Friday, May 8, 2009

Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl is a city of nearly 800,000 people that is located about 4 hours north of Moscow. For the first of May holiday, I went with two other teachers to visit the town which is known for its many churches ... We walked around the city all weekend - enjoying the sun, eating, relaxing and looking at church after church.

Because next year is the city's 1000th birthday, the churches' interiors and exteriors are in the process of being spruced up. The frescos inside these churches were fantastic and covered the interior walls from wainscoting to ceiling. Unfortunately, because of the cost of taking photographs inside, you will have to close your eyes and imagine beautiful blues, reds, oranges, and yellows depicting various Biblical stories. These walls truly served a didactic purpose, educating the people and allowing them to reflect on stories they couldn't otherwise read.


First Photo in Yaroslavl.




Many of these churches are red brick and include decorative ceramic tile with various images of flowers, birds, or in this case grape vines. Yaroslavl churches are known for this tile and red brick.


This is the church in the center of the city in Yaroslavl's red square.










This church was definitely the most memorable with a daunting exterior, decorative painting, though faded, on the brickwork outside. The interior of the building was chilly, even on a hot summer day.









4 comments:

  1. A city a thousand years old...
    We Americans are just "babies", aren't we?!!

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  2. My thoughts exactly. When I found out this city was celebrating it's thousandth, I thought, Blackfoot just celebrated it's hundredth ...

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  3. Beautiful buildings ! Wonder if they have changed much through the years. What material are the onion domes made of ?? Some look like copper (the flatter ones) Is it metal? wood shingles? or could you tell from the ground ??
    The antiquity is really amzing...this city was brand new in 900 AD. That was the time the Maya culture was waning. The city states that we visited in Feb. started in the 4th century and lasted until the 9th century. "Our" History neglects both of these civilizations....

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  4. I believe the domes where some sort of metal. If you look at church in the photo with me in it, you will see that they are working on the main dome, reconstructing it. It looked like they were attaching metal "scales" to the wooden structure of the dome. Pretty impressive.

    ....And yes, after seeing some of the cities and churches of Moscow and the surrounding area, it's quite crazy that our history books leave this history out -- I'm sure the feeling is quite the same seeing the buildings and evidence of Mayan civilization

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