"A magnificent view of Suzdal opens from the bank of the river named Kamenka. The panorama of bell-towers and cupolas of innumerable churches with tops of trees showing here and there unfolds in a continuous row stretching as far the eye can see."
One of the eldest towns in north-east Russia, in the 11th century Suzdal was the capital of Rostov-Suzdal Principality. When the center of political life was transferred to Vladimir, Suzdal could no longer play the role it had it had played in the earlier years. In the 14th century its lands were annexed by Moscow and it was reduced to the position of an ordinary district center in the Moscow State. The importance of Suzdal lies primarily in its being a guardian of old traditions, a town-museum possessing many excellent from the 13th to the 18th century.
The place from which the town had started is now the territory of the Kremlin. It was here that Prince Vladimir Monomakh erected a cathedral, which stood from the late 11th century to the beginning of the 13th century. In 1222-25, Prince Georgy Vsevolodovich ordered to build a new church on the same site - the Cathedral of the Virgin Nativity. It has survived till our time, though not intact. In the early 16th century, the wall were dismantled in their upper part and then rebuilt. In the 18th century the cathedral was given onion-shape domes. The outer decor mainly consists of details hewn in white limestone.
Among specimens of ancient Russian art gathered in the cathedral there is unique masterpiece of 13th century craftsmen - the "Golden Gates" in the west and south portals. The huge two-leafed doors have the facing of copper plates decorated with numerous scenes.
Originally the church was frescoed in 1233. The existing murals were first executed in 1635-36 and then repaired in the 18th and 19th centuries.
None of the wooden houses that were built when the town began to grow in the 14th and 15th centuries has survived the tempests of time. The 16th century was marked by a stone construction boom in the monasteries.
From the highest left bank of Kamenka there is an excellent view of the Convent of the Intercession - whose main buildings - the Holy Gates, the Church of the Annunciation and the Cathedral of the Intercession were erected in the first two decades of the 16th century by commission of the Grand Prince Vasiliy III.
Large-scale construction works at the convent were carried on till the mid-16th century. Among the buildings dating from that period are the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the bell-tower of original design, the walls, and the towers. Alterations and additions were also made in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Facing the Convent of the Intercession from the higher left bank of Kamenka are the walls and towers of the St Euthymus Monastery of the Saviour. Founded in the mid-14th century, the monastery served as Suzdal's northern defensive outpost. The existing walls and towers were raised in the 167-80s and have a design varying according to their location - in some places they are made lower, in others - higher. The monastery fortifications rank with the best examples of Russian military architecture.
In the group of buildings situated inside the walls the most impressive is the five-domed Cathedral of the Transfiguration (1564) with the interior frescoed in 1689 by the famous team of Guriy Nikitin and Sila Savin.
The 18th century witnessed a new flowering of Suzdalian architecture. To that period belong some of the town's best buildings: the Church of St Nicholas, the Church of Sts Cosmas and Damien, the Church of the Entry into Jerusalem, the Church of Ste Paraskeva Pyatnitsa (Friday), etc. They have some common traits in their construction - a cubic main body, that is crowed with one of five small beady cupolas resting on thin drums; a multitiered begry with a tent-shaped upper part. Their peculiar silhouettes lend a specific quality to the architectural ensemble of the town.