Vologda is a large Russian city on the river of the same name in the area north of Moscow. The city’s history dates to its official foundation in 1147, which was at a time when Christianity came to the region. From the 13th century there was an active mission in Vologda to Christianize the non-Slavic population. In the middle of the 15th century, Prince Vasily II fled to Vologda, from where he built up his army and recaptured Moscow. Under the later Ivan IV, there were plans to make Vologda the capital, and this brought prosperity and expansion to the city, although it did not become the Russian capital. However, Vologda was strategically located on the road between Moscow and the port city of Archangel.

During the so-called troubled times in Russia at the beginning of the 17th century, Vologda was conquered and destroyed by invading Poles, and many of the city’s inhabitants lost their lives. Over the course of the century, however, Vologda was rebuilt, and new growth made the city Russia’s third largest after Moscow and Yaroslavl. This flourishing period ended with Peter the Great’s founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703. The new city reduced the importance of Archangel, and this affected traffic through Vologda.

Catherine the Great ushered in a new era of prosperity when she established a region with Vologda as its capital, and it became a governorate with a governor-general. The city center was redesigned with a new town plan from 1781, and later shipping traffic improved the city’s prosperity and strategic importance. The railway opened from Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1872, from Archangel in 1898 and from Saint Petersburg and Vyatka in 1905, making Vologda further accessible. It was also a time of industrialization, and Vologda became known for its butter production. In the 1900s, Vologda was at the front-line during World War II, when Finnish soldiers entered the region. Since that time, the city’s population has grown from 100,000 to well over 300,000.

Today you can enjoy some lovely walks and several sights in Vologda with the city’s old Kremlin as the center and main attraction. The Kremlin is located along the Vologda River, and construction began in 1566 under Ivan IV, when he built Vologda as an alternative capital to Moscow. There were originally moats, ramparts and walls around a larger area, and the central complex was Ivan IV’s intended residence and some important churches as well. Today you can see St. Sofia Cathedral, which was built as the main church of Vologda in 1568-1570 with beautiful frescoes, and next to it is the bishop’s residence, which was built from the 1560s, but which today mainly dates from the 17th-18th centuries.

In the area around Kremlevskaya Ploshad square, you can visit the Alexander Nevsky Church from the 18th century and visit the Vologda Lace Museum. You can also take a walk in the park behind the Kremlin and to the Vologda River, where a rural idyll reigns along the banks. From the bank, on the opposite side of the river, you can see the beautiful St. John Chrysostom Church, believed to have been built in 1664. You can also go south from Kremlevskaja Ploshad and still being in the area that once constituted the Vologda Kremlin. Here you can visit the city market, Gorodskoy Rynok, and further to south is the Regional Children’s and Youth Theatre. Opposite the theater you can see a monument to Pavel Belyayev, who was a cosmonaut on the Soviet Voskhod 2 mission, where the world’s first spacewalk was carried out.

Along the main street called ulitsa Mira you can see Vologda’s statue of the head of state Lenin, which was unveiled in 1958. From the statue you can walk east to the large Revolution Square, the modern center of the city. In the square you can see an eternal flame and a white stone obelisk erected in 1977 as a monument to the heroes of the Russian Revolution. Historically, there have been several churches on the square, formerly called the Saviour’s Square. Today, a cross stands as a symbol on one of the places where a church once stood. In continuation of the Revolution Square there is a park where you can see another statue of Lenin. The Church of John the Baptist is here as well, which was built from 1710, and at the end of the park is the Vologda Drama Theater, which was constructed in modern architecture in the years 1970-1974.