About Yaroslavl

The Golden Ring of Russia is a world-famous tourist route, symbolic ring of ancient Russian towns situated 280 km to the North-East from Moscow and is keeping unique monuments of the Ancient Russian architecture of the 12-17th centuries.

Amazing and inimitable in their beauty are picturesque landscapes and architectural monuments of Yaroslavl – the pearl of Golden Ring. Nowadays they are often called «museums in the open air». Cathedrals and churches of the city strike by their beauty.

The city was found around 1010 by Yaroslav the Wise – the son of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. Prince Yaroslav the Wise conquered this place by killing the sacred bear (the totem of the tribes) with a pole-axe. Then a fortress was founded on the spot known as Medvezhi Ugol («Bear Ravine») where the Kotorosl River falls into the Volga River.

Yaroslavl developed rapidly because of its favorable location along the Volga trade route. In 1218 it became the capital of the independent feudal Yaroslavl principality. Yaroslavl reached the peak of its development. It was then that the architectural ensembles went up to make Yaroslavl one of the most beautiful cities of old Russia with churches rich in frescoes and ceramic ornamentation.

Today Yaroslavl is a large industrial, scientific and cultural centre with the population over 630,000 people, which has an advantageous geographical location and lies some 270 km away from Moscow and some 750 km away from Saint-Petersburg. Automobile tires, diesel engines, synthetic rubber, lacquer paints, industrial machinery and equipment are produced in Yaroslavl.

The Russia’s first professional theatre, the first provincial magazine, the first lorry, obtaining the first synthetic rubber in the world – this is Yaroslavl.