The settlement of Old Ryazan is located on the high bank of the Oka River, 50 kilometers south of modern Ryazan. Now here you can see a large plateau on the steep bank of the Oka, surrounded by earthen ramparts. In the 13th century, wooden fortress walls towered on them. In the 13th century Ryazan was one of the largest cities in Russia.
The first settlement on the site of Old Ryazan appeared in the 8th-9th century, at about the same time as the Truvor settlement in Izborsk or the Rurik settlement in Veliky Novgorod. It was located in a convenient location on the trade route along the Oka and Volga rivers. The city developed rapidly and became rich. Its territory has reached 48 hectares. However, from the south of Ryazan, there was constant danger from nomadic tribes who raided Russia.
For the first time, Old Ryazan was mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle in 1096. During these years, the Ryazan-Murom principality was formed. Initially, there was a rivalry between Ryazan and Murom for the primacy in the new principality. Finally, Ryazan won.
In 1237, the first blow of the Mongol-Tatar army of Batu Khan fell on Old Ryazan. He decided to subjugate all Russian lands. Ryazan defended for several days, but, in the end, the city was completely burned, and its inhabitants were killed. So Batu Khan decided to inspire terror in the inhabitants of Russian cities and suppress their will to resist.
After that, Ryazan ceased to exist as a city. Historians argue whether the residents were able to return to the ashes after these terrible events. Anyway, because of the constant raids from the Golden Horde, the settlement of Old Ryazan was abandoned in the 14th century. According to another version, the last inhabitants left here in 1568 after the raid of the Crimean Khan.
The Ryazan prince in the middle of the 13th century decided to make the city of Pereslavl-Ryazan, which is located 50 kilometers north along the Oka River, his new capital. In 1778, by the decision of Empress Catherine II, the city of Pereslavl-Ryazan was renamed Ryazan, in honor of the old city destroyed by Batu Khan.
Nowadays, there is an archaeological reserve in the Ancient Settlement of Old Ryazan. Not many tourists come to these places, but there are still visitors here. Archaeological excavations of the ancient settlement of Old Ryazan have been conducted since the 19th century, but so far archaeologists have excavated only a small part of it.
A 24-hour security post is installed in the center of the settlement. They control territory of the settlement so the "black diggers" do not conduct illegal excavations here. Scientists have excavated the foundations of three of the largest Ryazan cathedrals: Assumption, Borisoglebsky and Spassky.
A small Borisoglebsky Church was built on the foundation of the Borisoglebsky Cathedral in 1899. It was built by the local landowner Sterligova, despite the protests of archaeologists. In 1941, the church was destroyed, and the bricks were used for crushed stone to construct a road. To this day, only a picturesque arch has survived from this church, which has become a symbol of the Ancient Settlement of Old Ryazan.
