The town is located in the Yaroslavl region, 58 km south-west of @2112000 Yaroslavl on the lowland bank of Lake Nero.
How to get there from Moscow: by train from the Yaroslavl railroad station, by car by the Yaroslavskoye shosse.
You can get there by bus as well. The bus station is located near the metro station Shchyolkovskaya.
Rostov Kremlin
The Kremlin was founded by Rostov's Metropolitan Jonah Sysoyevitch in the 17th century.
Son of a country preacher, he was put in charge of the Patriarch's post when Patriarch
Nikon fell into disgrace. No wonder, he had his residence erected with such a pomp.
The proxy of the Metropolitan during the construction of the Kremlin and his residence
was Rostov's mason Peter Ivanovitch Dosayev, and the builders who erected the complex were
natives of Rostov. Thus, the Kremlin absorbed the local architectural traditions.
It took 30 years to erect this magnificent fairy-tale town. Its domes, covered with silvery
wooden tiles, bunches of green and silver cupolas of the five-domed churches, long narrow red
tent-roofs and numerous chimneys seem to float over the ground. Green four-sloped roofs
with golden flags are seen above them. Tracery crosses with pendent chains beam over the
churches. The complex of the Metropolitan's homestead with dwelling and household buildings,
chambers for receptions, churches, cathedrals, surrounded by fortification walls and towers,
is known as Rostov's Kremlin. It also includes the former St. Gregory's Monastery and the
Assumption Cathedral with a belfry. Behind the walls of the Kremlin the Metropolitan's
garden was laid out.
The Kremlin fortification walls have 11 battle towers. Their main purpose was to emphasize
the magnificence of the residence of Rostov's Metropolitans. The towers have different shapes,
four of them are barbicans. Two couples of the towers stand on the sides of the gate churches:
{the Ressurection Church} above the main Holy Gate and {the Church of Johan the Theologian} above the gate giving the access to the Kremlin grounds from the Moscow road.
Lake Nero comes into view from the observation ground on the Sadovaya (Garden) Gate Tower.
Bell-Tower
The bell-tower, topped by four domes, stands on the tall ground floor. The white
through gallery is mounted high above the ground. Over 300 years the tracery arches hold the load of the celebrated Rostov bells cast in the 17th-19th centuries. The total weight of the 13 bells is 74 tons. The biggest (32 tons) is called Sysoy, Poliley weighs 16 tons, Lebed (Swan) - 8 tons.
Each bell has its own chime. The museum stores tuning forks of the late 19th century re-creating the tonalities of the bells.
The bell-tower links {the Assumption Cathedral} with the square where the Metropolitan's homestead stands. To get there from the Cathedral square one has to pass through the Holy Gate and
{the Church of the Resurrection}
Assumption Cathedral
Rostov's cathedral is in many ways reminiscent of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The 60-meter-high monumental edifice with a cross stands on the site of the old cathedral which had been built in the times of Andrei Bogoliubsky and collapsed during the fire in 1204. The fragments of the murals of the old cathedral and a handle of the wooden doors in the shape of a lion's head have been unearthed by archaeologists.
Six massive pillars inside the cathedral hold the vault. The carved wooden iconostasis of the 18th century is of a high artistic merit.
The square in front of the cathedral used to be the town's center where veche (popular assembly in ancient Russia) was held, making decisions of war and peace.
Church of Virgin Hodegetria
The church of Virgin Hodegetria is the only church of the Kremlin which is not white-washed. The three-colored murals were laid upon the bricks without plastering. The church is reminiscent of the refectory chamber in the Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius The eye will no doubt be attracted to the moldings in Moscow baroque style in the interior of the church.
Traditions
Enamel is a handicraft based on painting on enamel by low-melting colors. Enamel masters executed small icons. They worked together in families, passing the methods from father to son.
In the 18th century Rostov became the center of manufacturing enamel insets and separate objects. Insets were mainly used to decorate church plates, and had to look bright and distinct in order to be seen from afar during the public service. The craftsmen also made insets for icon frames and Gospel mountings. That is why the single-color painting on the white enamel became the leading trend of Rostov's enamel craftsmen. Most often they employed crimson, lilac, and brown colors. The decorative enamel insets substituted gems and cost less.
Gradually (from the mid-19th century) the demand for these insets began to get down. The craftsmen had to switch to manufacturing powder-cases, hand glasses, and other objects of everyday life. Broaches with portraits became extremely popular with the bourgeois. To produce the broaches photographs and daguerreotypes were used which had just appeared at that time.
After the revolution Rostov's enamel craftsmen organized an artel. In order to improve the quality of production they invited the eminent graphic artist S.Chekhonin who organized a school attached to the artel.
