UGLICH continued

                                                  UGLICH continued
      Just before arriving at Uglich we passed under the Victory Bridge, built after defeat of the Nazis. Next we passed the hydroelectric plant, completed in 1940. Only two people operate the plant. The lock just before town has a water exchange measuring 11 meters, for us traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg it was a drop.

      Red, blue and gold domes of the churches came into view as we approached the city from the water. Waiting to greet us was a pretty young girl, in native dress holding a paska, the special decorated bread, for each of us to sample.

      In town we met our local docent  who told us, “It’s a quiet place and the air is clean because we have no big factories.

      The original Kremlin walls were torn down in the mid 17^th century. The 18^th century Transfiguration Church is perched on the water’s edge and we had a good view of it as we came into port. The green

domed cathedral, built in 1713, has a high vaulted ceiling unsupported by pillars creating interior drama. The cathedral houses a splendid baroque iconostasis as well as valuable icons and religious artifacts. The frescos were in excellent condition. A gilded dome crowns the 100-foot belfry, built in 1734. The ancient clock chimed regularly for decades, but in 1984 the Chaika watch factory installed an electronic bell that is suppose to ring every half-hour. Services are held on Sunday and holidays.

      The blue-domed Church of Dimitry on the Blood, built in 1692, has a fascinating façade. Its red walls are topped with blue domes. It was designed with a love for embellishment, rich ornamentation, and striking color. Frescos cover nearly all of the inner walls.  This church was built 100 years after Prince Dimity’s death on the spot where he died.

One story of Dimitri’s death is that he was playing with his sword and during an epileptic seizure fell on the sword and died. (Dimity is also spelled Demetrius.) However, most believe Dimity was murdered.

      The floor in this church is rather unusual. It is onion dome-shaped metal because there is a heating system, pipes and furnace, underneath it. This was a winter church, which means it had heating. Summer churches did not and were used only in summer time. Frequently the winter and summer churches are attached.

      Around dinner time we boarded an old van and traveled over rather rough roads to a housing development of Stalin-era concrete apartment buildings. Our hostess was a schoolteacher who spoke some English and was delighted to be hosting  dinner for us. We walked up two flights of stairs to her small three-room apartment. Her daughters 25 and 27 plus her 79 year old mom were waiting for us.

      Grandma had made the vodka and although I’m not much of a drinker I do have to say her vodka was very good and I actually drank it straight! One of the daughters had made the dessert apricot sweet buns that were delicious. It was a delightful evening with very gracious people. There was a lot of animated conversation as we exchanged views on our differing cultures. The girls had made us a bookmark using dried flowers. How sweet. They were most gracious, and we had a delightful evening.

UGLICH, RUSSIA

                                    Charming Uglich,   History

      The day after leaving Moscow and the first day on the waterways we woke to find ourselves in a lock. We passed through several locks during the night, but the boat was so quiet we never head any outside commotion.

Sunken church tower

      Late morning we were alerted  that we would be passing the flooded belfry of Kalyazin. Built in 1800 it was part of St. Nicholas Cathedral, which sat on Kalyazin’s market square. At 210-feet high it was considered one of the finest structures along the Volga. The ship passed over Market Square that was flooded when the Uglich hydroelectric plant was built. Kalyazin dates back to the 15th century monastery that by  the 16^th century was one of the richest in Russia. On a visit Ivan the Terrible donated rare manuscripts to the monastery. In the 20^th century Stalin dynamited the monastery to ruins. The present town of Kalyazin lies around the mouth of the Zhabnya River. 

      From info slid under the cabin door we learned that although Uglich dates to 937, it’s officially recognized founding is 1148, with the establishment of its own principality in 1218. There are three theories  to how the city got its name, but the most common one is that the Russian word ugol means angle and there is a sharp bend in the Volga River at the site of the city. Others say that ugol also means coal and that coal was burned there, and still the third explanation is that the name derives from the town’s original settlers, a Finno-Ugric tribe who called the settlement Uglichy.

      In 1326 Ivan, the Moneybags, purchased the flourishing principality for Muscovy.  Its Kremlin was fortified with formidable wooden walls protecting a palace complex, a monastery, a cathedral, and a trading bazaar. The small principality even minted its own currency. A 1491 fire devoured most of that Kremlin.

      The settlement fell under repeated attacks by the Poles and ultimately was obliterated in 1611 by the Swedes. In the 16^th century Ivan the Terrible used the city as a base for attacks on the Tartars. The area recovered and by the end of the 17^th century it became a destination of religious pilgrimage to the Church of Dmitry on the Blood, built to honor the 1591 murder of Ivan the Terrible’s son. After the church construction new Kremlin walls were built, but of stone. In 1713 the Transfiguration Church was added to the complex, and the following year Peter the Great forbid stone buildings to be built anywhere except in St. Petersburg.

      During the Northern War with Sweden, the city’s bells were melted to forge artillery and the male population was summoned to St. Petersburg to either enlist in the navy or to build stone structures in the new capitol.

      Fifty years after Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, a westernizer, visited Uglich and ordered the city to become more symmetrical. Neoclassic civic structures were added as were stone churches and dwellings to the newly straightened streets.                                                                                   

Friendly Welcome

      Uglich declined in the 17^th century when the canal system altered river traffic. As the century moved on the city of uncommon beauty with a rich history began to attract artists, writers, and historians who fueled a revival of the city’s heritage. Today its 40,000 residents work in light industry.

      Uglich became a base for a large-scale engineering project when Stalin built a hydroelectric plant. In the process the city lost many old churches, monastery walls and monuments. In its 20^th century revival, in addition to the hydroelectric plant, the city gained a stone cutting plant and cheese factory. The Chaika watch factory turns out 5 million timepieces a year. The forested countryside still exists in spite of industrial exploitation.

      One of Russia’s oldest and most beloved cities, little has changed since 1916. Historically located on the right bank of the Volga River, now it is located on the bank of a reservoir, all without moving. With its many medieval buildings it is an impressive site when seen from the Volga or when walking its ancient streets.

            More on this interesting town next time.