The ancient city of Tver was founded on the banks of the Volga River in 1135. It is visited by many tourists who make cruises on ships. Tver is also located on the busiest road in Russia between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and it is visited by many tourists who travel between the two capitals.
In 1763, a devastating fire occurred in Tver, when the entire central part of the city burned down, including the old wooden Kremlin. After this fire, Catherine II approved the new layout of the city. In some areas, it is similar to the layout of St. Petersburg, and the houses are built close to each other, as in the northern capital. At the same time, the construction of the Imperial Travel Palace began. Most of the historical sights of Tver are located around it.
History of Tver
The settlement at the confluence of the Tmaka River with the Volga river appeared in the 11th century, and the official founding date of the city of Tver is 1135. Initially, the city was part of the Novgorod Republic, and then the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. In 1238, most Russian cities were devastated by the invasion of Batu Khan, and in 1247 the Tver princes announced the creation of an independent Tver Principality.
The convenient location of Tver on the Volga River attracted people from the cities ravaged by Batu and contributed to the rapid development of the Tver Principality. In 1265 Tver had its own diocese, and in 1286 the Tver princes began the construction of a huge stone cathedral. Such cathedrals were only in the largest cities of Russia.
In 1264, Prince Yaroslav of Tver also became Prince of Vladimir, but remained to live in Tver. This immediately elevated the status of the Tver Principality. Under his son Mikhail Yaroslavich, the Tver Principality reached its highest power. He received a edict from the Mongol Khans for the Great Reign, but in the following years Tver led the fight against the Golden Horde (Mongol Khans).
Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich ruled Tver from 1271 to 1318. During his reign, he fought with the Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich, who held a pro-Horde position. In 1318, he was summoned to the Horde and killed by order of the Uzbek Khan. In 1549, the Orthodox Church canonized Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich.
If Mikhail Yaroslavich`s descendants had won the struggle with the Moscow princes and led the process of uniting the Russian principalities into a single state, then Tver, and not Moscow, would have become the capital of Russia. However, they lost this fight, and in 1485 Tver became part of the Moscow Principality. Since then, the development of the city has slowed down, the construction of the city center has remained wooden for several centuries.
A new stage in the development of Tver occurred after the devastating fire of 1763, when the entire historical center of Tver, including the Tver Kremlin, burned down. Catherine II ordered to build a Travel palace on the site of the Kremlin, to lay out parks around it.
Tver attractions
The most interesting sights of Tver are located within walking distance from each other. The Imperial Travel Palace, built in 1765-1776, is the main attraction of Tver. It houses the Tver Art Gallery, which can be called one of the best regional museums in Russia. Both the museum collection and the palace interiors are of interest.
In the immediate vicinity of the Travel Palace, the restoration of the Transfiguration Cathedral on the foundation of the ancient cathedral began in 2014. It was founded on this site in 1286, and the Travel Palace was built next to it several centuries later.
After visiting the Travel Palace, take a walk through the Palace Garden, and go to the Palace Greenhouse. The territory of the landscape Palace Garden is 2.5 hectares. In front of the Palace Garden on the bank of the Volga is the Embankment of Mikhail Yaroslavich.
The embankment offers a beautiful view of the Volga and the Old-Volzhsky Bridge. This is one of the most beautiful bridges in Russian cities. On this bridge (its length is 215 meters), you can cross to the other side of the river and walk along the Afanasy Nikitin Embankment to the monument to the great Russian traveler born in Tver.
A Monument to Alexander Pushkin was erected on the Mikhail Yaroslavich Embankment in 1974. To create the monument, the sculptor Oleg Komov used drawings by Pushkin himself, which he made in the margins of the manuscript of the poem Eugene Onegin. Further along the embankment there is a City Garden. Residents of Tver and guests of the city come here to take a walk. In the southern part of the City Garden there is the Tver Drama Theater and the Tver Museum of Local Lore.
Outside of Tver
The Tver region is covered with dense forests, so there are opportunities for outdoor recreation and trekking. The most famous natural attraction in the Tver region is Lake Seliger, one of the most famous resorts in Central Russia. To the north of it is the Valdai National Park. It also has lakes with islands and trekking routes.
Fans of fishing and camping in nature come to Lake Seliger. It has a rugged coastline with a huge number of islands. There are beautiful sandy beaches here. Near the Island of Svetlitsa there is a Shrine of the Tver region – the Monastery of the Nilovo-Stolbenskaya hermitage. The largest city on Seliger is Ostashkov. There are hotels, beaches and opportunities for trekking on the Island of Klitschen. 70 kilometers from Seliger is the source of the Volga River.
A very famous landmark of the Tver region on the Volga is the Kalyazin Bell Tower. This bell tower (height 75 meters) was built in 1800 near the St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Kalyazin. In 1930, The Uglich HPS was built on the Volga and the cathedral fell into a flood zone. All the buildings of this part of Kalyazin were destroyed, but the bell tower was left. Now it rises above the water 200 meters from the shore.
The most famous landmark in the Tver region Of WWII period is the Rzhev Monument. In 1942-1943, one of the fiercest battles of the WWII took place here.
