throughout the Middle Ages, the city remained a notable religious, trade, and cultural center of Rus.

Suzdal saw intensive construction in the 16th-17th centuries, when all the now existing architectural ensembles were built. The finest of them are the ensembles of the ancient Kremlin, and of the Pokrovsky and Spasso-Yevfimiyev monasteries.

In the 18th century, Suzdal conducted active construction of churches on the Posad. Toward the early 19th century, its urban ensemble took its final shape.

Russian history bestowed a happy and remarkable fate on Suzdal. Although over the centuries the city was destroyed more than once and suffered fires and epidemics, it came to life again and again. Suzdal or its inhabitants participated in every major event in Russian history. Among the historic names associated with the ancient land of Suzdal are Yury Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky, Alexander Suvorov, Dmitry Pozharsky, Dmitry Vinogradov, and many others familiar to all Russians.

Although in the 18th-19th centuries Suzdal became an ordinary provincial town, it acquired second wind in the 1970s, but only as a major tourist center. It came to be called a "museum city" - an attribute first given to it in 1923. After inspecting the city in that year, the Provincial Commission for the Preservation of Monuments or Art and Antiquity drew this conclusion: "...The whole of Suzdal is one great museum. The inviolability of all its relics of civilization is dictated by the interests of art and science."

Suzdal is unequalled in abundance of monuments and in the integrity of its original profile. In an area of nine square km, there are more than 200 monuments of religious and civil architecture of the 12th to 19th centuries. Suzdal has succeeded in preserving its ancient topography, the unique color of an ancient town, and the amazing harmony of its ancient Russian architecture and its natural environment.

The most ancient part of Suzdal is its Kremlin, whose compositional center is the 12th century Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin. Its southern and western gates, executed by the technique of fire gilding, are a unique relic of the decorative art of ancient Rus.

The Kremlin ensemble also includes the Bishops' Chambers of the 15th-17th centuries. The most ancient monument of Suzdal's civil architecture is a 1635 belfry, notable for its chiming clock.

Currently, the Kremlin is hosting an exhibition of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum Preserve; on the ground floor of the Bishops' Chambers there is a Russian cuisine restaurant called Trapeznaya (Refectory).

To the West of the Kremlin, on the opposite bank of the Kamenka River, stands the Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life. Here, in the place of the ancient Dmitriev Monastery, which has not survived, the more interesting wooden structures of the 18th-19th centuries were brought from villages in the Vladimir Region. Thus, there came into being an open-air museum - a "village" complete with the Church of the Transfiguration and the Church of the Resurrection, peasant huts, barns, drying houses, a well, and windmills.

In 1352, Prince Boris Konstantinovich of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod founded the Spassky Monastery, later renamed Spaso-Yefimiev. In the 16th century, wooden monasteries were replaced with stone ones.

In 1642, on the altar of a cathedral with its own ancestral burial-vault, Russia's national hero Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky was buried.

On the cathedral square of the Spaso-Yevfimiyev Monastery, stands the hipped-roof Church of the Assumption (1525), the quarters of the archimandrite (17th century), and the monastery's belfry (16th-17th century), where concerts of church bells are held. To the east of the cathedral, there stand hospital wards, the Nikolskaya Church (17th century), and a two-storied private quarters of the monks (17th-19th centuries). The monastery's compound is surrounded by fortress walls with 12 towers (17th century). Today, the Spaso-Yevfimiyev Monastery is the city's largest museum ensemble.

Currently, Suzdal is a major tourist center that attracts numerous Russian and foreign tourists. The city has all the necessities for rest and recreation in a place that also plays an educative role. There are exciting exhibitions at the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum Preserve, comfortable hotels, Russian cuisine restaurants, and splendid natural surroundings of Central Russia.

Nature in Central Russia has its attractions in all seasons of the year. There are picturesque landscapes against the background of the vast expanses of the Volga, gurgling forest streams, pine and birch forests. Apart from everything else, the Golden Ring of Russia tourist route offers an excellent opportunity to learn about the true Russia.

Useful tips:

Some Helpful Hints if You Decide to Visit the Golden Ring Towns

You can get to Suzdal and Pereslavl-Zalessky only by car. The major cities can also be reached by train. Local trains ply between Moscow and Vladimir. The Moscow-Yaroslavl train passes through Sergiyev Posad, Alexandrov, and Rostov Veliky. Standing on the Volga and the Oka are the cities of Uglich, Rybinsk, Tutayev, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Plyos, and Murom. A river cruise includes a visit to these cities. No wonder a "Moscow Round-the-World Cruise" is often confused with the Golden Ring route.

Lately, the Golden Ring cities have seen intensive development of tourism; this is why they have acceptable hotels, cafes, and restaurants. Because they have become tourist destinations, hotel accommodation and restaurant services are rather costly in these cities, especially in Vladimir and Suzdal. It usually takes a day to see the sights in any of the Golden Ring cities. But if you want to visit all their museums and environs, you will have to stay in the city for a week.

The Moscow News