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The Golden Ring is a circle of ancient cultural heritage towns to the northeast of Moscow. They were once the heart of Russia before relinquishing that role to the current capital. The monasteries, kremlins and cathedrals of the region are a veritable treasure trove of early Russian art and architecture. The provinces have a particular charm of their own with their idyllic villages, vast fields of rapeseed and romantically derelict churches.

 

Barbarians in Vladimir

Across the snowy flats just outside of Vladimir, a band of Mongol plunderers fast approach on their galloping steeds. A shrieking wind chases through the flames of several burning villages. The steely grey winter sky slowly transforms into a blood-red blanket of clouds. At the foot of Vladimir's fortified walls, Mongol archers engage in deadly battle with Russian defenders. >>>

<<< A shiver goes through the small crowd, even if the snow is artificial and the whistling of the wind is broadcast over a loudspeaker. Even the temperature is agreeable in this museum at the top of the Golden Gates. But I can sense that the Mongol barbarians still strike a sensitive chord in the Russian soul of these tourists. >>>

<<< To wash the scenes of death and decay out of my system, I decide to go on a walk to visit the most beautiful church from this era. It is the Church of the Intercession on the river Nerl, dating from 1165, that stands east of Vladimir, solitary on a hilltop at the junction of two rivers.

The walk first takes me through a stand of birches where brightly coloured parrots seem to be flying up and down between the tree trunks. They are actually headscarves, hung on lines between the trees by the village women. The colourful movement frees my mind of any thoughts of icy cold and burning villages. >>>

Party in Suzdal

<<< "Nowhere else can you experience the beauty of old Russia as intensely as here," says Yuri, a student from southern Ural. "But what about the destruction wrought by the Mongols?" I ask. Yuri shrugs. "Look around you! After we threw them out, we rebuilt again, more beautifully than ever!" His brush darts back and forth across the canvas, and slowly a fairytale Russian landscape comes to life. The Kamenka river meanders through clouds of cow parsley. Left and right of the river, countless golden onion domes arise, white bell towers and monastery cathedrals. Seas of yellow clash with the heavy fortification walls that surround the monastery cathedrals. >>>

<<< Yuri waves his brush at a group of boys on the other side of the Kamenka who are carrying a decorated birch tree. "They’re on their way to celebrate Troitsa. I’d follow them if I were you."

Going by the snatches of accordion music I locate the party half an hour later. The decorated birch has been placed firmly upright. All around it, dancing wildly, are girls with dangling braids and little old ladies with dangling pearl necklaces. On their heads they are wearing wreaths made of birch twigs, cornflowers and lilacs. After a while the men are allowed to join in and I am pulled into the dance, without so much as a by you leave, by a woman in a baseball cap. In the swirling crowd, bright folklore costume colours blur and floral bouquets and effervescent accordion music collide into one big zestful explosion. >>>

Russian Reality in Kibol

<<< To prove Russians can also be nice, Vera invites me to come and stay at her izba, the house she and her husband use as their holiday home. "There, you can taste Russian reality for a few days", she adds mysteriously. The izba of Vera and Oleg Popov is a traditional farmhouse, half hidden behind man-high grass in the village of Kibol.

The village consists of a dozen izbas surrounding a romantically derelict church. The onion domes of the church have deteriorated down to their wire skeletons, now offering a roost to crows who broadcast their scratchy melancholic song across the area. >>>

<<< The house has no bathroom nor a water pump, and Oleg, with washbowl under his arm, beckons me along to the meandering Kamenka river that skirts the hamlet. Here nature is celebrating a bubbly Troitsa party of its very own; on the path along the riverbank we wade through a blue rain of glistening dragonfly wings. Hundreds of miniscule frogs jump up against our ankles, out of the reeds. As I lean from a small jetty to fill Oleg’s bowl the water seems to become a live liquid of little fish darting to and fro. It is the most idyllic bathroom I have ever washed myself in. "And," asks Vera when I return to the house, "How do you like living in Russian Reality?" >>>

A war veteran in the bus

<<< The bus passengers press their noses to the window to get a good look at the majestic Volga.

One bear of a man, however, just peacefully snores through it all. But then, as I ask Vera a question about the history of the city, he starts awake. Owing to my English, he assumes I am American. A fact that gets him awfully excited. While Vera tries to calm him down with a calm voice, I can deduct from his increasingly aggressive scolding that he fought in Afghanistan. "America korroeptsija!" he cries at me with balled fist. The other passengers keep still and look out the windows, probably knowing this grizzly bear is out of their league. At long last the veteran rises out of his chair and approaches me ominously. >>> <<< Vera stares ahead blankly and whispers hoarsely: "Russian reality."

Snowflakes in spring

A week later I am rowing near the town Rostov Velikij, on one of Russia’s most beautiful lakes: Ozero Nero. Now while visiting the monasteries and cities of the Golden Ring, I have seen many onion shaped domes reaching for the skies, but the sight now rising up from the water outdoes all the rest. The white walls and the dome forest of Rostov’s kremlin combine in an ensemble that even the most extravagant Disney castle could not contend with. >>>

<<< Fat white flakes are falling steadily. Little white dunes are forming against the monasteries’ walls. Now and then the wind blows through the monastic gate, with the effect of a celestial being sneezing into a mountain of eiderdown. An old woman passes and pauses to pick a large butterbur leaf, pressing it onto her head to protect her hairdo. She continues on her way, ducking into the blizzard. The perpetrators of this wintry spectacle are the poplars standing on the lake bank. In the explosive Russian spring they produce fluff like I’ve never seen before. >>>

The Flood in Tutayev

<<< Following recommendations of Vera, I visit the small town Tutayev towards the end of my journey. She told me the imaginative and poignant frescos of the Golden Ring are to be found here in its Resurrection Cathedral. You can spend hours here, exploring the world of the Old Testament as it looked according to seventeenth century Russian painters.

The tour begins with a stately figure who, as a divine mathematician, designs the universe within cosmic soap bubbles. Life flutters in between the bubbles in the guise of colourful birds. Beautiful!

Paradise, where Adam is intently listening to the animals, is a bright white space with green and dark red fountain-shaped trees. A dark blue heaven arches over proceedings like a divine eyelid. It must have been abundantly clear to the illiterate churchgoer that being banished from this place was a penalty of the highest order. >>>

<<< In the next scene, Noah and his wife kneel down in the wet earth, gratefully looking up at the rainbow. Behind them, the animals are leaving the ark over the gangplank. They look like they’re having a nice chat, reviewing their journey. The funniest one is the unicorn. With a cheerful grin he looks back at the ark, as if to say, ‘We should have an outing like that more often!’. It is the kind of irrepressible zest for life that suits Russian reality.

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Highlights of the Golden Ring

Yuryev-Polski
Small provincial town 60 km northeast of Moscow. The proud home of well preserved kremlin ramparts from which you enjoy a good view of its old wooden houses and the walled Monastery of Archangel Michael.

Vladimir
Large city 70 km to the east of Moscow. In the 13th century it was the capital of Kievan Rus. The museum in the Golden Gates hosts an impressive diorama representing the siege by the Mongols. Twelfth century St Demetrius Cathedral and Assumption cathedral. East of Vladimir by the small town Bogolyubovo: the riverfront Intercession (Pokrova) Church.

Suzdal
Country town 30 km north of Vladimir. Within the old kremlin ramparts: the Nativity Cathedral with famous gold doors and a museum with important iconic art. Outside the kremlin: numerous walled monasteries (partly active, partly museum), churches and a Museum of Wooden Architecture.

Kostroma
City on the Volga, 300 km northeast of Moscow. The city’s appearance is dominated by classicism, among others fine market arcades. Outside the city, at the mouth of the Kostroma river: the Monastery of St Ipatiev and an open air museum with wooden churches.

Yaroslavl
Big Volga city, 230 km north of Moscow. The city has many 17th century churches that are decorated with frescos and the colourful glazed tiles characteristic of the region. Boat trip over the river affords wonderful view of the city.

Tutayev
Little Volga town, 35 km northwest of Yaroslavl. On the southern bank of the Volga, the Resurrection Cathedral with its seventeenth century frescos. On the steep northern bank, a series of churches in idyllic village surroundings.

Rostov Veliky
Small town on Lake Nero, which has preserved an amazing number of onion dome churches within its kremlin walls. Typical wooden houses on the lakeside.

Pereslavl Zalessky
Small town with old fortification ramparts on Lake Pleschcheyevo, 125 km north of Moscow. On the lake edge, the Goritsky Monastery and the Botik museum boasting a small ship preserved from the fleet that Peter the Great used to relive great sea battles on this lake.

Sergiyev Posad
Sergiyev Posad, 50 km north of Moscow, is famous for its Trinity monastery and is one of the most important religious centres in Russia. Visited by many pilgrims who come and tap healing water from the holy well.

Alexandrov
Small town 75 km northeast of Moscow. The Uspenski Convent has a number of beautiful churches situated around a pleasantly overgrown garden and an impressive bell tower.