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.