Suzdal Explained

En Name:	Suzdal
Ru Name:	Суздаль
Coordinates:	56.4167°N 67°W
Image Coa:	Coat of Arms of Suzdal.png
Holiday:	2nd Saturday of August
Holiday Ref:	^[1]
Federal Subject:	Vladimir Oblast
Adm Data As Of:	September 2013
Adm District Jur:	Suzdalsky District
Adm Ctr Of:	Suzdalsky District
Adm Ctr Of Ref:	^[2]
Inhabloc Cat:	Town
Mun Data As Of:	August 2009
Mun District Jur:	Suzdalsky Municipal District
Urban Settlement Jur:	Suzdal Urban Settlement
Mun Admctr Of1:	Suzdalsky Municipal District
Mun Admctr Of2:	Suzdal Urban Settlement
Leader Title:	Head of Town
Leader Name:	Larisa Majorova
Leader Name Ref:	^[3]
Area Km2:	15
Area Km2 Ref:	^[4]
Pop 2010Census:	10535
Pop Latest:	9978
Pop Latest Date:	2015
Pop Latest Ref:	^[5]
Established Date:	1024
Postal Codes:	601291, 601293
Dialing Codes:	49231
Website:	http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru
Date:	January 2016

Bodystyle:	width:23.5em;
Suzdal population
Label1:	2021 Census
Data1:	9,286
Label2:	2010 Census
Data2:	10,535
Label3:	2002 Census
Data3:	11,357
Label4:	1989 Census
Data4:	12,063
Label5:	1979 Census
Data5:	11,529

Suzdal (Russian: Суздаль, pronounced as /ru/) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located near the Kamenka River, 26km (16miles) north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the administrative center of the surrounding oblast. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 9,286.

Suzdal is one of the oldest Russian towns. In the 12th century, it became the capital of the principality, while Moscow was one of its subordinate settlements. Currently, Suzdal is the smallest of the Russian Golden Ring towns, yet it has more than 40 historically important monuments and 200 architectural sites.^{[6] [7] [8]} Several of these sites are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

History

The town's history dates back to 999 or 1024, and in 1125 Yury Dolgoruky made Suzdal the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality.^[9] Suzdal served as a capital at the time when Moscow has been described as "still a cluster of cowsheds".^[6] In 1157, Andrei Bogolyubsky moved the capital from Suzdal to Vladimir, from which time the principality was known as Vladimir-Suzdal. Suzdal was burned and plundered in 1237 during the Mongol-led invasions; however, it remained a trade centre afterward because of its location in a fertile wheat-growing area.^[10] Eventually, it united with Nizhny Novgorod until both were annexed by Moscow in 1392.^[11] After a decline in political importance, the town rose in prominence as a religious center with development projects funded by Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, wealthy merchants paid for 30 churches, which still stand in the town.^[11] At one point,Suzdal had 40 churches per 400 families.

In 1864, local merchants failed to convince the government to build the Trans-Siberian Railway through their town. Instead, it went through Vladimir, 35km (22miles) away.^[6] In 1967 Suzdal earned a federally protected status, which officially limited development in the area.^[11]

In 1943, high-ranking Nazi officers captured at the Battle of Stalingrad were imprisoned within Suzdal's monastery.^[12]

Today, the town serves as a tourist center, as it features many examples of old Russian architecture -mostly churches and monasteries. Despite having nearly ten thousand residents, Suzdal still retains a rural atmosphere with streams and meadows, and chicken and livestock a common sight on the streets, some of which remain unpaved. This juxtaposition of medieval architecture in a pastoral setting has made Suzdal a popular subject for artists.^[13]

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Suzdal serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District, to which it is directly subordinated.^[14] As a municipal division, the town of Suzdal is incorporated within Suzdalsky Municipal District as Suzdal Urban Settlement.^[15]

Tourism

The only industry in the town is tourism. Suzdal avoided the industrialization of the Soviet times and was able to preserve many examples of Russian architecture of the 13th-19th centuries. There are 305 monuments and listed buildings in Suzdal, including 30 churches, 14 bell towers, and 5 monasteries and convents. 79 of them are federally protected buildings and 167 are regionally protected.^[4]

In 1992 two of the monuments (Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius and Kremlin with Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral) were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, together with six other White Monuments in this region.^{[16] [17]}

Main sights

• The Kremlin is the oldest part of Suzdal, dating from the 10th century. It is a predecessor of the Moscow Kremlin. In the 12th century, it was the base of Prince Yury Dolgoruky, who ruled the northeastern part of Kievan Rus' and founded an outpost, which is now Moscow. A posad (settlement) to the east became home to the secular population - shopkeepers and craftsmen, while the Kremlin (fortress) proper was the home of the prince, the archbishop, and the high clergy. Within the Kremlin, the Archbishop’s Chambers house the Suzdal History Exhibition, which includes a visit to the 18th-century Cross Hall, which was used for receptions. More exhibits are provided in the 1635 Kremlin bell tower (Russian: Звонница) in the yard.
• The 1.4adj=mid1adj=mid earth rampart of the Kremlin encloses a number of houses and churches, including the Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral. This cathedral, with its blue and gold domes, was constructed in 1222-1225 by Yury II on the site of an earlier church built around 1102 by Vladimir Monomakh. It was built of light tufa with limestones for details. In 1445 the cathedral collapsed and was rebuilt in 1528-1530 with the upper structure and drums being constructed of new brick.^[18] The original 13th-century door from the cathedral is now on exhibition in the Archbishop’s Chambers.
• Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius, founded in 1352 to the north of the town centre on the high bank of the Kamenka river. It was built under the order of the Suzdal-Nizhniy Novgorod prince Konstantin. The monastery was planned as a fortress and was originally enclosed by a wooden wall, later destroyed by the Poles. Today's reddish brick walls of the Suzdal monastery were erected over four years, from 1640 to 1644. The fortifications have 12 towers constructed to house artillery power. Later the monastery became a prison, which had a reputation for brutal punishment of prisoners. In 1905 the prison was abolished.

• The Wooden Church of St. Nicholas, originally built in Glotovo in 1766, was moved to Suzdal in 1960 to become part of the Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life. The church is elevated off the ground about a story high from when it was moved across the country. The church is made entirely of wood.
• St John the Baptist Church, built in 1720, at the same time as the Wooden Church of St Nicholas. It was constructed with white plastered walls and wooden supports.
• St Alexander Convent, built in 1240 by an unknown architect. It is said that the princesses of Suzdal, Mariya and Agrippina, were buried here in the 14th century.
• , founded in 1364. In its center stands the Cathedral of the Intercession, an add-on built in 1518, financed by Moscow knaz (king) Vasili III. The interior of the cathedral is plain white stone, with no paintings or stained glass. The church houses the burial vaults of 20 nuns of noble birth. An art museum containing works created in the 16th and 17th centuries is connected to the cathedral.

Festivals

• Open Russian Festival of Animated Film, held annually in March since 2002, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture.^[19]
• Cucumber Day Festival with folk music performances is celebrated by locals on the second Saturday of July, every year since 2001.^[20]

Infrastructure

There are four major hotels in Suzdal:^[4]

• Nikolaevsky Posad (180 rooms)
• Pushkarskaya Sloboda (291 rooms)
• Heliopark (185 rooms)
• GTK Suzdal (705 rooms).

There are also 50 guesthouses with a total number of 700 rooms.^[4] Suzdal has approximately 20 hotel rooms per 100 population (comparing to 0.2 rooms for Russia in general, or 1.6 rooms in the US).^[21]

Suzdal has 13 restaurants, 10 cafes, 11 bars and 73 souvenir shops.^[4]

In 1982 Suzdal became the first Russian town to receive La Pomme d'Or (Golden Apple) - a prize for excellence in the tourism industry, awarded annually by the World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FIJET).^[22]

Film

More than 60 movies were filmed in Suzdal and the vicinity. Among them:

• Andrei Rublev (USSR, 1966)
• Bratya Karamazovy (USSR, 1969)
• Finist, the brave Falcon (USSR, 1976)
• The Shooting Party (USSR, 1978)
• Tema (USSR, 1979)
• Yunost Petra (USSR, 1980)
• Charodei (USSR, 1982)
• Dead Souls (USSR, 1984)
• Peter the Great (USA, 1986)
• Tsar (Russia, 2009)

According to local historian Yury Belov, in the summer of 1964 three different feature films (Metel, Zhenitba Balzaminova and Tsarskaya nevesta) were filmed in Suzdal at the same time.^[23]

Twin towns

Suzdal is twinned with:

• Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, since 1988^[24]
• Cles, Italy, since 1991^[25]
• Oberlin, United States, since 1991^[26]
• Windham, United States, since 1992^[27]
• Évora, Portugal, since 2006^[28]
• Loches, France, since 2011^[29]
• Shangrao, China, since 2012^[30]

Notable people

• Solomonia Saburova (1490–1542), the first wife of Grand prince Vasili III of Muscovy, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as St Sofia of Suzdal
• Dmitry Pozharsky (1577–1642), national hero, granted the title Saviour of the Motherland for routing the Polish invasion
• Eudoxia Lopukhina (1669–1698), Tsarina, the first wife of Peter the Great, banished to the Intercession Convent of Suzdal
• Dmitry Vinogradov (1720–1758), chemist, the founder of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg
• Aleksei Gastev (1882–1939), revolutionary, trade-union activist and a pioneer of scientific management in Russia
• Sergei Shirokogorov (1887–1939), founder of Russian anthropology
• Vasily Blokhin (1895–1955), chief executioner of the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) during the Great Purge and World War II
• Yuri Modin (1922–2007), KGB controller for the "Cambridge Five"

See also

• Church of Boris & Gleb—church in a nearby Kideksha village, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 4km (02miles) away.

Sources

• Brumfield, William (2009). Suzdal: Architectural Heritage in Photographs. Moscow: Tri Kvadrata. .

External links

• Official website of Suzdal
• Aerial panoramas of Suzdal
• Suzdal photos

Notes and References

1. Web site: http://citiesdays.ru/vladimir/suzdal . ru:Праздники в городе Суздаль . Information portal "Town Day" . ru . Holidays in the Town of Suzdal . 2016-01-16.
2. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/files/documents/ustav2015dek.pdf . ru:Устав муниципального образования город Суздаль Владимирской области . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Charter of the Town of Suzdal of Vladimir Region . 2016-01-16.
3. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/index.php/oms/glava-goroda . ru:Глава города Суздаля . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Head of the Town of Suzdal . 2016-09-20.
4. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/index.php/suzdal/o-gorode/kharakteristika . ru:Характеристика города Суздаль . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Characteristic of the Town of Suzdal . 2016-01-16.
5. Web site: http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/doc_2015/bul_dr/mun_obr2015.rar . ru:Численность населения Российской Федерации по муниципальным образованиям на 1 января 2015 года . . ru . Population of the Russian Federation in 2015 . rar.
6. Encyclopedia: Suzdal . Russia . . Ragozin . Leonid . Mar 2015 . Richmond . Simon . 7 . 978-1-74220-733-9.
7. Web site: Erkovich, V. . The epicenter of "Legendary History" . Russia Beyond the Headlines . 2012-10-17 . 2019-11-30.
8. Web site: Kahn, D. . A weekend in Suzdal . Russia Beyond the Headlines . 2013-02-09 . 2019-11-30.
9. Web site: History of Suzdal Rusmania. rusmania.com. 2019-05-06.
10. https://www.suzdalonline.ru/history/varganov/chapter3/ Suzdal during the Tatar-Mongol yoke
11. Encyclopedia: Vorhees . Mara . Richmond . Simon . Russia & Belarus . Suzdal . 4 . 2006 . . 1-74104-291-7.
12. Suzdal Camp 160: The fate of the German officers captured at Stalingrad. 2020-04-05 .
13. News: Luxmoore . Matthew . Suzdal . . 2012-07-01 . 2016-01-18.
14. Resolution #433
15. Law #190-OZ
16. Web site: White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal. UNESCO/World Heritage Convention.
17. Web site: World Heritage List No.633 Vladimir/Suzdal. ICOMOS Evaluation. October 1992. UNESCO/World Heritage Convention.
18. Book: Brumfield, William Craft . William Craft Brumfield . Landmarks of Russian Architect: A Photographic Survey . 1997 . . 9056995367 . 60 . 2016-04-04.
19. Web site: http://www.suzdalfest.ru/index.php?id=2 . ru:Официальный веб-сайт Открытого Российского фестиваля анимационного кино . ru . Official website of Open Russian Festival of Animated Film . February 27, 2024 .
20. News: 'Cucumber Day' Celebrated in Russia . . 2015-07-16 . 2016-01-15.
21. Web site: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 . . 424 . 2016-04-04.
22. Web site: Golden Apple Award . Official website of the World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers.
23. Book: Belov, Yury . 2006 . ru:В главной роли Суздаль . Starring Suzdal . ru . Algoritm . 5-9265-0281-0.
24. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/files/mezdunarodSoglas/Rotenburg.pdf . ru:Соглашение между городами Ротенбург об дер Таубер (ФРГ) и Суздаль (СССР) . 1988-04-24 . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Agreement between Rothenburg ob der Tauber (FRG) and Suzdal (USSR) .
25. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/files/mezdunarodSoglas/kles.pdf . ru:Соглашение между городами Клез (Италия) и Суздаль (Россия) . October 1991 . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Agreement between Cles (Italy) and Suzdal (Russia) .
26. Web site: Oberlin's Connections Around the World . Oberlin

    Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

    . USA.
27. Web site: Sister City - Suzdal, Russia . . USA.
28. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/files/mezdunarodSoglas/Evora.pdf . ru:Соглашение о дружбе и сотрудничестве между г.Суздалем (Россия) и г.Эвора (Португалия) . 2006-08-12 . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Partnership agreement between Suzdal (Russia) and Évora (Portugal) .
29. Web site: Protocole d'accord de cooperation entre les municipalités de Souzdal et Loches . 2011-12-15 . Official website of Suzdal . fr . Partnership agreement between Suzdal (Russia) and Loches (France) .
30. Web site: http://www.gorodsuzdal.ru/files/mezdunarodSoglas/Shanzao.pdf . ru:Соглашение о сотрудничестве между администрациями города Суздаля (РФ) и города Шанжао (КНР) . 2012-09-10 . Official website of Suzdal . ru . Partnership agreement between Suzdal (Russia) and Shangrao (China) .