Zaraysk. Nice to meet you!

14 February 2021 • Travel time: with 05 January 2021 on 06 January 2021

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Spend the night in a store, get hit on the forehead in the wilds of a water tower, feel the history of the provincial town itself - the Vorobeichikovs are ready for anything, as long as the house does not go out : )

We drove to Zaraisk from Ryazan terribly depressed and broken. The reason for our mental fatigue was not a very successful visit to the Museum of the History of the Airborne Forces in Ryazan. I might write about it sometime. And in short: terribly unlucky with the guide, the man is very old. At first we were delighted with the experience, but it turned out to be in vain, slow speech, constant jumping, forgetfulness... Solely out of respect for age, we were embarrassed to stop this disgrace. Well, okay. . . So, the mood was, how to put it correctly, gloomy. My husband and I were discussing the museum all the way, sharing museum insults with each other... The children buried themselves in their smartphones... The desire to continue their New Year's trip to Zaraysk somehow disappeared. And if it were not for the physical fatigue that had also piled on, then for sure we would have passed the turn from the M5 highway to Zaraysk and continued on our way towards home, to Moscow.

Zaraisk. st. October

Here I also remembered that for the New Year holidays, hotels near Moscow were supposedly obliged to receive guests only with a certificate of the absence of covid. Here is the ambush! Zaraysk is already open spaces near Moscow. But on the phone we were assured that having a certificate is, of course, a huge plus, but the absence of one will not prevent us from becoming guests of Zaraysk. Fine! And then we urgently need to rest.

Creative shops in Zaraysk

Zaraisk has just begun to receive its portion of tourism and, of course, the hotel infrastructure there, to put it mildly, is not very good. But there is, there is where to stay! I don’t remember what and what I had to choose between (yes, there was even a small choice), but I gave preference to Trading and hotel complex (TGC) Zaraysk. In how loud : )). Naturally, I did not count on something chic, it would be clean. I didn’t even show my husband a photo, so that he wouldn’t give up the idea of visiting Zaraysk at all. Therefore, when we stopped in front of the building, the first message from the family was: "Are we going to spend the night in the store? ".

The small surprises about the hotel did not end there. She, like a magic box, concealed a lot of things that happened to us for the first time : )). But more about this in a separate review about the Zaraysk TGK Hotel .

Having received some boost of vivacity, so to speak, from the color therapy of our place of lodging for the night and doping from the alcohol department of the local store, we even managed to conduct a reconnaissance of the area, as they say. Yeah, to understand where it brought us : ).

Reference: Reconnaissance - reconnaissance to obtain information about the enemy, carried out personally by the commander and staff officers before the upcoming military (combat) actions. And some more symbols from Wikipedia. I think the "personally commander" is clear who : ))).

Nothing, just curious. Such a pretty province (more photos in the album).

The most solid building in any city in our country – yes yes, Pension Fund

Water tower in the evening glow

Zaraisk in the present is a small provincial town in the Moscow region.

In general, little known, especially outside the surrounding areas. But once it was a strong merchant city.

Seating yard behind the trees

To the right are the walls of Gostiny Dvor. Now there is a clothing market

Restored Ekaterininskaya Street, now Krasnoarmeyskaya

Even earlier - a powerful defensive point on the borders of the Russian state.

The first mention of Zaraisk found in the annals of 1146. Then it was also called the city of Sturgeon - after the name of the river on the banks of which it was then located.

Great Field. According to legend, Evpaty Kolovrat gathered the remnants of the squad there and went after Batu. Now this is the name of a village near Zaraysk

Why in the past tense? The fact is that presumably that Sturgeon was destroyed by nomads. And in its place another city was built under the name Red. And Red was later burned down during the invasion of Batu Khan in 1237, and again revived with a different name. The city changed its name several times. Zaraysk finally became Zaraysk only by the 17th century. Here is such a persistent and tenacious town turned out to be. Yes, the history of the city is quite stormy: there are invasions of nomads, and the period of the Time of Troubles. Prince Pozharsky was the governor of Zaraysk in 1610-1611, and it was from here that the prince marched on Moscow with his militia detachment. I will not reprint historical references, if you are interested, you can read about history at least in Wikipedia.

Why is the provincial Zaraisk so interesting for a modern tourist? Indeed, on the map of sights, at first glance, there are only memorial plaques, “on-duty” monuments, well, a few more churches.

By some miracle, the Kremlin has been preserved in Zaraisk.

And not partially, as in Kolomna, for example, or in the form of ramparts, as in Ryazan or Dmitrov. And the real one, albeit small in area, but intact to this day. It is precisely thanks to the Kremlin that ubiquitous tourists often visit the tiny and little-known Zaraysk.

The Kremlin in Zaraysk was built by order of Vasily III in 1528-1531. Powerful walls adequately held the defense during the numerous raids of the Crimean Tatars.

The Kremlin housed military garrisons, around it grew suburbs. But gradually by the end of the XVII century. Zaraysk lost its defensive value. And the city began to live a merchant life. The Astrakhan highway passed through it, which contributed to the development of trade.

For some reason already in the XIX century. the new Ryazan road, and later the Moscow-Ryazan railway bypassed Zaraysk, which finally made the city quiet and calm with a measured way of life. It is believed that this lull contributed to the preservation of the Kremlin, as they say, in its original form.

Although, of course, over the centuries the Kremlin changed its appearance, something was completed, something was rebuilt... For example, the roofs on the towers, presumably, appeared only at the end of the 19th century, when warehouses began to be equipped in them (more here).

Currently, Zaraisky Kremlin Museum-Reserve is organized in the Kremlin. In modern realities, viewing the museum exposition in the Places of Presence building is organized by sessions. But there were so many applicants in those days that you won’t get there right away. You can take an individual tour of the Kremlin, during which they climb the walls. That's it, this is what we would really like!

And again by. All tour guides were dismantled. On calmer, non-holiday dates, it’s sort of like organizing prefabricated groups as the number of people who want to accumulate, so to speak. On that day, one team excursion was expected at an inconvenient time for us. But that's okay. Looking at all this touring, it became clear that the group will be very big, and we have already lost the habit of mass. In general, if you are going to Zaraysk, then try to pick up a quieter day. Actually, as for visiting any popular place. But during the New Year holidays, it was something unimaginable in terms of the number of visitors to the Zaraisk Kremlin.

St. Nicholas Cathedral (1681) - according to scientists, its predecessor was the wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Korsun, built in 1225, which, in turn, was built in stone presumably in 1625 g. And this is the third version. Restoration work is currently underway.

In the photo below, you can try to see the tombstone of the Ryazan princes Fedor, Evpraksia and John, restored in 2002. According to the annals, in 1237 Batu burned the city, the appanage prince Fedor died, and Evpraksia with a young son, she threw herself out of the tower, so as not to be captured by Batu. A wooden temple was built over the tomb of the princes in honor of the Beheading of John the Baptist, which in the 16th century. is listed as stone. Later, the temple was rebuilt several times, and the tomb was outside the temple. In the 20s of the last century, the grave was destroyed.

The current Cathedral of the Beheading of John the Baptist was created in 1901-1904. In Soviet times, a cinema was set up here. In 1992, the temple was returned to the Church.

Another striking attraction of Zaraysk is the Water Tower, built in 1916 according to the design of technician A. I. Filippov. Outwardly, it is very reminiscent of some kind of military fortification. Or even a princess tower : )). It is assumed that all these false loopholes and dovetails were deliberately used in her image for, let's say, external unity with the Kremlin.

Like many similar towers, it stood in ruins for a long time. But exactly one hundred years after its commissioning, the tower began its new life.

It was restored, the interior was put in order and access was opened to the upper tier, where an observation deck was equipped to the delight of tourists.

But before you get to the very top, you have to try. Run up is a laborious event in itself.

And then the higher, the lower the ceiling of the tier, all sorts of pipes and other tightness. At the entrance, it is recommended to wear a helmet, especially for tall personalities, but they do not strongly insist. So, our dad got his bump for being naughty. So follow the recommendations of knowledgeable people : )).

The "native" tank has been preserved

Well, upstairs. . . Maybe not the most spectacular, but very soulful views. Here, Zaraysk is at our feet!

Most recently, we gave binoculars to our son as a birthday present. The real adult. Eh, and this binocular was safely forgotten at home. And I counted on him so much, knowing that we would have views from the tower.

Von Kremlin

And even not very central ones.

And look how cute the decorated trees look. Simple, as they say, but tasteful.

In summer, of course, even prettier. Yes, and there is more time and opportunity to roam. Of course, even now, in winter, I would still roam, but such an offer did not please my escort team. Here they are, the costs of dragging children with you around cities and villages : )). I had to finish my walk.

Church of the Trinity of the Life-Giving 1776 museum from the Kremlin. Currently, the museum has returned to its native walls, and restoration work is underway in the temple. I did not find any information whether services are already being held

Last year's hard times played into the hands of the popularity of Zaraisk. The city was simply teeming with tourists, despite the rather difficult transport accessibility. I think this phenomenon will be a good economic help for a provincial town. And Zaraysk very worthily met the next invasion... tourist.

Exhibition of old photos of Zaraysk

There must be something good in our time.

Well, Zaraisk… We liked you. Nice to meet you!

Translated automatically from Russian. View original