The city of Uglich is located 250 kilometers north of Moscow. There are many temples and buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries preserved in the historical center, so the city is very attractive for tourism. It is located on the bank of the Volga River. Many tourists visit Uglich on ships that cruise along the Volga from Moscow to Astrakhan.
The name Uglich is most often associated with "angle", which means a sharp bend that the Volga makes in this place. The Uglich Kremlin was founded near the mouth of the Stone Stream. The walls of the Kremlin were wooden, so they were not preserved. However, the pentagonal layout of the Kremlin and the earthen ramparts have survived to this day. Now there are many interesting historical monuments in and around this territory.
Uglich is located near the cities of the Golden Ring. Yaroslavl is 100 kilometers away, Rostov the Great is 90 km away. Given the historical and architectural value of Uglich`s monuments, it should have been included among the cities of the Golden Ring initially, but this happened only in 2018.
History of Uglich
The settlement on the site of Uglich was founded in 937 by Jan Pleskovich, whom the Kiev prince sent along the Volga to collect tribute. However, this date is very doubtful. The first reliable mentions in the chronicle of Uglich date back to 1148. Moscow was founded just a year earlier. For several centuries, Uglich was part of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality, and in 1326 it became part of the Moscow Principality. At that time Ivan Kalita, the most influential of all Russian princes, ruled there.
In the middle of the 15th century, the Moscow Prince Vasily II the Dark was exiled to Uglich, against whom Dmitry Shemyaka rebelled. Vasily, in the end, won this fight. In 1462, he provided Uglich to the Appanage of his youngest son Andrey the Big. Vasily`s eldest son, Ivan III, ruled in Moscow. Andrey the Big began the active development of trade and crafts in the city. He strengthened the wooden walls of the Uglich Kremlin, and built the stone Chambers of the Uglich princes and the Transfiguration Cathedral inside it. It was the heyday of Uglich.
Prince Ivan III, Andrey`s older brother, feared the growing influence of Uglich. He arrested Prince Andrew, and exiled his sons to the northern monasteries. Since then, the Uglich princes lived in Moscow, and the wooden buildings of the Uglich Kremlin began to crumble.
The most famous event that influenced the course of Russian history took place in Uglich on May 15, 1591. On this day, Prince Dmitry was killed in Uglich. He was the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his seventh wife Maria Nagaya. Their marriage did not receive the blessing of the church, as the church approved only three consecutive marriages.
After the death of Ivan the Terrible and the accession to the throne of Fyodor Ivanovich, Prince Dmitry and his mother Maria Naked were sent to live in Uglich. Some boyars questioned the rights of Prince Dmitry to the succession to the throne, since the marriage was not sanctified by the church. But considering that Fyodor Ivanovich had no heirs, Dmitry became the only legitimate heir to the Russian throne.
During the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, Boris Godunov became the real ruler in the state. He claimed the throne himself and his interest in the death of Prince Dmitry is understandable, but the investigation of the murder showed that "the Prince stabbed himself, falling on a knife, in a fit of epilepsy sickness." After that, Boris Godunov became the tsar of Russia. He ruled the country very rationally, he had an intelligent son, and the new Godunov dynasty would certainly have established on the throne.
However, at the beginning of the 17th century there was a powerful volcanic eruption in Latin America. This caused a sharp cold snap all over the planet, even that snow fell in winter. In Russia, the entire crop has been dying for two years in a row. The famine began and the people began to say that "God did not accept the kingslayer." So a 15-year Turmoil began in Russia, which almost completely ruined the state and put it on the verge of extinction. Prince Dmitry was canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1606.
Sights of Uglich
The main attraction of Uglich is the Church of Prince Dmitry on Blood. It is located at the place where Prince Dmitry was killed on May 15, 1591. The church is built in a terem style. In the 18th century, it was painted with frescoes. There are biblical stories, as well as scenes of the murder of Prince Dmitry.
Next to the church is the Chambers of the Uglich Princes. In this place in the 15th century there was a large wooden palace of the Uglich princes. In 1482, a stone throne chamber was added to it, which has survived to this day.
The wooden walls of the Uglich Kremlin have not been preserved. In the 17th century they were dismantled due to dilapidation and fires. The layout of the Kremlin has been preserved, and on its territory there are now churches and secular buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, which house museums. There is also a small park on the territory of the Uglich Kremlin.
To the north of the Uglich Kremlin there is a deep channel of the Stone Stream, where cruise ships are moored. Victory Park is located there on the bank of the Volga. It has shopping malls where local artisans offer their wares. Since cruise ships moor daily at the Victory Park piers in summer, it is always crowded here. In the center of the Park there is an Obelisk of Glory dedicated to the residents of Uglich who died during the WWII.
The entrance to Victory Park is located near Assumption Square, which for centuries was the main Trading Square in front of the Uglich Kremlin. Buildings of the 19th century have been preserved on and around the square. Some of them house museums. There is a Museum of urban life, a gallery of Orthodox art, a museum of the history of Russian vodka and others.
If you head south from the Kremlin, you can see several more beautiful churches. Kazan Church was built in 1778 in the style of Peter the Great Baroque. The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist was built in 1689 in a beautiful terem style. The Resurrection Monastery is also located here. Among these churches, several secular houses of the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved.
1.5 km from the Kremlin is the Uglich HPS. It is the first of the Volga cascade of 11 hydroelectric power stations, which were built in the period from 1940 to 1965. The Uglich hydroelectric power station was built in 1940 and played a very important role in providing Moscow with electricity during the period when German troops came close to the capital. Moscow was cut off from the supply of coal and other energy sources, but the Uglich HPS allowed all services of the city to function normally.
