Vologda is situated in Northwestern Russia, on the Vologda river about 400 km northeast of Moscow and about 480 km east of Saint Petersburg. A center of the lumber industry, the city is a major producer of furniture, paper, wood pulp, and woodworking machinery. Other industries specialize in textiles and food products such as beer, meat, and dairy goods. Vologda is an important river port and rail junction. It is served by major railroads running north and south between Moscow and Arkhangelsk, and east and west between Saint Petersburg and Kirov.
Vologda has many historical attractions, including the 16th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral and the 18th-century Resurrection Cathedral. The old city center is surrounded by a stone wall with towers built between 1671 and 1675. Most of the city was built in the baroque and neoclassical architectural styles of the 17th and 18th centuries.
With the growth of Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea area in the beginning of the 18th century, the city's economic significance declined. It revived in the 19th century, however, with the development of the railroad and the lumber industry. Socialist revolutionaries opposed to the autocratic rule of the Russian tsar set up headquarters here in 1894.
