historical centre of Yaroslavl

Yaroslavl stands where the Kotorosl River meets the Volga, some 250 km northeast of Moscow. Yaroslav the Wise, a prince of Kievan Rus', is credited with building the first fort on the cape between the high river banks while he ruled Rostov, between 988 and 1010. The first recorded event in the town is the Rostov uprising of 1071. It became the capital of the Principality of Yaroslavl, which was absorbed by Moscow in 1463.

The Spassky Monastery, built in the late 12th century on the site of a pagan temple, is one of the oldest in the Upper Volga region, and its cathedral of 1506 to 1516 is the oldest building in the city. In the 16th century the Volga linked Moscow with the northern port of Arkhangelsk, and Yaroslavl grew into a major commercial centre. From April to June 1612 the militia of Minin and Pozharsky was based here, making the town the de facto capital of Russia.

By the end of the 17th century Yaroslavl had about 15,000 people and was the second city of Russia after Moscow, and rich merchants paid for many stone churches. The fire of 1658 destroyed the wooden kremlin. After Catherine the Great ordered an urban planning reform for all of Russia in 1763, the city adopted a new plan in 1769, revised in 1778, with radial streets and neoclassical buildings centred on Ilyinskaya Square and the Church of Elijah the Prophet. The historic centre was inscribed in 2005.