Kostroma.

         Russian artistic and cultural traditions were cultivated in the Kostroma region for centuries. Many of the region’s unique and highly artistic architectural monuments have been preserved, as well as, examples of skilled metal forging and wood carving.
A. N. Ostrovsky, N. A. Nekrasov, B. M. Kustodiev and other prominent men in the world of arts and letters were frequent visitors in Kostroma. And A. F. Pysemsky lived here for many years.
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Kostroma was founded in the middle of the 12th century. At that time Russia waged a struggle with the Volga-Kamsk Bulgaria for trade routes along the Volga. Many settlements along the Volga were strengthened and forts were built in Kostroma and other towns.
According to a legend, Prince Jun Dolgoruki came here with his forces to protect merchants and other traders from marauders, and founded the town.
In the middle of the 13th century Kostroma became the seat of an independent principality, but in the first half of the 14th century it was incorporated into the Moscow Principality. Kostroma was burned-down and plundered many times during foreign invasions and wars between the principalities. That is why earlier buildings have not been preserved. All that has survived is the ikon of the Fyodorov Virgin, 13th century, (now in the Resurrection church on-the-Debre, in Kostroma), the 14th century St. Nicolas ikon (the Russian Museum, Leningrad), and a few smaller objects found during archeological excavations in the town. The study of these objects has shown that even in those distant times there were talented craftsmen who helped create local artistic traditions that are still alive today.
Due to its favorable location and lively trade in the l5th-l6th centuries, Kostroma became a major crafts and trade center. By the end of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century it had grown into one of Russia’s major towns.
Wood was the main building material in Kostroma, at the time, because the town was situated among forests. But the town was constantly plagued by large-scale fires. And after the fire of 1413, the town’s Kremlin (fort)

        Of course, it is hard to reconstruct in full the picture of old Kostroma. But according to 17th century manuscripts and a few remaining drawings, it was a wooden town with many marquee churches, closely standing houses, uneven streets and wooden bridges across ditches and streams.
By the middle of the 17th century Kostroma became a major trade and cultural center of the Moscow state. The town’s builders, ikon painters, silversmiths, weavers, blacksmiths and leather craftsmen were known throughout the land. Its lathergoods were exported abroad and its linen, scales and locks were known far and wide. Kostroma stonemasons were invited to build palaces and cathedrals in the capital and other towns. Especially well-known were the town’s painters, who were invited to paint the walls in the cathedrals of Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Suzdal.
Among the well know 17th century architectural monuments in the town are the Trinity Cathedral of the Ipatiev monastery, the Resurrection church on-the-Debre, The St. John the Divine church in the Ipatiev (now Labot) district, the Ilyinsk and the Spas- Transfiguration churches and the Ascension church on Melnychni St.
When, in 1778, Kostroma became a provincial seat, the construction of administrative buildings was begun. The building was conducted according to a general plan approved in 1784. The center of the town was devastated by fire in 1773, and this greatly aided builders in implementing their successful reconstruction plan.
It took nearly a half a century to create the central ensemble. Many architects worked on the project among them such well known ones as S. Vorotilov, who was employed at the end of the 18th century and P. Fursov, who was appointed the provincial architect from 1822 to 1831.
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The historical and architectural museum complex of the Ipatiev Monastery is the town’s major attraction. It was built in the

13th century as a fort at the spot where the Kostroma river flows into the Volga. The monastery’s elaborate complex of buildings includes structures dating from the end of the 16th to the end of the 19th centuries.
In the 16th century, thanks to the a large endowment from the Godunov family, the Ipatiev monastery became one of the largest feudal church holdings. Beginning with the 17th century the monastery began to be patronized by the new Tzarist family—the Romanovs.
The monastery’s sacristy housed many treasures and the library many unique manuscripts and first printed books among them the famous chronicle a copy of one of the most ancient codes of the 9th-l2th century Kiev Russia—the “Tale of the Temporal Years”.
The oldest part of the monastery — the old town-dates back to the monastery’s founding. The stone walls and towers were built at the end of the 16th century, in place of the wooden ones, and were strengthened in the 17th century. In the 1740-ties the so-called “New town” was built along the fort’s western wall.

The monastery walls were surrounded by moats, but they were filled in in the 18th century, when the fort lost its strategic significance. In the center of the ensemble is the Trinity Cathedral. This stone structure was first built in 1558, but in 1649, it was blown up and reconstructed in 1652.
Of great artistic value are the frescos in the cathedral. They were painted in 1685, by a group of craftsmen working under the outstanding painters Gun Nikitin and Syla Savin. These frescos are the best examples of their worlc The colors of the frescos are rich, the contours are graceful but firm, there are numerous details and the portraits are very down-to-earth. The architecture of the depicted palaces and halls is very interesting. On completing the frescos the artists wrote, as if speaking to future generations: “Artistic imagination and spirital fulfilment forever. Amin”.
The cathedral’s five-tier gilded ikonostasis was installed in 1756-1758. It was executed by a group of wood carvers from the Bolshye Soli settlement of the Kostroma province. They worked under the craftsmen Pyotr Zol 13

            Near the monastery an open air museum of old wooden structures is being set up. Its purpose is to demonstrate folk building of secular and civil structures in the Kostroma villages, and the way the inhabitants lived. Kostroma carpenters were well known, especially those from the Galich and the Soligalich counties that abounded in forests.
The museum began to be created in 1955, when work was under way to clear the Kostroma low-lands that were to be flooded by the dam of the Gorki Power Station. The Transfiguration church from the Spas-Vezhy village, an excellent example of 17th century Russian wood architecture, and a number of bath-houses from the Zharki village were moved then.
Most of the buildings in this open-air museum stand outside the monastery’s territory. Of special interest is the Our Lady cathedral-church from the Kholm village of the Galich district. It was built in 1552, and is the oldest standing structure in the Kostroma region. The carpenters who built it were great craftsmen.
Most of the wooden structures stand on the southern side of the monastery protected by a dam. Among them is the 18th century church from Fominskoye village. It is very characteristic of the church style of those times with a small belfry built a top the refectory. Then there is the small chapel that used to stand at the cross-roads in the Chukhlomsk district. It was built in 1860-ties but looks very much like the houses described in ancient Russian fairytales.
Many peasant houses, flour-mills and other buildings are now undergoing reconstruction. Among them are houses with very curious balconies, window frames and shutters, as well as metal-cased chimneys and wrought iron dragons and verdure on the wooden gates. Standing on this bank of the Volga it is hard to grasp that on the other side stands a large industrial district of a contemporary town.