Kremlin Square is the main square of the historical center of Vologda, where you can start all excursions. The most interesting sights of the city are concentrated around it. Also from here you can go to the Vologda River Embankment to walk around the Kremlin Park.
The complex of buildings, which is now called the Vologda Kremlin, used to be the Bishop`s Court. The territory of the Bishop`s Court was only 1/10 of the total area of the Kremlin, which was founded by Ivan the Terrible in 1565.
At this time, Ivan the Terrible proclaimed Vologda the capital of his oprichnina state and began to build the Vologda Kremlin here. Then it was a wooden fortress of significantly larger dimensions than the current Kremlin. The Bishop`s Court and Kremlin Square were located inside the Vologda Kremlin.
After the cancellation of the policy of the oprichnina state, Ivan the Terrible left Vologda and never returned here. The wooden fortress walls of the Grand Kremlin remained unfinished, and in the following centuries they were dismantled. In the 17th century, the construction of the stone walls of the Bishop`s Court began. Kremlin Square is located at the southern wall of the Bishop`s Court. The powerful South-Western Tower of the Vologda Kremlin has been preserved to this day. Now it houses the Museum of Modern Art.
The south-eastern tower of the Vologda Kremlin was dismantled in the 18th century and the Resurrection Cathedral was built in its place. It became the main cathedral of the Vologda diocese. The Kremlin Bell Tower rises above the cathedral, and St. Sophia Cathedral is located next to it. All these buildings are located on the western side of the Kremlin Square.
There is a Lace Museum on the eastern side of Vologda Kremlin Square. Vologda lace is one of the most famous folk crafts in Russia. The first lace factory in the Vologda region was established in 1820 in the village of Kovyrino by the landowner V.Zasetskaya. After that, lace weaving became the most common craft in Vologda.
The collection of the Vologda Lace Museum has about 700 exhibits. The exposition is divided into several parts. Of great interest are huge laces made with the highest skill of Vologda lace makers. The collection of the Vologda Lace Museum was placed in the building of the former State Bank. This house was built in the 19th century. Several 19th-century wooden and stone houses have been preserved near the Lace Museum on the eastern side of Kremlin Square.
The composition of the Kremlin Square on the banks of the Vologda River is complemented by the Alexander Nevsky Church, built in the 18th century in the style of Peter the Great Baroque. Next to it is a small square lined with slabs. Sculptures of Pallas Athena and a Vologda’s woman with a pipe are installed on it. On the Embankment of the Vologda River, you can see a monument to the writer Batyushkov. He was born in Vologda and participated in the Patriotic War of 1812.
