Ryazan is one of the large cultural cities in the area south of the Russian capital Moscow. The city was possibly established in the 8th century by Slavic settlers, but the current Ryazan is first mentioned in 1095 under the name Pereslavl, which was then a different city than Ryazan. In the following centuries, Ryazan was in conflict with, among others, Vladimir-Suzdal, and in 1237 Ryazan became the first Russian city to fall victim to the Mongol invasion under Batu Khan. The Mongols destroyed the city, which was never rebuilt, but instead moved to Pereslavl, which subsequently took the name Ryazan after the former capital.

The Principality of Ryazan was dissolved in 1521, when the city and region became subject to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In the following centuries, Ryazan remained a provincial city until Catherine the Great made it the regional capital in 1778, and the city became the capital of the Ryazan Governorate in 1796.

In 1780, a new urban plan for Ryazan was laid out with the city’s Kremlin and Sobornaya and Novobazarnaya squares as the central elements. Schools and an opera and drama theater were also opened in the 1780s. In 1837, part of the town’s wooden houses burned, and Rjazan was rebuilt in stone, which changed the town’s profile. The opening of the railway in 1890 gave further growth to the town.

At the beginning of the 20th century, just under 50,000 people lived in the city, which before the Russian Revolution was visited by Tsar Nicholas II twice, and which was basically still built according to the structure of the 1780 town plan. After the revolution, Ryazan became part of the Soviet Union, and the city was exposed to several German bombardments during World War II.

After the war, the city experienced great growth as an industrial city and scientific and military regional center. Among other things, bases, a refinery and the production of agricultural machinery were established in Ryazan during these years, and the population exploded. There were 95,000 inhabitants in the city in 1939, and 50 years later there were more than 500,000 citizens in the city.

Today, Rjazan is a cozy city with many fine sights. You can start a stroll by going to the Ryazan Kremlin, which is the old center of the city, and here there is a lot to see. The Kremlin is laid out as a museum, and it sits on a ridge surrounded by a river and dry moats. There are a total of eight churches and other buildings in the building complex.

At the main entrance from the south, you pass the beautiful 83-meter-high bell tower, which was built 1789-1840. Then you come to the Ascension Cathedral, which was built 1693-1699 as the Kremlin’s main church. In the facility you can also see churches such as the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Church of the Nativity, and you can also visit the Ryazan Museum of History and Architecture, which is housed in the former residence of the city’s princes and bishops.

In front of the Ryazan Kremlin is the square Ploshad Sobornaja, where you can see, among other things, an equestrian statue of Prince Oleg of Ryazan and the Theater at the Cathedral, which opened in 1937. From here you can walk along ulitsa Sobornaja, which was the main street in the city plan from 1780. The street connected Ploshad Sobornaja with Novobazarnaja Ploshad, today called Lenin Square, and where you can see the city’s monument from 1957 to the head of state Lenin.

A little north of here you can visit the Museum of the History of the Airborne Troops, and these troops have been part of Ryazan’s history since the time after the Second World War. The museum building was built as a seminary building in 1816 and is a beautiful and period-typical construction.

There are several other lovely places to go for a walk in Ryazan, and one of them is the large park area in front of the city’s state circus, which gives performances in a modern building from 1971. The park is located above the piped river Lybed, and here there quite a few statues, such as one of the famous clown Oleg Popov. A little south of here you can see Ryazan’s beautiful Philharmonic, which was opened in 1957, and close by you can visit the Pozhalostin Art Museum.

The museum is housed in a large building in Russian classicism from around the year 1800, and its exciting collections include old Russian icon art to works from the 20th century. Next to the museum is the summer club of the nobility, a beautiful wooden house with fine decorations from 1905, and if you go further in this area you can see, for example, Saint Nicholas Church from the 1780s.