Yaroslavl, Russia

Location: Russia
Original/Current purpose: city, churches, monasteries, museum
Affiliation: Russian Orthodox
Open to public: Yes

Yaroslavl is a small industrial city about 4 hour train ride north east from Moscow. There is a lot of history there - this year the place celebrates its 1,000 anniversary. At one point the town was de-facto capital of the country for the whole six days. This chapel commemorates this event (along with national uprising against Polish invaders).

Today it represents an interesting mix of industry and tourism. Its river cruise terminal is always full of ships. The main attraction here is the immense number of churches. With a fairly low skyline, one can see green and gold onions all over the place. Sometimes, even regularly looking old houses turn out to be a church of some kind at close examination. For example, right across the street from Premier Ring hotel, there is a complex of churches left over from an ancient monastery, which until five years ago served as a tram yard with no indication of its spiritual heritage.

The main attractions include: Saviour Transformation (Spasso-Preobrazhensky) monastery in the very centre of the town. It is often confused for the town’s Kremlin. The real Kremlin was destroyed during Bolshevik Revolution.

The church of Epiphany (Bogoyavleniya) is located right next to the monastery in the square of the same name. Although it is not as well restored as the others, and only one chamber is currently open to the public, one easily finds commonalities with its famous cousin in Moscow of St. Basil. Epiphany was actually used as a prototype. No tourist ever misses its falling bell-tower (closed to public).

In 2010 the city has re-build its most important Assumption (Uspensky) cathedral, which is now the focal point of the 1000th anniversary.

The church of Elijah the Prophet is located in the Soviet square surrounded by local parliament buildings. It houses one of the oldest fresco collections and is considered to be the true treasure of the city.

Right around the corner from Elijah, on the opposite side of the former regional headquarters of the Communist Party, we find a tiny, but splendidly decorated chapel dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, ancient tsar and protector of Russian people.

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