Yaroslavl



Yaroslavl

Name: Maxim Grigoryev

Age: 28

Profession: Photojournalist

City: Yaroslavl and Tutaev

How long have you been doing photography?  I don't remember how long. Perhaps since my parents bought me a cheap film camera in elementary school. Very soon they regretted this,  because I often asked for money for film and printing.

What style or genre most interests you? My noname camera had a multi-exposure mode. Since then I've fallen in love with abstract photography.​

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for? 

Yaroslavl is a more than thousand-year-old city situated 250 kilometers from Moscow and sitting on both banks of the Volga River. It was named for Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Legend has it that he was the city's founder. Also, Yaroslavl is the capital of the "Golden Ring" - the most beautiful and histor-laden cities in Russia. Many of them are in Yaroslavl region.

What are some things that only locals would know about the city? 

  • The first professional dramatic theatre in Russia was founded in Yaroslavl in 1750 by a merchant's son, Fyodor Volkov. It was a few years after he became an actor. 
  • The first university in Northeast Russia was founded in Yaroslavl, in the beginning of a thirteenth century. It is called Grigoryevsky Zatvor. 
  • On the main square of Yaroslavl - Bogoyavlenskaya - you can see a monument to Yaroslav the Wise. Locals call it "Man with a Cake" because he is holding a small tower in his hand that looks like a cake.
  • Yaroslavl is one of two cities in Russia whose historic centre is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second is St. Petersburg.
  • Yaroslavl's kremlin actually is not a kremlin. It's a monastery, which was a small part of the old city. Now only two sections of the not-a-kremlin walls remain.
  • Yaroslavl was a capital of Russia. But only for a few years, during the Times of Troubles. The first Romanov tsar, Michael, signed the documents on accepting the Russian throne in Yaroslavl.

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city?

If you like real Russian history, you must just take a walk in the historic centre. Many old churches, monasteries and architectural treasures from different centuries are located there. You must also visit Volkov's Theatre, the State Art Museum, Governor's garden, the Volga embankment and Spassky monastery. And don't forget to visit the nearby towns of Rostov Veliky, Uglich, Pereslavl Zalesky and Tutaev. It is best to travel to Yaroslavl region in summer or early autumn.

Anything else? Yaroslavl people are very freedom-loving. History shows that they were the first to fight against injustice. But at the same time they are very peaceful and hospitable.

Instagram: gideonmaximus

 



Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Steppe / Степь

Steppe / Степь

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Little Humpbacked Horse

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955