Uglich: A Journey Through the Centuries

9 points6 km4 hours

Over its long life, Uglich has witnessed the whole of Russian history. It was the center of a small principality; the last heir of the Rurikid dynasty died here; merchants carried on a lively trade; and in Soviet times one of the country's first hydroelectric power plants was built in the town. Join us for a walk through the streets of ancient Uglich to learn its life story.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras

Route points (9)

Kalashnikov House Museum in Uglich

Point on route “Uglich: A Journey Through the Centuries”

Point 7

Kalashnikov House Museum

🏛️ Museum • 🏟️ Architectural landmark

Vasily Ivanovich Kalashnikov

Our country's history has had more than one famous Kalashnikov. Vasily Ivanovich lived from 1849 to 1908. He acquired his technical knowledge on his own while working as a draftsman at a factory in Rybinsk. His main invention was a steam engine with quadruple steam expansion. He also designed unique superheaters and blowers. He was active in shipbuilding as well: at the Sormovo works in Nizhny Novgorod he worked on steamship designs side by side with Alexei Gavrilovich Nekrasov, who is considered the creator of the Volga steam fleet. For his contribution, Kalashnikov is even called the “godfather” of the Volga steamships.

Architecture

The two-story house immediately catches a visitor's eye. Its stone facade is in the Classical style, adorned with elegant sandriks* and pilasters*, as well as enameled tiles like those that decorated stoves in well-to-do homes. The back of the building contrasts with the front: it is a log structure of pine.

Today

The house museum now has three exhibitions: the designer's study, a glass museum, and a museum of Russian tea culture, which regularly holds workshops on packing and brewing tea. *A sandrik is a small cornice, a horizontal “shelf” above the surround of a window or door. *A pilaster is a flat rectangular projection resembling a column.