Rostov the Great is more than a thousand years old. Today it's a small town, but it was once a spiritual center of the country and a major trading post. Visit the local kremlin, which was never a fortress, and stroll down an old street lined with merchant buildings. Make the rounds of the local museums and find out how two famous heroes of Russian epic tales are connected with this place.
Rostov Kremlin
📜 Historic site · 🕵️ Urban legend · 🏛️ Museum
Leninskaya Street
📜 Historic site · 🏟️ Architectural landmark
Kekin Estate
📜 Historic site · 🏟️ Architectural landmark
Rostov Finift Enamel
🕵️ Urban legend
Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery of St. Demetrius
🕍 Place of worship · 📜 Historic site · 🏟️ Architectural landmark
Lake Nero Embankment
🚶♂️ Waterfront · 🔭 Viewpoint
Worship Cross
🗿 Monument
Point 1
📜 Historic site • 🕵️ Urban legend • 🏛️ Museum
The Rostov Kremlin Museum-Reserve is the town's main institution, its “town-forming enterprise,” you might say. Within its walls are a superb collection of historical rarities displayed in the museum buildings, the beautiful Dormition Cathedral, and the cozy Metropolitan's Garden. The Kremlin staff also regularly organize conferences on the history of the Rostov land and run a publishing program.
Although Rostov had long been a major trading town, one of the spiritual centers of Rus, and the capital of the principality of the same name, it had no town fortifications until the 1630s. This played into the hands of the Polish invaders who sacked the town during the Time of Troubles. Many residents were killed, houses and churches were looted, and many households stood empty for a long time. Only in 1631–1633, under the direction of the Dutch engineer Jan Cornelius van Rodenburg, was a bastion-type fortress built in the shape of a nine-pointed star, unique in Russia at the time. The outlines of its ramparts can still be seen near the Kremlin grounds. But that is where the building of defenses ended. So what does the complex known as the “Rostov Kremlin” have to do with it, if it appeared only 30 years later?
At that time the Rostov Metropolis governed an enormous territory, comparable to modern France and Germany combined. The diocese had vast resources, a good part of which Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich, famous for his passion for building, devoted to the construction of the Rostov Metropolitan's Residence. It was built in 1660–1690. But the clergy did not live there long. At the end of the 18th century the see was moved to Yaroslavl, and the residence began to fall into disrepair. In the 19th century local and visiting antiquarians began, probably by mistake, to call it a kremlin. That's how taken they were with it, and its decaying look must have struck them as “noble antiquity.” The name has stuck ever since, and Rostov the Great, fortunately, has never again seen enemies at its gates since the Time of Troubles.
Point on route “Rostov the Great: Around the Town Center”
Point 1
📜 Historic site • 🕵️ Urban legend • 🏛️ Museum
The Rostov Kremlin Museum-Reserve is the town's main institution, its “town-forming enterprise,” you might say. Within its walls are a superb collection of historical rarities displayed in the museum buildings, the beautiful Dormition Cathedral, and the cozy Metropolitan's Garden. The Kremlin staff also regularly organize conferences on the history of the Rostov land and run a publishing program.
Although Rostov had long been a major trading town, one of the spiritual centers of Rus, and the capital of the principality of the same name, it had no town fortifications until the 1630s. This played into the hands of the Polish invaders who sacked the town during the Time of Troubles. Many residents were killed, houses and churches were looted, and many households stood empty for a long time. Only in 1631–1633, under the direction of the Dutch engineer Jan Cornelius van Rodenburg, was a bastion-type fortress built in the shape of a nine-pointed star, unique in Russia at the time. The outlines of its ramparts can still be seen near the Kremlin grounds. But that is where the building of defenses ended. So what does the complex known as the “Rostov Kremlin” have to do with it, if it appeared only 30 years later?
At that time the Rostov Metropolis governed an enormous territory, comparable to modern France and Germany combined. The diocese had vast resources, a good part of which Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich, famous for his passion for building, devoted to the construction of the Rostov Metropolitan's Residence. It was built in 1660–1690. But the clergy did not live there long. At the end of the 18th century the see was moved to Yaroslavl, and the residence began to fall into disrepair. In the 19th century local and visiting antiquarians began, probably by mistake, to call it a kremlin. That's how taken they were with it, and its decaying look must have struck them as “noble antiquity.” The name has stuck ever since, and Rostov the Great, fortunately, has never again seen enemies at its gates since the Time of Troubles.
7 points
6 km
6 hours
