Yaroslavl Oblast: Pereslavl Zaleskiy
Pereslavl Zaleskiy is the next stop on the traditional Golden Ring route of all the medieval Russian 1000+ year old towns. The town was founded in 1152 by Prince Yury Dolgoruky and then became part of the Moskovy Duchy. Tatar-mongols sacked it several times in the 13-14th century, and then the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (present day Belarus) conquered it in the 16th century for a short time. The town has several historic churches and monastic complexes – some around the Red Square in the town center and some outlying. Goritsky Monastery is a fortified complex with beautiful onion-done cathedral on the west side of town. Next is Nikolsky Women’s Monastery with absolutely stunning golden onion domes. In the town heart are two beautiful cathedrals – Vladimiskiy and the Svyato- Preobrazhensky (the latter being the birth place of Alexander Nevskiy.
