Photography, Golden Ring p 3

5-Uglitch

Quiet town along the Volga. Until the early 14th century it was a small separate principality. Since then part of the emerging Muscovy.
It made the history books once because of the assassination of 8-year-old Tsarevitch Dmitry in 1591 – youngest of the sons of Ivan the Terrible
and last of the Ryurikid dynasty, who had dominated the Russian principalities since the 9th century.It ushered in the chaotic “Time of Troubles” as Russia threatened
to succumb to civil wars, pretenders to the throne (2 among them pretended to be Dmitriy who supposedly survived
the assassination attempt – “False Dmitriy” is a common term in Russian for “impostor”), often involving Poland-Lithuania and Sweden,
a period that only came to an end in 1612 with the accession of the first Romanov tsar. He immediately took steps to have the murdered Dmitriy canonized
as a martyr in order to cut off further claims of “False Dmitriys”. A church was later built on the spot in the Uglitch Kremlin
where the murder is said to have taken place, with frescoes depicting the life of the tsarevitch alongside other biblical scenes,
in a transitional style between the old patterns and European (baroque) influences. The bell that was rung to warn the citizens of Uglitch of the murder
is now also housed in this church, after being “exiled” to Tobolsk in Siberia for 300 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6-Vologda

Originally a colony of Novgorod, later one of the strongholds of the emerging Grand Duchy of Muscovy on the road to the seaport in Arkhangelsk.
In the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible saw the city as a possible alternative capital for Moscow, but the “Time of Troubles” (1592-1612) saw devastation
and capture by Polish troops. The emergence of new trade routes in the 18th century made Vologda less important.