Yaroslavl is a large city located at the place where the river Kotorosl flows into the Volga. Its prehistory goes back to the 8th century, when a Scandinavian-Slavic settlement grew up, which became an important place on the Volga trade routes. Yaroslavl itself was founded in 1010 by the Grand Duke Yaroslav I, when he landed at the area known today as Strelka. Yaroslav I initiated the construction of the first Yaroslavl Kremlin, and in the early days of the city, churches and monasteries were also established, which had been expanded in the 12th century.

From 1218, Yaroslavl was established as an independent principality, and through the 1300s and 1300s, the city went through difficult times. Yaroslavl consisted of wooden houses, and fires often raged. So did several attacks by Mongol armies, who in 1257 murdered a large part of the population. The plague also hit Yaroslavl in these centuries. The time as a separate principality ended in 1463, when Yaroslavl became subject to the principality of Moscow, and since then the city and the region have been part of first Moscow and then Russia.

From the 16th century, stone buildings began to be built in Yaroslavl to avoid more major fires in the city. Among other things, churches and monasteries were built, and Yaroslavl experienced great growth from the middle of the 16th century, when the city profited from its location on the Volga. It was possible to sail goods to and from Moscow and the port city of Arkhangelsk to the north.

Growth stopped with Russia’s so-called troubled times in the early 1700s, when Poland and Lithuania took advantage of Russian decline to invade the country. In 1609, Poles tried to capture the strategically important Yaroslavl, which, however, resisted the attack. In 1612, Yaroslavl became the de facto capital of Russia until Moscow was freed from Polish occupation.

After the troubled times, Yaroslavl experienced high growth as a trading and craft town, and by the end it had 15,000 inhabitants, making it the country’s second largest city. In the 17th century, many of Yaroslavl’s churches were built, while the 18th century brought industrialization and a new town plan with classicist architecture. Development continued in the 1800s, when the railway came to the city in 1870.

In the 1900s, a rebellion arose in connection with the Russian Civil War, and during World War II, Yaroslavl was exposed to German aerial bombardment due to, among other things, the city’s bridge over the Volga, which was an important transport hub. In the latter part of the century, the city was industrialized and expanded with many new suburbs.

Today, Yaroslavl is an exciting metropolis, whose old town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. It is also one of the cities in the so-called Golden Ring around Moscow, and Yaroslavl has preserved much of its architecture from the tsarist era throughout the 17th-19th centuries. The old town lies between the city’s two rivers, and at the far end is the Strelka Park, where you can see the 1000-year monument to the city’s founding.

At and from Strelka you can walk along Yaroslavl’s river promenades, and at the nearby Assumption Cathedral there is a fantastic view of the Volga and the beautifully landscaped park that Strelka forms. The Ascension Cathedral was originally built 1215-1219, but unfortunately demolished during the Soviet Union. The cathedral was reconstructed 2004-2010 and therefore stands today in its former glory.

From the cathedral you can walk through Demidovskij Sad park to Sovetskaya Ploshad, Yaroslavl’s central square. It was Catherine the Great who in 1778 approved a new town plan with the Church of the Prophet Elias as the center. The church was built 1647-1650, and like the Ascension Cathedral, this church also has a richly decorated interior with a remarkable icon wall and many murals. Opposite the church is the Yaroslavl Region Government Building, built in 1981 for the city’s Communist Party.

On both sides of the modern building are large classicist buildings from the 1780s, which house various administrative offices and the regional duma. On the opposite side of the Prophet Elias Church, you can visit the city’s museum of foreign art, and from here you can continue through a small park to the Jaroslavl Art Museum.

From Sovetskaya Ploshad you can go southwest to perhaps Yaroslavl’s best-known attraction. Here is the Annunciation Cathedral and Monastery, which was founded in the 12th century. The monastery was not only built as a monastery, but as the city’s kremlin and citadel, and this can still be seen clearly with the surrounding 16th-century walls with built-in towers. Today, the monastery is set up as a museum, where you can admire the beautiful and traditional buildings and at the same time get close to historical events.

It was here in the monastery that Yaroslavl defended the city against invading Poles and Lithuanians during the troubled times, and it was from here that a Russian army came out and liberated Moscow from Polish-Lithuanian occupation. When you are at the monastery, you can also visit the Church of the Holy Trinity from the end of the 17th century, which is located immediately west of the monastery.

In Yaroslavl you can also see many newer buildings that are worth seeing. These include the trading house Gostiny Dvor from 1813-1818 and the well-known Volkov Theater, which was built in 1911. Both buildings are located on the ring road that defines the border of Yaroslavl’s old town. If you go north along the ring road you will come to Red Square, Krasnaya Ploshad, where you can see the city’s statue of the head of state Lenin.

Behind Lenin is the main building of the city’s university, and it formerly housed Yaroslavl’s meeting place for the city’s aristocrats. If you continue along the ring road, you will come to the bank of the Volga, and at this place is the river terminal, from where you can go on cruises on the famous river, which is Europe’s longest.