If you want to turn your trip to Pereslavl-Zalessky into an impressive one, you need to use your imagination. One of the options is to arrange a historic weekend with a deep immersion in Russian church history - there are more than two dozen churches and five monasteries in Pereslavl. The second way is to plan a "fairytale" trip including the legends of Lake Pleshcheyevo and the tales of King Berendey and his kingdom.
Pereslavl Zalessky has been famous for its churches since its founding by Yuri Dolgoruky in 1152. There are a lot of colorful churches that look like gingerbread castles with bright truffle shaped domes in this city on the shores of Lake Pleshcheyevo. Each church houses something interesting: an ancient relic, the relics of a saint, legends and tales. Holy buildings are literally on every hill in Pereslavl.
In the old city centre is the oldest single-domed church in the north-east of the country - Transfiguration of the Saviour Cathedral (Spaso-Preobragensky Cathedral) - which has been perfectly preserved to this day. Alexander Nevsky was baptized in that cathedral. This is the main attraction of the city, the ascetic church is built of white limestone and almost devoid of interior decorations. All relics from the temple are now stored in Moscow - in the Armory and in the Tretyakov Gallery. Somewhere near the Cathedral there was a palace in which Alexander Nevsky was born in 1220. But the building has not been preserved.
But the church named after Alexander Nevsky is still there. This building is not so ancient, though, it was erected in 1740 using money from the merchants. The temple suffered, but mostly ideologically: during the time of the Bolsheviks there was a Palace of the Sportsmen, and later there was a bakery. Today it is an active church and people are praying again at the casket with a portion of the relics of the holy noble Prince Alexander Nevsky. There are two more churches around city’s Red Square (Krasnaya Ploschad): the Vladimir Cathedral and the Church of Peter the Metropolitan.
The snow-white cloister with silver domes is called the Nikitsky Male Monastery. It is not within walking distance though, you have to go out of town. It is the oldest of all the monasteries in Pereslavl. According to chronicles the monastery was founded in honor of Nikita the Great Martyr in the XI century. But the true glory of the cloister was brought upon by a simple sinner named Nikita, although he was literally a martyr - they say he wore iron shoes and a stone hat. This man tortured himself as remorse for his dubious affairs as a tax collector working for Yuri Dolgoruky. A couple of temples were later built on the monastery's land, during the time of Ivan the Terrible.
The monastery treasury was full of money in those days. According to legend, after a prayer at the relics of Nikita Stylits in the Annunciation Church, Ivan the Terrible and his wife conceived a son, right there in Pereslavl. So, take note. Do not rush to leave the monastery, walk to the holy Nikitsky Spring, look at the baptismal fonts, and then go to the local market and buy locally smoked vendace fish, it is very delicious!
It’s a pretty rare situation - the monastery was built right on the battlefield where the rulers and their troops fought for the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir and All Russia. Yuri of Moscow won. It happened on the day of Theodore Stratelates. In addition, not far from the monastery walls, Ivan the Terrible’s wife Anastasia suddenly gave birth to an heir. The son was named Feodor. They say he had an intellectual disability. He ended the centuries-old central branch of the Rurik dynasty. The monastery was often visited by royal people - Tsars Fedor and Peter Alekseevich, the mother and sister of Peter I - Tsaritsa Natalya Kirillovna and Tsarevna Natalya Alexeyevna. Many nobles close to the tsars made impressive contributions to the monastery.
But for some people the monastery walls became a place of imprisonment. Many female novices were forced to take a monastic tonsure. There were many historical names among them, for example: the court woman of Tsarevna Marfa Alekseyevna (the sister of the tsars Feodor III Alexeyevich and Ivan V Alekseyevich), Anna Klushina, and the fist wife of Russian statesman and diplomat Anna Yaguzhinskaya, who was deprived of her marriage. The most interesting churches of the nunnery are Feodorovsky Cathedral, which is hidden behind new churches, and the Assumption Church. In the Vvedensky church do not forget to touch the monastery shrine - the miraculous icon of the Mother of God from the Byzantine emperor Andronikos palace.
The one that rises high above the city is called the Goritsky monastery. Among other things, there are beautiful views of Pereslavl and Lake Pleshcheevo. Most likely, the cloister was founded by St. Dimitri of Priluki (Prilutsky). According to legends, Dmitry Donskoy’s wife Evdokia was hiding in this monastery during the raids of Khan Tokhtamysh. The Tatars almost caught her, but she managed to hide in time and escape on a raft through the fog. After this incident people made a lot of donations to the monastery and it became wealthy. During the Time of Troubles, the monastery was thoroughly fortified like most monasteries. The Trinity Tower was built. It's an impressive structure through which visitors enter the Goritsky monastery. It is worth a visit to the Assumption Cathedral (Uspenskiy Cathedral), the Pereslavl Museum, and to walk along the monastery wall.
“Once upon a time, King Berendey lived with his wife and little son on the high shore of a large lake.” This is the beginning of the famous fairy tale, which you will probably hear in Pereslavl-Zalessky. Well, the end of the story sounded quite modern. The king was charmed by a young mermaid. And the king’s wife was left alone with her son in her arms, cursing the lake where her husband disappeared. A fairy tale is not a true story, but it is definitely worth listening to interesting stories in each of the places in Pereslavl-Zalessky, that are listed below.
The first exhibit in this museum was of mittens, which Father Frost (or Ded Moroz, similar to Santa Claus) brought as a gift to King Berendey. The friendship between the fairy-tale characters began nowadays, though, and the bright wooden house was built not so long ago. According to the story, Berendey was a kind wise king, with a long beard which reached down to his waist. He did not shun housework, he loved to paint caskets and chests. Berendey probably had the ability to turn into a brown bear. He lived on the shores of Lake Berendeev, which later turned into a swamp, because Queen Rogneda cursed it. They say, the lake is still full of treasures. Berendey house is a must visit for tourists with kids! Children will be entertained in the Russian-folk style.
Here they can dress up in a king's costume and sit on the throne of Berendey, learn the tale of the Stone Woman and the Berendey kingdom, and be fed with cakes… There are rare exhibits of wooden Matryoshka dolls and Berendeyka toys, the same toys that were sold at Russian fairs. You can paint a berendeyka toy right there in a local workshop. The craftswoman will help children accurately paint a horse, mushroom, whistle or Matryoshka dolls. And of course you can take your artwork home with you.
A small museum was opened on Konnaya Street in Pereslavl by ethnographic enthusiasts. There are a few rooms where household items and clothes are exhibited. Looking at the exhibits and listening to the tour, you can learn more about peasant art and Russian symbols, including the fire horse. The collection is still pretty small, but there is something to see: spinning wheels, caskets, clothes from different provinces with embroideries, combs, kokoshniks (headdress), and blacksmith products. The most valuable relics are: the Tver heel (for a woman’s shoe) from the end of the 18th century; a female headdress with a gold embroidery and pearls, chopped mother of pearl - a rare and unique thing. Such an expensive and beautiful headdress was often worn for a wedding. From local rarities - 4 shirts made of dense fabric, which protected against gadfly. In summer, there were always a lot of these insects in the area around Lake Pleshcheyevo.
The lake is very beautiful at sunset and very ominous in bad weather. All the main events of Pereslavl-Zalessky took place around Pleshcheyevo Lake. A bit of geographic data: the area of the lake is about 50 sq. km, it is fed by 19 rivers and streams, but only one outflows, Veksa, which flows into the Volga river. People fish for burbot, pike and roach. But the most famous fish of Lake Pleshcheyevo is the freshwater herring vendace. The lake is now part of the National Park "Lake Pleshcheyevo", which was created about 20 years ago. At the time of Berendeyev Lake, Pleshcheyevo was much bigger, but even now it is impressive with its size of more than 50 sq. km. You should definetly walk along the coast in Pereslavl-Zalessky! And here are the best options: the Gray Heron trail, the embankment, and the main city beach, which is located at the intersection of Pleshcheevskaya and Kuznetsova streets.
The Blue stone has become trendy, they say, it fulfils wishes, heals certain diseases and infertility… It is also popular because of legends about the pagan sanctuary of slavic pagan times. It is also known for all sorts of oddities: they say, snow does not melt on the stone; after the rain it turns really blue; it moves back and forth along the shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo. There is an admission fee at the entrance, though. Well, an infrastructure has been set up for the dark blue stone with a flat top: wooden walkways and an observation deck. For some reason, people bring offerings to the stone - coins or candy. The Blue stone is not far from Aleksandrovska Hill. Well, it's better to hurry up, scientists claim that the Blue Stone is gradually sinking into the coastal soil.
This is one of the coolest museums in Pereslavl-Zalessky! However, you need to get there by car or taxi, the Museum Depot is located in the tiny village of Talitsy. It all started with a small collection of old locomotives, coaches, boxcars and other narrow-gauge railroad relics. A century ago these were used to transport peat from the Bludov swamp - the Pantry of the Sun - to local factories. The rails were dismantled a long time ago, only an about 1 km long section is left. And there, you definitely should take the chance to ride under your own steam in the handcart (railcar), along the birch and pine trees.
And this is exactly what it's worth coming here for. The most bizarre exhibits are on the rails inside the depot: the most valuable steam locomotive was brought from Armenia from a kid's railway. It is very rare and one of the only 40 remaining steam locomotives, these were built in Finland for the USSR in 1949 to restore the national economy. The collection has cars on iron wheels and old railway carriages. You can take a look in the museum's workshop, where volunteers restore old cars according to old schematics. Or look into the lineman’s room and the steam locomotive’s cab.
The story is interesting, but the boat is not original. According to chronicles, after the suppression of the Streltsy uprising of 1682, Peter the Great moved the construction of the fleet to the southern shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo near Veskovo village. The first Russian ships were built and launched there. The 'toy flotilla’, which was built for Peter, burned down, only two vessels have survived, one of them is the boat called "Fortuna". In 1803 the museum consisting of one ship was opened. A few minutes is quite enough time to inspect it. Around the museum there is a wonderful garden where you can stroll to the Rotunda, the granite obelisk and the White Palace.
The Four Seasons of Russia project is supported by the Russian geographical Society www.rgo.ru
A trip to Pereslavl-Zalessky is recommended by the Russian geographical Society.
Also read about old Russian cities:
Velikiy Novgorod
Plyos: Exactly as it was during Levitan's Time
Nizhny Novgorod
Additionally read about cities of Golden Ring of Russia:
Kostroma: Things to do in the heart of The Golden Ring of Russia
Suzdal: to the Boyar Pancakes
Translation: Irina Romanova, Instagram: @astrabella1
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