Kostroma (Russian: Кострома́) is a historic city in central Russia,
administrative centre of the Kostroma Oblast. A part of the Golden ring of
the Russian towns, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Volga and
Kostroma, 65 km east of Yaroslavl.
The
city was first recorded in the chronicles for the year 1213, but
historians believe it could have been founded by Yury Dolgoruky more than
half a century earlier. Like other towns of the Eastern Rus, Kostroma was
sacked by the Mongols in 1238. It then constituted a small principality,
under leadership of Prince Vasily the Drunkard, a younger brother of the
famous Alexander Nevsky. Upon inheriting the grand ducal title in 1271,
Vasily didn't leave the town for Vladimir, and his descendants ruled
Kostroma for another half a century, until the town was bought by Ivan I
of Moscow.
As one of the northernmost towns of Muscovy, Kostroma served for grand
dukes as a place of retreat when enemies besieged Moscow in 1382, 1408,
and 1433. In 1375, the town was looted by Novgorod pirates ("ushkuiniki").
The spectacular growth of the city in the 16th century may be attributed
to the establishment of trade connections with English and Dutch merchants
(Muscovy Company) through the northern port of Archangel. Boris Godunov
had the Ipatievsky and Epiphany monasteries rebuilt in stone. The
construction works were finished just in time for the city to witness some
of the most dramatic events of the Time of Troubles.
Kostroma was twice ravaged by the Poles; it took a 6-month siege to expel
them from the Ipatievsky monastery (photo). The heroic peasant Ivan
Susanin became a symbol of the city's resistance to foreign invaders;
several monuments to him may be seen in Kostroma. The future tsar, Michael
Romanov, also lived at the monastery. It was here that an embassy from
Moscow offered him the Russian crown in 1612.
It is understandable why the Romanov tsars regarded Kostroma as their
special protectorate. The Ipatievsky monastery was visited by many of them,
including Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar. The monastery had been
founded in the early 14th century by a Tatar prince, ancestor of the
Godunov family. The Romanov tsars had the magnificent Trinity cathedral
rebuilt in 1652; its frescoes and iconostasis are a thing of beauty. A
wooden house of Mikhail Romanov is still preserved in the monastery. There
are also several old wooden structures transported to the monastery walls
from distant districts of the Kostroma Oblast.
In 1773, Kostroma was devastated by a great fire. Afterwards the city was
rebuilt with streets radiating from a single focal point near the river.
They say that Empress Catherine dropped her fan on the city map, and told
the architects to follow her design. One of the best preserved examples of
the 18th century town planning, Kostroma retains some elegant structures
in a "provincial neoclassical" style. These include a governor's palace, a
fire tower, a rotunda on the Volga embankment, and an arcaded central
market with a merchant church in the center.
Built
in 1559-65, the 5-domed Epiphany Cathedral was the first stone edifice in
the city; its medieval frescoes perished during a fire several years ago.
The minster houses the city's most precious relic, a 10th-century
Byzantine icon called Our Lady of St. Theodore (Russian: Федоровская
Богоматерь). It was with this icon that Mikhail Romanov was blessed by his
mother when he left for Moscow to claim the Russian throne. They say that
just before the Revolution the icon blackened so badly that the image was
hardly visible; it was interpreted as a bad sign for the Romanov dynasty.
The Ipatievsky monastery survives mostly intact, with its 16th-century
walls, towers, belfry, and the 17th-century cathedral.
Apart from the monasteries, most of the city churches were either rebuilt
or demolished during the Soviet years. The only city church that survives
from the 17th-century "golden age" is the of gold instead. He resolved
that the unearned gold was the devil's gift and decided to spend it on
building a church, beautiful within and without. Two other 17th-century
temples (photo), of rather conventional architecture, may be seen on the
opposite side of the Volga.
Among the vestiges of the Godunov rule, a fine tent-like church in the
village Krasnoe-on-the-Volga (formerly an estate of Boris Godunov's
brother) may be recommended.
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The
city was first recorded in the chronicles for the year 1213, but
historians believe it could have been founded by Yury Dolgoruky more than
half a century earlier. Like other towns of the Eastern Rus, Kostroma was
sacked by the Mongols in 1238. It then constituted a small principality,
under leadership of Prince Vasily the Drunkard, a younger brother of the
famous Alexander Nevsky. Upon inheriting the grand ducal title in 1271,
Vasily didn't leave the town for Vladimir, and his descendants ruled
Kostroma for another half a century, until the town was bought by Ivan I
of Moscow.
Built
in 1559-65, the 5-domed Epiphany Cathedral was the first stone edifice in
the city; its medieval frescoes perished during a fire several years ago.
The minster houses the city's most precious relic, a 10th-century
Byzantine icon called Our Lady of St. Theodore (Russian: Федоровская
Богоматерь). It was with this icon that Mikhail Romanov was blessed by his
mother when he left for Moscow to claim the Russian throne. They say that
just before the Revolution the icon blackened so badly that the image was
hardly visible; it was interpreted as a bad sign for the Romanov dynasty.
