Vladimir

There is, probably, no one in this world, who would remain unmoved by Vladimir, if he were to visit it even once, to touch its ancient history and culture. Even while you are approaching this ancient Russian city, you can feel its spirit, saturated with centuries-long history full of events, as the golden cupolas of the churches, which are so fortunately resting on the high bank of the Klyazma River, appear before your eyes, still rising above the city’s skyline and peering into the boundless expanses of the Vladimir Rus that end somewhere far over the horizon… Whenever I come to this ancient Russian city, I sense its energy – the heartbeat of history, which is long gone.

The ancient Vladimir is finely set into an extremely scenic landscape. It rests on the high upland, burrowed with deep ravines on the left bank of the Klyazma River. Limited from the south by the river, and from the north by the Lybed River’s valley (this river is now flowing in a pipe underground), it has the shape of an elongated triangle, pointed with its sharp end to the east. South of the river, the Klyazma’s flood bed spreads, rimmed by the blue line of woods that stretch out to the horizon. To the north and to the east, behind the valleys of the Lybed and Irpen Rivers, the landscape heaves up again; upon its heights the ancient villages of Dobroye and Krasnoye, now almost swallowed up by the city, are beautifully situated with their spectacularly set temples seen from afar. From the west, the city in ancient times was bordered by the pine forests.

The origin of the first human settlement on the territory of Vladimir goes back into the deep ancient times. Archeological surveys show that on the high south-west gore of the city mountain, near the cathedral, as early as at the outbreak of Common Era, there was a village populated by the local Finno-Ugric people. Later, in the X-XI centuries, Slavic migrants arrived here from the lands of the Smolensk’s Krivichi and Novgorod’s Slovens. The ancient settlers were attracted to this high upland 40-50 meters elevated above the Klyazma River because of the natural protection it rendered, and its inaccessibility, which was quite crucial at the times of the decay of the primitive communal system and arising of the class feudal society.

The mighty and deep Klyazma River of that time, cutting the wide plain in intricate curves and loops under the Vladimir Mount, carried its waters into the Oka River, connecting the inland territories of the Oka-Klyazma fluvial plain with the ancient trade route of Eastern Europe – the Volga River. No wonder that later, in the XII century, the city gate of Vladimir, which led to the Klyazma, was not called Klyazminskie gate, but Volzhskie instead. Zalessky Krai, which literally means The Land beyond the Woods with its ancient cities of Rostov and Suzdal lying on the outskirts of the Kiev Great Princedom, was generously blessed with natural resources. Its forests had plenty of fur animals, rivers and lakes had plenty of fish, rich river plains created conditions for the development of cattle breeding, and – what was most important – north-west of the Klyazma River there was a huge treeless region of the fertile high plains, which appealed to farmers with its vast territories.

So, naturally, the rich and populous north-east edge of the Kiev State early attracted the attention of Kiev Princes, and in the XI century, it became the possession of Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich and his descendants. As early as at the end of the same century, a bloody cruel strife broke out for the possession of the North-East Rus. During the feudal war, the decisive defensive significance of the high river bank range of the Klyazma became clear; it faced the hostile Ryazan and Murom Princedoms and protected the Suzdal land from the south-west. It caused the peaceful trade-and-manufacture settlement, which was lying on the highest peak of the Klyazma range, to turn into a mighty fortress, built by the son of Prince Vsevolod, Vladimir Monomakh, in 1108.

Nature itself determined the layout of the princes’ fortress: from south it was protected by the cliffs descending down to the Klyazma; from north – by the steep slopes of the Lybed River valley; from west, deep ravines cut into the city’s upland (at the site of the present Yerofeyevsky and Muromsky Descents); from east, the city limits were also outlined by the same ravines. Their upper ends were joined by the artificial ditches cutting the city off the main upland; here, undoubtedly, were the city’s tower gates, through which the south Kiev road passed leading into the deep territories of the princedom – to Suzdal. Along the entire perimeter of the fortress the builders of the prince’s city erected huge earthen embankments with wooden walls on their crest (remains of these embankments are preserved in the north-east corner of the ancient city at Proletarskaya Street and in the north-west – along Komsomolskaya Street). The overall length of the embankment circle around the fortress was 2.5 kilometers.

Somewhere on its territory, probably on the high tip of the city over the Klyazma, Monomakh built the first stone church devoted to the Savior (Spas). The new city was named in honour of its founder – Vladimir. Irregular-sided quadrangle of the fortress became the core of the future capital of the North-East Russia.

Monomakh’s heir, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, who was preoccupied by the struggle for the Kiev throne, paid little attention to his northern domain. Only shortly before his death, having realized, probably, the vanity of all his efforts in the south, Yuri started a big project of building new fortified cities in the Suzdal Land, including Moscow; as for Vladimir, a new court for the Prince was built here with a whitestone church of the prince’s patron – Saint George (1157). The court settled on an elevation, on the verge of the south slopes of the city mountain west of the Monomakh’s fortress. Apparently, by the middle of the XII century, the city had also grown significantly in the eastern direction, along the road to Suzdal. Among Vladimir citizens there were also settlers from the cities of the Dnepr river basin that had been devastated by feudal strives, and even from Kiev itself. This is why Kiev geographical names were given to the local rivers in the city’s vicinities: Lybed, Irpen, Pochaina; until the last century, in that area there were ancient archeological grounds – the Prince’s Meadow and the Valley of Yarilo, which reminds of the pagan past.

The quick growth of the young city, its large population, its wealth and strategic location determined it to become the capital of the Vladimir Princedom. Yuri Dolgoruky’s son, prince Andrey Bogolyubsky, who left southern territories for the north, moved his throne to Vladimir – the city of craftsmen and merchants, so called “minute people.” They became the decisive power in the struggle of Vladimir’s Princes with the self-willed noble men from among the old boyars, and the base for the large-scale politics of the rising Vladimir Land, which boldly stepped into the war to fight down the feudal disintegration of the country. In 1158-1165, grandiose full-scale construction started in the city. New circular embankments covered its unprotected areas, which grew west and east of the Monomakh’s fortress to form the Middle City. As it was in the days of Monomakh, the western border of the new fortress was made by the ravines running down from the upland to the Klyazma and Lybed Rivers. The west part of the city had four gate towers. The Volzhskie Gate, built at the foot of the Middle City, leading to the Klyazma pier; Irininy and Mednye Gates at the descent to the ravines, which lead to the Lybed River, were wooden; along the lateral axis of the city, on the road that went south, there stood the whitestone Golden Gate. The upper ends of the ravines were joined by a deep ditch with a bridge at the Golden Gate. The remains of the west embankment can be seen south of them (Kozlov Embankment). Next to the Golden Gate and close to Prince Yuri’s court, a new court of Prince Andrey with the whitestone church of Spas (1164) was built. Apparently, the west section of the city was occupied by the prince and his boyars. The east triangle of the city, outlined by the wedge of the descending city heights was in fact the main residence of Vladimir’s citizens. It was also protected by the embankment and the walls, and in its east end the second whitestone gate was erected – the Silver Gate, which was built at the bridge spanning the Lybed River on the way to the prince’s castle in Bogolyubovo and to Suzdal (the ruins of Zachatievsky (Conception) Embankment are left on the north side of Frunze Street). The Middle City was mentioned in the authorities as Pecherniy City, its west section – the New City, and the east section was later called Vetchany City (because its fortifications in the centuries to follow were not maintained and quite soon dilapidated and crumbled). The total perimeter of the Vladimir walls and embankments was then up to 7 kilometers, to surpass the fortresses of Kiev (4 kilometers) and Novgorod (6 kilometers). In the southwest high corner of the Middle City big Uspensky (Dormition) Cathedral was built (1158-1160). Along with the prince’s whitestone temples of St. George and of the Savior (Spas), which were also located on the high south edge of the city’s upland, Uspensky Cathedral defined the most impressive south façade of the city ensemble. Its direct axis was marked by the city gate towers: the Golden Gate, the Trade Gate (in the west wall of the Middle City), the Ivanovskie Gate (in its east wall), and the Silver Gate in the East end of the city triangle.

The next stage of the architectural history of the city dates back to the end of the XII-beginning of the XIII centuries. The increase of the Great Prince’s burdensome rule under Vsevolod III and growth of the political consciousness of the Vladimir citizens lead to serious city disturbances and riots. The prince’s court was moved within the Middle city and built on its south edge, close to the bishop’s court. A pompous stone palace with the court’s Dimitrievsky Cathedral (1194-1197) was built there. City builders constructed the stone wall of the Vladimir citadel with its battle gates, protecting the residences of the prince of and of the bishop from the tumultuous city (1194-1196). After sustaining heavy damages during the fire of 1185, the Dormition Cathedral was equipped with the new walls (1185-1189), and its increased volume emphasized the significance of the citadel as the architectural hub of the city. In the south-west corner of the Middle City the Rozhdestvensky (Nativity) Monastery with its whitestone cathedral (1192-1195) was founded by the prince, which became some sort of a second inner fortress. Clamorous and tumultuous Vladimir market, where Vsevolod’s heir Prince Constantine in 1218 built a little church of the Holy Cross was transferred to the north section of the middle-town (behind the present Street of the III International), faced by the formidable battle walls of the citadel. Vsevolod III’s wife, princess Mary founded the Dormition Convent (also called Knyaginin) with the brick cathedral (1200-1202), which occupies the north-west corner of the new city.

Thus, the historic topography of the ancient Vladimir was formed and its notable architectural ensemble was completed. One has to remember that its crucial components – whitestone buildings were single edifices; the majority of the temples were wooden. For instance, we know that behind the Golden Gate on the slope descending to the river in the XII century there was a wooden church of Nicolas; and a little further away, on a high ridge, there were the wooden buildings of the Ascension Monastery. Apparently, homes of the townspeople were then spread out outside the limits of the New City. Maybe, the old name of one of the streets originated back then – Gonchary (the Potters). From a chronicle’s record about the great city fire in 1185 we find out that 32 temples burned down in Vladimir. Homes of the common townspeople and mansions of the rich merchants and boyars were also wooden.

Now we can give the general characteristic of the Vladimir urban built-up and of the peculiar traits of its architectural ensemble in the XII-XIII centuries.

Historic tripartite street pattern of the city was fit into the triangle defined by the streams of the Klyazma and Lybed. The central street, upon which the four gate towers were located (it matched the present streets of Moskovskaya, III International and Frunze) cut through the entire length of the city. Upon entering through the Golden Gate, one could see the prince’s court with its temples of Spas and St. George on the right and, a little further away, the complex of the Knyaginin Convent on the left. The outline of these main constructions was silhouetted against the wide panorama – from here one could see the blue plains of the Klyazma flood land and forests behind it, and to the north – the gentle heaving of the wood massifs. The road ahead stopped at the embankment with the wall of the Middle City and the wooden tower of the Trade Gate; and behind the wall in the corner of the city rose the white block of the five-domed Dormition cathedral.

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