Everything about Vologda totally explained
Vologda is a city in
Russia and the administrative center of
Vologda Oblast. It is located at, and has a population of 293,046 (
2002 Census). Vologda takes its name from the
Vologda River which flows through the city. It's name is of likely Finno-Ugrian origin. Vologda is served by
Vologda Airport and is host to
Fedotovo, a major
Russian Navy air base 44 km to the west.
Vologda was first mentioned in
Novgorod chronicles for 1147, when Saint Gerasim found a church and village already standing there. Surrounded by impassable woods, the settlement was inhabited by Novgorodians who pulled the ships from a tributary of the
Volga to a tributary of the
Northern Dvina, thus making possible navigation from the
White Sea to the
Caspian. In 1273 the city was ravaged by a Mongol raid.
It wasn't until 1412, when the area was ceded by
Novgorod Republic to
Muscovy, that the town acquired any measure of importance. The princes of Muscovy made Vologda their outpost in the North. By the end of the century, Vologda eclipsed the ancient centre of that region,
Belozersk. Its commercial importance further increased when the
Muscovy Company started its operations in Russia.
It was at that time that
Ivan the Terrible ordered the town's cathedral, named after
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, to be rebuilt in stone. Vologda's Saint Sophia, consecrated in 1570, was one of the largest cathedrals built in Russia up to that time. Its superb
frescoes were painted in 1686–1688 by Dmitry Plekhanov from
Yaroslavl. A lofty octagonal belltower was added in 1654–1659 and built up in the nineteenth century. A local museum occupies the neighbouring Treasury chambers (1659). The main points of interest outside Kremlin walls are the eighteenth century
baroque churches and the nineteenth century
Neoclassical mansions.
Just two kilometers from the historic centre of Vologda stands the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, founded in 1371 by one of
Sergii Radonezhsky's disciples. With
Dmitry Donskoy as its patron, the monastery quickly developed into the richest landowner in the neighbourhood. Its five-domed cathedral was erected in 1537–1542. Almost all other structures—a
refectory, a winter church, holy gates with a barbican—were also constructed prior to the
Time of Troubles, when the
cloister was occasionally besieged by the Polish units and gangs of brigands. The time of anarchy over, the monastery's thick walls and towers were renovated.
Soviet authorities banished the monks and turned the cloister into a museum. Some remarkable specimens of early wooden architecture were transported here from distant villages of the Vologda region.
Vologda is known all over Russia for its
cheese and
butter, reputedly the best in Russia. The Romantic poet
Konstantin Batyushkov was born and died in Vologda. There is also a small museum of
Peter the Great.
Balanovsky 2008
published genetic research data on Vologda and found results connecting it, along with
Krasnoborsk, to a genetic grouping otherwise most common in
Scandinavia which would be in common with settlements or migrations from that area (for example
Viking or
Varangian) or simply represent an ancient genetic relatedness. According to 11.6% of a sampling of 121 tested at Vologda belong to the
I1a haplogroup (12.1% of 91 tested belonged to said group in Krasnoborsk) these frequencies are higher than elsewhere in Russia and even higher than in
Poland.
Sister Cities
Further Information
Get more info on 'Vologda'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://vologda.totallyexplained.com">Vologda Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
