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)

St. Sophia Cathedral Bell Tower in Vologda

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

Point 14

St. Sophia Cathedral Bell Tower

🕵️ Urban legend • 🔭 Viewpoint

Historical Background

The bell tower of St. Sophia Cathedral is the oldest church monument in Vologda and part of the Vologda Kremlin ensemble. It is a cultural heritage site of federal significance. The history of this majestic structure took shape over centuries. At first the bell tower was a wooden one with a tent roof, built in the 1620s. Later it was replaced with a stone one: an octagonal pillar-like tower with a stone tent roof crowned by a small dome. It was built with stone left over from Ivan the Terrible's kremlin. In the 1860s Archbishop Palladius of Vologda decided to make the bell tower of the city's main church the tallest in the diocese. The old bell tower was radically rebuilt: the tent roof and bells were removed, and the surviving lower tier (about 17 meters high) became the base for a new one. The new bell tower was built in 1869–1870 in the Gothic Revival style. Since then it has stood 78.5 meters tall and is considered the tallest in the Vologda Diocese.

Fun Facts

The St. Sophia bell tower has a “museum” of bells — mostly Dutch, Russian and German, from the 17th–19th centuries. Some have interesting names: the Hour Bell, the Big (Feast) Bell, the Little Swan and the Big Swan. In total there are 24 pre-revolutionary bells. Before the revolution Vologda had about 400 bells. In 1701 Peter I issued a decree to collect a quarter of all bell copper for military needs. The people of Vologda didn't take down their bells; instead they sent cracked ones and added 200 poods (about 3.3 tons) of copper on top of their quota. Their zeal was rewarded with a royal charter and, a year later, with two bells of exactly the same weight. In 1871 a clock by the Butenop Brothers was installed on the bell tower. It is still the city's main clock. The bell tower's viewing platform offers a panoramic view of Vologda's historic center: you can see the Vologda River, the Batyushkov monument, the domes of St. Sophia Cathedral, the Kremlin and Kremlin Square.