From an Ancient Settlement to the City of Vologda

15 points2 km4 hours

This route takes you deep into the city's history, from the first settlements to the heyday of merchant Vologda. Along the way, layer after layer of the city's past is revealed: traces of fortifications, the sites of former squares, and corners with carefully preserved wooden houses and carved front gardens that tell of the everyday life and tastes of Vologda's people through the ages.

Route author

Vologda Tourism

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🌆🌿 Soak up the atmosphere
🍲🎶 Local culture

Route points (15)

Actors' House in Vologda

Point on route “From an Ancient Settlement to the City of Vologda”

Point 8

Actors' House

🏟️ Architectural landmark • 🎭 Theater

History of the Building

The A. V. Semyonov Vologda Actors' House is a two-story mansion in the Classical style. It was built between 1811 and 1829 by the brothers Nikolai Mikhailovich and Dmitry Mikhailovich Myasnikov, who traded in vegetables and fruit. Their descendants, however, foolishly went bankrupt, and the house was sold at auction. After the 1917 revolution the house was nationalized and turned into communal apartments. In the 1970s it was added to the list of Vologda residential buildings of urban-planning and architectural significance, and in the 1980s it underwent a major restoration.

The Actors' House

In 1983 it was decided to turn the mansion into an Actors' House — a place for professional and union meetings of theater people. The main initiators were Yakov Nuss, director of the Youth Theater, and the actor Alexey Semyonov, head of the Vologda branch of the All-Russian Theater Society. The Actors' House opened in 1989. Since 1993 the building has belonged to the Union of Theater Workers. It hosts performances, concerts, kapustniki (comic skits put on by actors for each other), and literary and musical evenings. There is a tradition of an annual community clean-up day in which actors and audiences take part together. Today the Actors' House is one of the city's recognized cultural centers.