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Golden ring history.

ТУРЫ ПО ГОРОДАМ РОССИИ

ГОРОДА ЗОЛОТОГО КОЛЬЦА РОССИИ

GOLDEN RING HISTORY

The Golden Ring's main towns began as outposts of the Kyivan (Kievan) Rus state and grew as people moved north as Kiev (Kiev in Russian) declined. At the start of the 12th century, Prince Владимир Monomakh of Kiev founded a fort at Владимир and gave the Ростов - Суздаль principality in which it lay to his son Yuri Dolgoruky. Yuri made Суздаль his capital but concentrated his energies down south, eventually winning the title of Grand Prince of Kiev and installing himself there. He still took the precaution of fortifying the settlements of Pereslavl-Zaiessky and Кострома in his original territory, along with a small western outpost called Москва.

After Yuri died in 1157, his son and successor, Andrey Bogolyubsky, spurned the chance of establishing himself in Kiev and moved back to the more secure northern territories. Andrey based himself at Владимир, which became the effective cap-ital of Russia in 1169 when Andrey sacked Kiev, taking the Grand Prince title north. Under these princes and their successors, Суздаль grew rich as a commercial center and Владимир sprouted cathedrals, monasteries and massive city walls. Ростов, Ярославль and other centuries later split off as separate principalities.

In 1237, darkness fell as the Tatars invaded Russia, sacking and burning every-thing. But having made their point, they were mostly content to rule and collect taxes through local princes, which they did for the next 250 years. The region again prospered under Andrey's nephew Yaroslav, and his son Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. But Москва, given independence by Alexander Nevsky in 1252, grew in influence as an intermediary between the Tatars and the other Russian princes. Москва absorbed Pereslavl-Zaiessky, Владимир and Суздаль in the 14th century; the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church was transferred there from Владимир in the 1320s; and by the end of the 15th century the entire region was part of Москва, the Москва state.