Veliky Ustyug
Veliky Ustyug
was founded in 1147 in the mouth of the Yug river by people from the
principality of Rostov and Suzdal. It served as a stronghold of the
northern Russian borders. Being a contemporary of Moscow and Vologda,
the town went through numerous incursions of enemies, internecine
dissension of princes, it helped to consolidate Russian lands, suffered
from inundations, fires and revived again.
In the middle of the 16th century Ustyug stopped being a front-line
fortress and lost its military significance. Nobody knows, what happened
to a small Old Russian town, if it were not for its location on the
crossing of big waterways. Not without reason Aquarius, master and
guardian of the town, is depicted on the blazon of Ustyug. He pours
water from two pitchers into a stream. The stream symbolizes Severnaya
Dvina, the main river of the Russian North, and the spurts from two
pitchers – its tributaries Sukhona and Yug.
In the 16th century the trade significance of Ustyug increased so much
that tsar Ivan the Terrible inscribed it in the list of oprichnina towns
and cities. At this period Ustyug got a status “Veliky” or “Great” for
its contribution to development of Russian trade.
In the 17th century rich merchants of Ustyug erected and decorated
numerous churches and stone buildings. Just the architecture became a
“visiting card” of the town. There are many wonderful architectural
monuments on the banks of the Sukhona river: the Ascension church, built
in 1648, the Prokopiev cathedral, erected in 1668, the majestic
Assumption cathedral of the 18th century. Downstream the ensemble of the
Troitse-Gledensky monastery is situated, its iconostasis is accepted in
the world as a masterpiece of icon painting.
Veliky Ustyug is famous for its land-discoverers. In the 17th century
Semyon Dezhnyov discovered a strait between Asia and America. Far
Eastern city Khabarovsk is named after the citizen of Veliky Ustyug
Erofey Khabarov, who made a map of the territory around the Amur river.
Today Veliky Ustyug is famous for the works of the worldwide known plant
“Northern Niello”, the factory “Traceries of Veliky Ustyug”, which
preserved folk craft of the 18th century, - the birch-bark and wood
carving.
Not far from Veliky Ustyug “The Ethel of Ded Moroz” is situated. The
fairy person replies children letters from the whole Russia, receipts
visitors, and on New Year he makes a trip about the country, finishing
it in Moscow.
Welcome to Veliky Ustyug!
