Going Out & Sightseeing in Suzdal

We've designed a nice walk around Suzdal, that'll let you see all the main sights, and get the first impression of the town. In around 8 hours you can cover the main churches, monasteries, convents, sights, as well as simply interesting places, and the places for the best view of Suzdal.

INSIDE THE KREMLIN.
The Kremlin is historically the core of Suzdal, that's where the town has started. At the beginning the Kremlin was surrounded by dams made of ground, on which there were wooden walls with towers, and next to the dams there were trenches filled with water, to protect the town. Now there are only some dams and trenches left (no wooden walls anymore), that don't look so intimidating as they were 800 year ago, but provide a very good position to have a view on the town.
By the way, if you look on the opposite shore of Kamenka river, where there's silver domed Ioanna Predtechi church, you'll see a nice place to camp on the field next to the church.
Rozhdestvenskiy cathedral (ÓʉÂÒÚ‚ÂÌÒÍËÈ Òӷӝ) [map - 1] is probably the oldest cathedral in Suzdal. First it was built in the first half of the 13th century, but soon is was robbed by Tartars and in the 15th century it was partially destructed. It was restored in the beginning of 16th century, so the bottom of the cathedral is made of orginal white stone, and the top part is made of brick.
On the very top of the cathedral are beautiful blue domes with golden stars scattered on them. They were added to the cathedral only in 1750.
Next to the cathedral there are Arkhiereiskie chambers (‡¶ËÂÈÒÍË ԇ·Ú?) [map - 2], that were built during the 15th - 18th. The chambers are connected with the cathedral, and the main entrance to the chambers leads to a large hall inside, from where you can get to Besstolpny hall (·ÂÒÒÚÓÎÔÌ?È Á‡Î) of Krestovy chambers. This hall was used for the special events.
On the western side of the cathedral there's Nikolskaya wooden church, that was brought here from the other part of Vladimir region in the 18th century.
On the eastern side of the Kremlin there's a bell-tower built in 1635, with a marquee roof. There you can see an exhibition, dedicated to history of Suzdal.
Location: 20, Kremlevskaya ul. (5 mins walk to the Kamenka river from the main street). Phone: (09321) 2-16-24. Open hours: 10.00-16.00, days off: tuesdays and the last friday of the month.

If you walk from the Kremlin to the direction of the main Lenina (ÎÂÌË̇) street, you'll see the Trading Arcades, that were constructed in the beginning of the 19th century. Next to the trading arcades, on the northern side, behind the main street, there'll be small cozy Lazarevskaya and Antipievskaya churches, and with candle light and church incense emanating through the small entrances.

ALONG THE MAIN STREET.
If you walk further along Lenina street, you'll see long walls on your left, made out of red brick and covered with thick layers of white paint. It is Rizopolozhensky monastery [map - 4], founded in 1207. Most of the buildings inside and the walls were built later, in the beginning of the 16th century by Russian craftmen.
Inside the monastery there's a three-dome Rizopolozhensky cathedral decorated with frieze, built in the 1520s.
A tall bell-tower of the monastery was built during 1813-1819 by a stone-mason from Suzdal.

If you walk further along Lenina street and make a right turn, you'll be walking in the residential area: wooden houses, music playing outside, children playing soccer... If you walk further to Kamenka river you'll get to Alexandrovsky convent [map - 5], which was founded by Alexander Nevsky (who used to be a prince of Rostov-Suzdal principality) in 1240. Nothing is left from that time, the Tserkov Vozneseniya (Ascension Church) and the bell-tower were built in the 1695. The stone wall with small castels around the monastery date back to the first hald of the 18th century.
Nowadays, the convent is quite lonely place, only an old man is grazing his goats there, and just a few steps away there's a steep shore of Kamenka river with a nice view to Pokrovsky convent.

EUTHIMIEV MONASTERY-FORTRESS.
If you walk back to the Lenina street and walk up, you'll see the old Saviour-Euthimiev monastery-fortress [map - 7]. It was founded by the prices of Suzdal - Nizhni-Novgorod principalities in the middle of the 14th century. First, there were just a few wooden buildings, but when in the 16th-17th centuries Russian princes, tsars, and nobles donated bulk of their fortunes to the monastery, a new monastery-fortress was built there.
The stone walls around the monastery, which were built in the end of the 17th century are 1160 meters long, 9 meters high, and 6 meters thick.
The towers of the monastery were used to observe the surrounding, to protect the town. The most outstanding is the cubic 22 meters high Proezdnaya tower on the corner of monastery walls.
The core of the Euthimiev monastery is Spaso-Preobrazhensky cathedral (ëÔ‡ÒÓ-èÂÓ·‡ÊÂÌÒÍËÈ Òӷӝ), which was built in 1594. It is a typical Russian cathedral, that unites various styles of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture. Inside, there are wall paintings, made in 1689 by masters from Kostroma, under Gury Nikitin and Sila Savin supervision (they are the famous Russian fresco-painters of that time).
Next to the eastern wall of the cathedral there's a tomb of the Russian moble Dmitry Pozharsky, one of the leaders (the other one is Minin) of the riot against the Polish envaders. You can see a monument to them next to St Basil's cathedral in Moscow.
Next to the cathedral there's a bell-tower built between the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the year 1766 the emperess of Russia Ekaterina II founded a prison in the monastery, where she would put those, who were against the church and monarchy.
Location: the end of Lenina street. Phone: (09231) 2-07-46. Open hours: 10.00-17.15, days off: mondays and the last thursday of the month.

After you see the insides of the monastery, you can walk around its walls and enjoy Suzdal's countryside: there are low wooden houses, grazing goats and sheeps, and an amazing view of Suzdal and of Pokrovsky convent across the river Kamenka.
You can walk down the steep footpath to Kamenka river, cross the wooden bridge, and come to the walls of Pokrovsky convent.

POKROVSKY CONVENT.
This monastery was founded in 1364, but the original walls and cathedrals are not there anymore. Most of the structures you'll see were built in the 16th century. [map - 6] When it was built, in the 16-17th centuries, this convent was the place where Russian tsars would send noble women, with whom they bad relationship. Especially, this convent was popular among the first wives of Russian emperors: the first wife of Vasily III was imprisoned here, later Peter the Great put his first wife Evdokiya Lopukhina here.
The walls and towers of the monastery were built in the 17th-18th centuries. The central church of the convent is Pokrovsky cathedral (èÓ͝ӂÒÍËÈ Òӷӝ) which was built in 1510-1518. The cathedral is connected with a bell-tower (built in the 16th-17th centuries), which has a marquee roof.
Location: opposite of Euthimiev monastery, Open hours: 9.30-16.45, days off: tuesdays, wednesdays, the last friday of the month

In front of Pokrovsky monastery there's a very nice green field next to Kamenka river, where you can camp. Nuns from the monastery graze cows in the morning there, so be careful with a tent there.

THE MUSEUM OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE.
Across Kamenka river, not far from the Kremlin there's a museum of Russian wooden architecture and the peasant's mode of life. Wooden churches, peasant's houses (izbas), mills, a barn, a well from all over Vladimir region's villages were brought here in the 1960s. Perhaps, if you want to see village architecture, you can go to any village, but if you don't have enough time, or want to see some really unique things, like wooden churches and mills (that it'll be hard to find in the nowadays villages), this museum will be really interesting.
For example, there's a richly decorated, poly-tier Preobrazhenskaya church, which was built in 1756, a typical Russian village church.
Next to the church there are typical wooden houses, mostly built in the 19th century. you can get inside to see the interiors (opened from May to October).
The mills and barns date back to the 18-19th centuries.
Every year, in June, there's a feast of traditional crafts in the museum, with exhibitions of peasant's tools (for pottery, for weaving) and handcrafts.
Location: Pushkarskaya ul. (opposite of the Kremlin, on the other side of Kamenka river). Phone: (09231) 2-09-37. Open hours: 9.30-16.30, days off: tuesdays and the last friday of the month