The Ryazan Kremlin

14 points5 km4.5 hours

The Ryazan Kremlin is the best place to start getting to know Ryazan. On the “Kremlin route” you can see one of the largest Orthodox churches in Russia; find out where, legend has it, the great Prince Oleg of Ryazan hid his sword, which square in the city was called “Red,” and how the Diveevo convent is connected with the Ryazan Kremlin; take a photo at the city's most “iconic” selfie spot; and sip fragrant cardamom coffee like the one served on the biblical Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

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

Route points (14)

Monument to Yesenin in Ryazan

Point on route “The Ryazan Kremlin”

Point 14

Monument to Yesenin

🗿 Monument

Historical Background

The monument to Sergei Yesenin was originally planned for the village of Ostrov, and it was supposed to be about twenty times larger than the present statue. When the villagers learned of the planned construction and that their houses would be demolished to make room for the giant monument, they registered their relatives as living with them. Building a 9-story apartment block for the resettled residents was not in the city's plans, so the authorities dropped the idea of a “giant Yesenin.”

About the Sculpture

The present monument to the poet on the Kremlin embankment was unveiled for Sergei Yesenin's 80th birthday, on October 2, 1975. Its creator was the well-known Soviet sculptor Alexander Kibalnikov. The monument is almost 4.5 meters (15 feet) tall and weighs 12 metric tons (13 short tons). More than two hundred cubic meters of concrete were used for the base. The pedestal is made of a very rare stone, polished amazonite (green granite), quarried in the Pamirs. Yesenin seems to grow out of his native soil. The poet's gaze is fixed on the Oka meadows, his arms open in a creative impulse. Around the statue of the “singer of Russia” are planted the trees Yesenin praised so often in his verse: maple, birch, and rowan.

A Photo in His Palm

In his poem “My Path,” the poet himself insisted that no monument be put up to him in Ryazan: “Let me drop dead, but no, don't put up a monument to me in Ryazan!” His fellow countrymen decided that Sergei Alexandrovich had spoken in the heat of the moment: after all, Ryazan and Yesenin are inseparable. Today you can say with confidence that every Ryazan family album has pictures taken either in the poet's palm or posed as “Me and Yesenin.”