Vladimir
Vladimir () is an old city in
Russia. It is the administrative center of
Vladimir Oblast and located on the river
Klyazma, 200 km to the east of
Moscow (coordinates: ). As of the
2002 Census, it had 315,954 inhabitants. Vladimir was one of the medieval capitals of
Russia, and two of its cathedrals are a
World Heritage Site.
Foundation date controversy
The area occupied by the city of Vladimir has been inhabited by humans (at least intermittently) for approximately 25,000 years. Traditionally, the founding date of Vladimir has been acknowledged as
1108, which is the date of the first mention of Vladimir in the
Primary Chronicle. This view attributes the founding of the city, and its name, to
Vladimir Monomakh, who inherited the region as part of the Rostov-Suzdal
principality in the
11th century. Its foundation is traditionally attributed to Vladimir's desire to distance himself from the ancient centers of
boyar power, such as
Rostov and
Suzdal. In
1958, the 850th anniversary of the city foundation was celebrated, with many monuments from the celebrations adorning the city squares.
In the
1990s, there has evolved a new opinion that the city is older than this. They reinterpreted certain passages in the Hypatian Chronicle, which mentions that the region was visited by
Vladimir the Great, the "father" of
Russian Orthodoxy, in
990, so as to move the city foundation date to that year. The defenders of the previously uncontested founding year of 1108 dispute the claims of those who support the new date, arguing that the new theory was fabricated in order to provide a reason to have a celebration in
1995.
The neighboring town of
Suzdal, for instance, was mentioned in
1024, and yet its
12th century inhabitants alluded to Vladimir as a young town and treated its rulers with arrogance. In the words of a major chronicle, they said that the people of Vladimir were "their
kholops and scions". In the seniority conflicts of the 12th and early
13th centuries, Vladimir was repeatedly described as a "young town" compared to Suzdal and Rostov.
Most specialists in the history of Vladimir argue there is no archaeological or chronicle information which supports the claim that the city was founded in
990, while several Vladimir patriots feel there is sufficient evidence to support the new date.
Golden Age
 |
Assumption Cathedral was a venerated model for cathedrals all over Russia. The photo was taken in 1912. |
Regardless of which founding date is most accurate, the city's most historically significant events occurred after the turn of the 12th century. Serving its original purpose as a defensive outpost for the Rostov-Suzdal principality, Vladimir had little political or military influence throughout the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (
1113–
1125), or his son
Yury Dolgoruky ("long arms") (
1154–
1157).
Later it became the center of
Vladimir-Suzdal principality, when Monomakh's son Yury Dolgoruky moved the seat of Great Princes of
Russia from
Kiev to Vladimir, thus actually transferring the capital of the country and beginning the city's Golden Age, which lasted until the
Mongol invasion of Russia.
At that time, Vladimir was one of Europe's largest and most beautiful cities, enjoying immense growth and prosperity. Yury's sons,
Andrew the Pious and
Vsevolod the Big Nest, confirmed and enforced Vladimir's status as the capital by moving the seat of the Russian
metropolitan from Kiev to Vladimir.
Scores of Russian,
German, and
Georgian masons worked on Vladimir's white stone cathedrals, towers, and palaces. Unlike any other northern buildings, their exterior was elaborately carved with the high
relief stone sculptures. Only three of these edifices stand today: the Assumption Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Demetrius, and the Golden Gate. During Andrei's reign, a royal palace in
Bogolyubovo was built, as well as the world-famous
Intercession Church on the Nerl, now considered the jewel of ancient
Russian architecture.
Decline
 |
St. Demetrius' Cathedral is famous for its masterfully carved exterior, representing the Biblical story of king David. |
On
February 8,
1238, Vladimir was besieged and taken by the Mongol hordes under
Batu Khan. A great fire destroyed 32 limestone buildings on the first day only, while the grand prince and all his family perished in a church where they sought refuge from the fire.
After the Mongols, Vladimir never fully recovered, and even though it remained capital through the middle of the
14th century and continued as the seat of the
metropolitans of Russia, it gradually lost its political significance to the new principalities of
Moscow and
Nizhny Novgorod.
Nevertheless, the highest title of Russian monarchs remained "the Grand Prince of Vladimir". The monarchs were originally crowned in Vladimir's Assumption Cathedral, but when Moscow officially superseded Vladimir as the Russian capital,
a similar cathedral was loosely copied by
Italian architects after Vladimir's original and built in the
Moscow Kremlin. On the other hand, Muscovite monarchs built several new churches in Vladimir, notably a charming cathedral of the Knyaginin nunnery (ca.
1505).
Remains of the holy prince
Alexander Nevsky were kept in the ancient Nativity abbey of Vladimir until
1703, when
Peter the Great had them transferred to
St. Petersburg. The Nativity church itself (
1191–
1196) tumbled down several years later, when they tried to make more windows in its walls, in order to make the interior more luminous.
Modern Vladimir is a part of the
Golden ring of the ancient Russian cities and a significant tourist center. Its three chief monuments, inscribed by
UNESCO on the World Heritage List, are the following:#The magnificent five-domed
Assumption Cathedral was designed as a sepulchre of grand princes and dedicated to the holy icon
Theotokos of Vladimir, which had been brought to the city by Andrew the Pious. The cathedral was constructed in
1158–
1160, expanded in
1185–
1189, and painted by the great
Andrei Rublev and
Daniil Chyorny in
1408. In
1810, they added a lofty bell-tower in
Neoclassical style. #The warrior-like cathedral of St. Demetrius was built in
1194–
1197 as a private chapel of Vsevolod the Big Nest in the courtyard of his palace and was consecrated to his holy patron,
St. Demetrius. For all its formal unity, the cathedral represents a truly international project of Russian and Byzantine masters,
Friedrich Barbarossa's masons, and carvers sent by Queen
Tamar of Georgia.#The
Golden Gate, originally a tower over the city's main gate, was built in 1158–
1164. The gate acquired its present form after having been grossly reconstructed in the late
18th century, to prevent the dilapidated structure from tumbling down.
Other remarkable monuments of pre-Mongol
Russian architecture are scattered in the vicinity. For more information on them, see
Suzdal,
Yuriev-Polsky,
Bogolyubovo, and
Kideksha.
Vladimir is
twinned with:
*
Theotokos of Vladimir*
Vladimir-Suzdal*
Information on the city of Vladimir (sites, attractions, tourist info, etc)* http://www.allvladimir.ru/
*
History of Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma
