Vladimir

• The year 990 - late Chronicle news about the foundation of the city named after him by Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich on the river Klyazma.
• About 1108 - erection of the fortress by Vladimir Monomakh.
• 1157 - the move of Andrei Bogolyubsky from Vyshgorod to Vladimir and the transfer from Suzdal to Vladimir of the capital of Northeast Russia as the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality;
• 1176-1212 - reign of Vsevolod Big Nest - Vladimir's prosperity;
• 1238 - capture and devastation of Vladimir-Zalessky by Mongol-Tatars;
• 1243 - the Vladimir prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich is recognized as "the oldest prince in the Russian language"; Vladimir becomes the capital of the Russian lands;
• 1263 - the death of Vladimir Prince Alexander Nevsky and the final division of Northeast Russia into independent appanages. There came a century-long period of struggle for the Vladimir Grand-Ducal Table between the strongest princes of Northeast Russia;
• 1299 - transfer of the cathedra of the Russian metropolitan from Kiev to Vladimir;
• 1328 - Metropolitan Peter's move from Vladimir to Moscow. Struggle between Tver, Suzdal and Moscow for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir;
• 1360 - Vladimir's transition from the Moscow to Suzdal-Nizhegorod Principality;
• 1362-1363 - Recognition by the Suzdal-Nizhegorodsky prince Dmitry Konstantinovich of the primacy of rights to Vladimir of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich. Final transition of Vladimir in authority to Moscow Princes;
• 1389 - Vladimir was first inherited from the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy to his son Vasily I;
• 1395 - transfer of the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God to Moscow;
• 1491 - construction of new city fortifications on the city ramparts;
• 1609-1614 - raids on Vladimir by troops of Polish-Lithuanian invaders;
• 1719 - formation of the Vladimir province;
• 1778 - formation of Vladimir province and viceroyalty;
• 1861 - construction of a railway station in Vladimir;
• 1929 - Vladimir became a part of Ivanovo industrial region;
• 1944 - the city became the center of the Vladimir region;
• 1960 - construction of a permanent bridge across the Klyazma River;
• 1973 - Leninsky, Oktyabrsky and Frunzensky districts were formed in the city;
• 1980 - the population reached 300,000;
• 1987 - construction of a highway bypass of the city as part of the M-7 highway.

The first people began to appear on the territory occupied by the modern city, about 34 thousand years ago in the Paleolithic era, as evidenced by the discovery of the Rusanikha site on the right bank of the Rpen river, whose stone tools are similar to those found at the site of Sungir, located 8 km east of Rusanikha.

In the VI-VII centuries this territory was developed by the Volga-Finn tribe Merja. In the VIII-X centuries, there was a Merjan settlement on the hill where the Assumption Cathedral was later built.

In the IX-X centuries Slavs, in particular Krivichi, began to penetrate here.

Now in the literature two alternative dates of the basis of Vladimir are specified: 1108 and 990. In the Soviet period it was established that Vladimir was founded by Prince Vladimir Monomakh about 1108. Accordingly, 850 anniversary of the city was celebrated in 1958. The most prominent specialist in Vladimir archeology Nikolay Voronin also adhered to this dating.

As substantiation of dating of the basis of Vladimir in 1108 the message of the Novgorod first annals (in "And se princes of Russ") is given: "Son Volodimerov Monomakh, great-grandson of Grand Duke Vladimir. Sii put the town Volodimer Zaleshskiy in Suzhdal land and sprinkled it with spom, and created the first church of the holy Savior 50 years before the Virgin's establishment". There is also indirect evidence that Rostov and Suzdal boyars looked at Vladimir as a junior city and opposed its rise, while Suzdal is first mentioned in the Novgorod Code under 999. But the claims to "seniority" could be connected not with the date of foundation, but with many other factors more significant at that time.

In the 1990s, Vladimir local historians favored moving the date of the city's founding to 990. In support of this date are given the information of a number of late (XV-XVII centuries) chronicle sources - Suprasl, Gustyn, Lvov, Ermolinskaya, Nikonovskaya, Kholmogorskaya annals, abridged annals of 1493 and 1495, annals of 1497 and 1518, Stepnaya book, Russian Chronograph, etc. In all these texts it is specified, that Vladimir-on-Klyazma has based Vladimir Svyatoslavich in 990. The alternative dating of the basis of Vladimir at that time was supported by academician Dmitry Likhachev.

In 2016, the researcher of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture, academician Sergey Zagraevsky published a study "Historical topography of pre-Mongol Vladimir", in which he brought together the known chronicle sources and showed that Vladimir could have been founded in 990. This date was supported by the administration of the city of Vladimir. Nevertheless, in scientific reference and educational publications as the time of foundation of the city is still more often indicated 1108 year.

Archaeological research has not yet been able to confirm or deny any of the proposed dates. But it is necessary to take into account that the most ancient settlement on Godovaya Gora, on the site of which is currently located Assumption Cathedral, according to archaeological data existed in the I millennium AD, before the Slavic colonization of the region. And in our time (after leveling, connected with the construction of the Uspensky cathedral and arrangement of the territory around it) Godova Gora about 10 m rises above the rest of the plateau, forming the middle part of the city.

Vladimir began to grow and strengthen thanks to the concerns of Vladimir Monomakh and Yuri Dolgoruky, who strengthened it as a stronghold of defense of the Rostov-Suzdal principality. Yuri Dolgoruky, who lived in Suzdal at that time, kept his residence ("subvorye") here; this place is now occupied by St. George's Church.

The city owes its prosperity to Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who in 1157 moved the capital of the principality here. In Vladimir as a new capital of Northeast Russia the Uspensky Cathedral was erected (1158-1160). The central point of city defense and at the same time the symbol of capital status became the Golden Gate (built about 1164). To build these architectural masterpieces, Prince Andrew invited an architect who had worked for the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.

Under the successors of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who was killed as a result of a boyar plot in 1174, the city was greatly expanded. Silver, Copper and Irina gates were built along the perimeter of the city from the east, south and north. In Vladimir and neighboring Suzdal the Vladimir-Suzdal icon painting school was formed; the city had its own chronicle writing. The Vladimir princedom reached its highest power during the reign of Vsevolod the Big Nest (1176-1212), when the Dmitrievsky Cathedral was built (1191). The title of "great" was finally assigned to the Vladimir princes.

In 1238 Vladimir was struck by the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. Later the city was subjected several times to Tatar raids, the heaviest of which was the devastation of Dudene's army in 1293.

Beginning with Vasily Yaroslavich, in conditions of increased fragmentation in Northeast Russia Vladimir ceased to be the residence of the great princes, who now only performed there the rite of enthronement, remaining to live in their hereditary lands. Nevertheless exactly Vladimir princes have been recognized in Golden Horde on status the main and the oldest in all Russia, thanks to what Vladimir remained capital of Russian grounds. Khan of Horde issued a label on great Vladimir reigning. The status of the city increased even more in 1299, when it became the residence of Russian metropolitans after Kiev Metropolitan Maxim moved to Vladimir.

During the 1st half of the XIV century the main pretenders to the great Vladimir reign were Tver, Moscow and Suzdal.

An important milestone was the move of Metropolitan Peter from Vladimir to Moscow in 1325 under Ivan Kalita. Subsequently, Dmitry Donskoy managed to obtain the recognition of hereditary rights to Vladimir by all neighboring princes and the Horde, which meant the recognition of him as Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow. At the same time it meant the annexation of the Vladimir lands to the Moscow principality.

In 1382 Vladimir, like other cities of Northeast Russia, suffered from the invasion of Tokhtamysh. In the XIV century there was a manor house of the Horde governor in the city (found in the area of Gagarin St., 2).

During Tamerlane's campaign in 1395, the wonderworking and especially revered icon of Our Lady of Vladimir was transferred to Moscow to protect the city from the conqueror. The fact that Tamerlane's troops turned back from Elets for no apparent reason, without reaching Moscow, was regarded as an intercession of the Mother of God and the icon was not returned to Vladimir. But in the Assumption Cathedral in the iconostasis a late list of this icon was left.

In 1408, the Vladimir Dormition Cathedral was repainted by an artel of masters, including Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny. It is believed that in addition to the frescoes, the masters also created icons for the cathedral's monumental iconostasis, which became an important stage in the formation of the system of high Russian iconostasis.

In 1410 Vladimir was raided and plundered by the Tatar tsarevitch Talych and the Nizhny Novgorod voivode Karamyshev sent by Daniil Borisovich.

With the growth of the Moscow state, Vladimir passes into the category of an ordinary provincial city. Although in the titulature of Russian princes and tsars, in order to emphasize the continuity of power, it is put in second place after Moscow, starting with the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir Ivan III. Before the Dormition Cathedral was built in the Moscow Kremlin, all Moscow princes were "crowned to the great reign of Vladimir" in the main temple of Russia - the Dormition Cathedral of the city of Vladimir. Metropolitans also came from Moscow specially for this event.

In 1565, after Tsar Ivan the Terrible divided the Russian state into oprichnina and zemshchina, the city became part of the latter.

In 1614, the neighborhood of the town was devastated by the troops of the Lithuanian adventurer Lisovsky. According to the then census, the town's population was only about 600 people.

Since 1719 Vladimir is the center of the province of Moscow province. In 1722 a civil cipher school was opened here, in 1744 the Vladimir diocese was restored, and six years later the Vladimir Theological Seminary was established.

In 1724, by decree of Peter the Great, the relics of the holy prince Alexander Nevsky were transferred from Vladimir to St. Petersburg's Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Only a part of the saint's relics has been preserved in Vladimir's Cathedral of the Assumption.

Some economic and cultural growth of Vladimir began at the end of the XVIII century, when it became the administrative center of Vladimir viceroyalty (1778), and since 1796 - Vladimir province. The construction of large stone public and residential buildings began according to the regular plan of Vladimir's development approved in 1781. In 1783-1785 in Vladimir the building of present places was built, in 1786 the first noble educational institution was opened in the city, transformed in 1804 into a gymnasium; in 1796 the main and small public schools were established, in November 1797 the first printing house in Vladimir was opened, in January 1834 - the first provincial public library, in 1836 - the building of the provincial Noble Assembly (now - the House of Officers), in 1847 - the drama theater, in 1862 - the provincial museum of local lore. On January 8, 1838 the first issue of the newspaper "Vladimirskie Gubernskie Vedomosti" was published. In 1838-1840, A. I. Herzen, who became the first editor of the unofficial part of the provincial bulletins, was exiled in Vladimir. The infamous "Vladimirka", a stage road to Siberian exile, passed through the city. In 1783, by decree of Catherine II in the city was opened a transit prison, since 1906 transformed into the Vladimir Central. Nowadays one of its buildings houses a museum.

In 1861 the Moscow - Vladimir line of the Moscow-Nizhegorodskaya railroad was opened. In December 1858 a telegraph began to operate in the city, in 1866 construction of a water supply system was completed, in 1887 telephone communication appeared. On December 5, 1908 the first power station started working. Since January, 1865 "Vladimir diocesan bulletins" were published. On November 29, 1898 the Vladimir Province Academic Archival Commission was established, which was engaged in the search, study and systematization of knowledge on the history of the Vladimir region.

According to the first All-Russian census in 1897, 28,479 people lived in the city, including Russians - 26,436, Poles - 736, Malorossians - 488, Jews - 399. At the end of the XIX century in Vladimir were built Lutheran kirkha and a Catholic church.

In the late XIX - early XX centuries in the city was actively building new educational institutions and state institutions: in 1870 the first women's gymnasium appeared, in 1885 on the money of Y. S. Nechaev-Maltsov was built zemstvo artisan school, in 1907 the building of the real school was erected. In the same year the building of the City Duma was opened. At the turn of the century in Vladimir spread Russian style, the most striking examples of which were the Church of Archangel Michael (1893) and the building of the Vladimir Historical Museum (1903). In 1913, in connection with the celebrations on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov house, the imperial family visited the city.

After the establishment of Soviet power many streets of Vladimir were renamed, most of the parish churches were closed, cemeteries at the churches were destroyed. In 1929-1930 were demolished: the cathedral of the Nativity monastery, 7 parish churches, 3 bell towers and several chapels (in 1960s 2 more churches were demolished and 1 was rebuilt into a civil building).

Two pre-war decades of Soviet power are associated with the accelerated industrialization of Vladimir and the transformation of the city into a major industrial center. On January 14, 1929 during the territorial-administrative reform the city became a part of the newly formed Ivanovo Industrial Region. On March 5, 1932 the plant "Himplastmass" (now Vladimir Chemical Plant) began to produce goods, in May 1932 in the city entered into operation one of the pioneers of Soviet automobile instrumentation plant "Autopribor". In 1943-1944, a tractor plant was built by Komsomol members and specialists sent from other plants and the front (as well as with the help of prisoners of war). On August 14, 1944 Vladimir became the center of the revived Vladimir region.

During the Great Patriotic War Vladimir was one of the largest evacuation centers of the European part of the country, in 1941-1945 in the city was located a total of 18 evacuation hospitals, the city residents gave about 40 thousand liters of blood. In the fall of 1941, Vladimir received many refugees from Moscow and the Moscow region, who were fleeing eastward from the German offensive. In 1944, the Gorky Vladimir Regional Library was opened and a concert and variety bureau (later the Regional Philharmonic Society) was organized.

On May 20, 1950 the former villages of Dobroe and Krasnoye were incorporated into Vladimir, which significantly increased the territory of the city. In 1950, the P. I. Lebedev-Polyansky Pedagogical Institute was established on the basis of the Vladimir Teachers' Institute. In 1964 a large polytechnic institute was established. Two significant events took place in 1952: the first trolleybus line and the Torpedo stadium were opened.

Large enterprises of machine-building, metal-working, electrical, instrument-making, chemical and light industries are being established in the city.

In 1950s the industrialization of the city continued: in 1955 Vladimir Electric Motor Plant and "Elektropribor" plant came into operation, in 1958 the construction of CHPP-2 began. In August 1958, a solemn celebration of the 850th anniversary of Vladimir took place, a new park and a monument on Freedom Square were opened, dedicated to the anniversary of the city, and jubilee postage stamps of the USSR were issued.

In 1960, the construction of a reinforced concrete arch bridge - the first permanent bridge across the Klyazma River - was completed, which made it possible to start building a residential area (Zagorodny Park) and a regional hospital center on the right bank of the river.

In 1971, the city was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and in April 1973 Vladimir received a new administrative-territorial division - in the city were formed districts: Leninsky, Oktyabrsky, Frunzensky.

On May 30, 1971 the first flight of electric train Vladimir - Moscow took place. In the same year the construction of the new railway station began, which lasted 5 years. January 1, 1976 opened the Vladimir branch of the Gorky Railway, and on January 26 the new station received its first passengers.

In the early 1970s Vladimir became one of the tourist centers of the Golden Ring of Russia, which was largely facilitated by the work of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, founded in 1958 and including the White Stone Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal, located in three cities - Vladimir, Suzdal and Gus-Khrustalny, as well as the villages of Bogolyubov and Kideksha (since 1992 - UNESCO World Heritage Site). In the early-mid 1970s, a military-historical exposition in the Golden Gate, a crystal museum, an exposition in the water tower, the Stoletov Museum were opened; at the end of the decade, several exhibitions dedicated to Soviet Vladimir were opened. In May 1977 the XI General Conference of ICOMA was held in Vladimir. The development of tourism was promoted by the appearance of tourist centers and large hotel complexes: "Klyazma", "Zarya", "Golden Ring" and others.

In 1972, a large "Forest Park" was established in the southwest of the city (since 1979 - the park "Druzhba" in honor of friendship with the Czech Usti na Labem), at the turn of the 1970s-1980s a park was created in the Frunzensky district. In the 1980s, residential construction, mainly in the southwestern and eastern districts of the city, was actively carried out.