The first Russian town on the Volga

It is only a few hours from Moscow to the city of Yaroslavl on the high right bank of the great River Volga. Yaroslavl is the oldest of the Volga towns, which is why the inhabitants still refer to it as the First Volga Town.

Europe's largest waterway, the Volga is much longer than the Danube and ranks fifteenth among the rivers of the world. If we compare it with rivers that empty into inland seas or lakes (such as the Caspian into which the Volga flows), it has no equal. For Russian people the Volga is more than just a geographical concept. Russia has five Siberian rivers, each longer than the Volga, but Russian history and national pride are closely associated with the Volga, which has become a kind of symbol of Russia. This probably explains why the Volga is the subject of so many fine paintings, poems, songs and legends that sing the praises of its beautiful, majestic expanses reflecting the changing colours of summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Yaroslavl and the Volga are inseparable. The city is linked with the river aesthetically by its magnificent scenery and fine panoramas, as well as economically, for the Volga's importance as a transport artery for the town is inestimable, and also historically over the many centuries since the town was founded.

Yaroslavl is a large industrial city in the Central economic area of Russia, a rapidly expanding centre which at the same time carefully preserves its traditional features. Each age has left its monuments here, and this balanced unity of old and new is one of the secrets of Yaroslavl's attraction.

Above all the seventeenth century stands out in the town's history. Yaroslavl was perhaps the most important centre of Russian artistic culture at that time. It witnessed the emergence and growth of a school of monumental art in which painting and the various applied arts were united under the aegis of architecture. Even at the time when they were built the imposing church ensembles produced by this extraordinary art were known far and wide. Today they are world famous.

Yet try as we may to prepare you for your stay in Yaroslavl, to convey the beauty of its streets and buildings, the rapid tempo of its life today, this is a hopeless task. You must go and stand on the steep bank of the Volga, gaze at the glowing colours of the church frescoes and enjoy at first hand all the amenities of the modern city.

So that is why we invite you to visit Yaroslavl and see for yourself!