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.
Lazy Square — Where the City Was Founded
🗿 Monument · ⛲ Square
Monument to St. Gerasim of Vologda
🗿 Monument
Karaulov House
🏟️ Architectural landmark · 📜 Historic site
Carved Palisade
🏟️ Architectural landmark · 🏛️ Museum
St. Elijah Monastery
🕍 Place of worship · 🏟️ Architectural landmark · 📜 Historic site
Zasetsky House
🏟️ Architectural landmark
Panteleev House
🏟️ Architectural landmark · 🏛️ Museum
Actors' House
🏟️ Architectural landmark · 🎭 Theater
Kremlin Garden
🌳 Botanical garden · 🌿 Public garden or park
Kremlin Square
⛲ Square · 📜 Historic site
Bishop's Court (Little Kremlin)
🏟️ Architectural landmark · 📜 Historic site
St. Sophia Cathedral
🕍 Place of worship · 🕵️ Urban legend
Resurrection Cathedral
🕍 Place of worship
St. Sophia Cathedral Bell Tower
🕵️ Urban legend · 🔭 Viewpoint
Monument to the Poet K. N. Batyushkov
🗿 Monument
Point 1
🗿 Monument • ⛲ Square
The name comes from a special way of trading practiced here in the past. There was a market on this spot where peasants sold their goods straight from their carts, without setting up stalls or laying out their wares. This kind of trading was called “lazy”, and that's how the square got its name.
According to tradition, the city was founded in 1147, when the Kyiv monk Gerasim came to the Vologda River and founded a monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The first reliable mention of Vologda dates from 1264. The city's oldest church, the Church of the Resurrection, once stood on Lazy Square. Before St. Sophia Cathedral was built, it was the city's main church. In the 1930s the church was closed and dismantled.
In the 16th century Ivan the Terrible began building a stone kremlin and cathedral in Vologda. The terrain of the old settlement was not suitable for this, so Ivan Vasilyevich moved the center of Vologda 800 meters downstream.
In 1959 a monument to Vologda's 800th anniversary was erected in the middle of Lazy Square. It is an obelisk of northern granite rising above a square pedestal. Each side of the base has arched niches shaped like kokoshniks (semicircular gables), holding cast bronze bas-reliefs that depict key events in the city's history. The northern relief shows a medieval market on Lazy Square against the backdrop of the wooden Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
Point on route “From an Ancient Settlement to the City of Vologda”
Point 1
🗿 Monument • ⛲ Square
The name comes from a special way of trading practiced here in the past. There was a market on this spot where peasants sold their goods straight from their carts, without setting up stalls or laying out their wares. This kind of trading was called “lazy”, and that's how the square got its name.
According to tradition, the city was founded in 1147, when the Kyiv monk Gerasim came to the Vologda River and founded a monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The first reliable mention of Vologda dates from 1264. The city's oldest church, the Church of the Resurrection, once stood on Lazy Square. Before St. Sophia Cathedral was built, it was the city's main church. In the 1930s the church was closed and dismantled.
In the 16th century Ivan the Terrible began building a stone kremlin and cathedral in Vologda. The terrain of the old settlement was not suitable for this, so Ivan Vasilyevich moved the center of Vologda 800 meters downstream.
In 1959 a monument to Vologda's 800th anniversary was erected in the middle of Lazy Square. It is an obelisk of northern granite rising above a square pedestal. Each side of the base has arched niches shaped like kokoshniks (semicircular gables), holding cast bronze bas-reliefs that depict key events in the city's history. The northern relief shows a medieval market on Lazy Square against the backdrop of the wooden Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
15 points
2 km
4 hours
