Below is a tour around Kostroma, that'll let you see all the main sights of the town in 4-5 hours. THE TRADING ARCADES.
If you walk along Sovetskaya (Советская) street to Susaninskaya (Сусанинская) square, on your left you'll see the long, bending, white rows of Trading Arcades. They go from the square
down to Volga river. The complex of the arcades was built in the end of the 18th century at the place, where 300 year before there had been the trenches of Kostroma Kremlin (that didn't exist anymore even in the 18th century).
If you walk down to Volga river, you'll see that there are many different arcades. Each arcade was used for trading different kind of goods: there are 'flower' arcades, 'milk' arcades, 'vegetable' arcades, 'tabacco' arcades, 'oil' arcades, 'sweets' arcades, 'fish' arcades. Closer to the Volga river there are parallel to each other 'bread' and 'kvas' arcades ('kvas' is a russian brewed sweet drink), and further down, parallel to the Volga, there are 'fish' arcades.
The first floor of arcades was used to trade, and the second floor was used to store the goods.
Now, there are different kinds of shops and a market in the arcades.
AROUND SUSANINA SQUARE.
At the big square between the arcades, there's a monument to Ivan Susanin – a peasant from Kostroma, who became a Russian hero. During the winter of 1612-1613s Ivan Susanin guided a detachment of Polish invaders into an unpassable swamp. When the Polish soldiers realised that Susanin did it on purpose, they killed him. But after they didn't manage to get out of the swamp and died themselves. The monument was built in 1967 by a Russian sculptor, and was set not only to Susanin, but also to embody the abnegation of Russian people, who, during the many wars, were ready to die saving their country.
If you cross the Sovetskaya street and stand on the square in front of Susanin's Monument, you'll see some interesting buildings around you. The first is a fire tower, that is 35 meters high (built in 1823-1827). Inside the tower there used to be rooms for cisterns with water, a stable, living rooms for firemen, and an observation deck on top. Now there's the history museum of fire department inside. At the moment the fire-tower is being restorated, and it should be finished by the year 2002, when there'll be the feast of 850 years.
Next to the fire-tower (in the clockwise direction), there's the building where there used to be the military guard-room (gauptvakhta). The decorations on the walls of this building are dedicated to the victory over Napoleon in 1812.
Nowadays there's a literature museum inside this bulding, where you can see samples of old Russian books (hand-written and printed), and an exhibition dedicated to writers from Kostroma region. The museum is opened daily from 10 to 17.
Address: #1, Lenina ul., phone: (0942) 51-60-27
EPIPHANY MONASTERY.
If you walk from Susaninskaya sqare along Simonovskogo (Симоновкого) street, you'll see the Epiphany Monastery (Bogoyavlensky monastery - Богоявленский монастырь) which was founded in the first half of the 15th century by a monk from Trinity monastery of Sergius (from Sergiev Posad). Nowadays this monastery is the residence of the archbishop of Kostroma. The main church in the monastery is Epiphany cathedral (Bogoyavlensky cathedral) built in 1559-1565, which is the first building made of stone in Kostroma. Inside you can see the holy icon of Fedorovsky Bogomater (around 800 years old). The legend says that the Prince Vasily Yaroslavovich found this icon, while he was hunting. It was hanging on one of the branches of an elm tree.
ST. IPATHY MONASTERY.
Take the bus #14 and in 10 minutes it'll take you through the whole centrum of Kostroma, crossing the bridge over Volga river, to St Ipathy
monastery (you'll need to walk 5 more minutes).
St Ipathy monastery (Ipatievski monastery - Ипатиевский монастырь) is the most important monastery in Kostroma. It was founded in the beginning of 1330 at the place where Kostroma river meets the Volga. It's not clear who founded the monastery, some legends say that it was a Tartar called 'Chet', who became Christian; other legends say that the monastery was founded by Vasily Kvashnya, who was the prince of Rostov-Kostroma principality, and who liked to live in Kostroma.
First there were just some wooden walls and fortifications, but in the 16th century it was completely rebuilt. The monastery was making some money on the land, on peasants, on taxes, on navigating along the Volga river, so it could afford itself to build the impressive Trinity cathedral (Troitsky cathedral - Троицкий собор), richly decorated buildings, and stone walls around the territory of the monastery.
The territory of St Ipathy monastery is divided into two parts: the 'old town' and the 'new town'.
The stone walls around the 'old town' used to be 550 meters long, 6 meters high, and 3 meters thick. The center of the 'old town' is the Trinity cathedral which was built in 1586, but was blown up in 1649, because of an 'accidental' explosion of some gun-powder that was stored in the basements. Built again in 1650-1652 the cathedral became much bigger and more richly decorated than before. The frescos inside were
painted by Russian craftsmen, headed by Gury Nikitin and Sila Savin, who were the famous masters from Kostroma (they did some frescoes in .Kostroma's Euthimiev monastery as well).
The 'new town' was built in the middle of the 17th century after Russian tsar's Mikhail Romanov decree. In the 'new town' and the territory nearby there's the Museum of Wooden Architecture, where the churches, peasant's houses (izbas), a mill from all over the Kostroma region were brought. Among the most interesting sights are the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya church, built in 1628, is said to be made without any nails, just pure handcraft. The Sobora Bogoroditsy church, built in 1552, is claimed to be the oldest construction of the Kostroma region (that we can see now).
Address: #1, Prosveshcheniya ul. Phone: (0942) 57-25-89. Open hours: 9.00-17.00 daily. The preachers' services are daily 7.30 or 8.00 or 17.00. If you come earlier, you can ask a guard to let you in, saying that you'll leave soon, and that it's the only chance for you to see the monastery. Addmission: 50 roubles ($1.7).
Museum of Wooden Architecture: #1a, Prosveshcheniya ul. Phone (0922) 39-15-12. Open hours: 9.00-17.00 daily.
Before the end of the 18th century the centrum of Kostroma consisted maily of wooden houses. In 1773 there was a devastating fire in the town, during which almost all wooden buildings and structures were destroyed.
So, in the year 1781, the Russian emperess Ekaterina II gave the decree to restore and rebuild Kostroma. The process of building the new town and restoration took more than one decade, and as a result the new churches, trading places, and houses were built.
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