Города и дорогиDescription
The only kremlin in the Moscow region to survive in full, a compact red-brick fortress of 1531. Around it lies a quiet little town of wooden houses, with a water tower you can climb for the view.
Wiki
Zaraysk is a small town on the Osyotr River, 145 kilometres southeast of Moscow. There is only one reason to come, but it is a rare one: this is the only kremlin in the Moscow region to have survived in one piece, with all its walls and towers. The rest is a quiet provincial town that can be walked in half a day.
The Kremlin
The Zaraysk Kremlin was built in 1528–1531 under Vasili III, almost at the same time as the one in Kolomna, and it is the smallest fortress of this type in Russia: a rectangle of roughly 125 by 185 metres, with seven towers. Unlike Kolomna, nothing here was taken apart for bricks, so the outline is closed and the fortress reads as a whole.
Two cathedrals stand inside the walls:
- St Nicholas Cathedral dates from 1681, squat and five-domed. Tradition has it that the Zaraysk icon of St Nicholas was brought from Korsun in 1225, and the founding of the town is linked to it.
- The Cathedral of St John the Baptist is from the early twentieth century, designed by Konstantin Bykovsky. It is large and light, and the contrast between the two cathedrals is the shot everyone takes.
The former theological school houses a museum reserve whose strong point is archaeology. An Upper Palaeolithic settlement 17,000 to 22,000 years old has been excavated nearby, and it is the source of the Zaraysk bison, a figurine carved from mammoth tusk and found in 2001.
What else there is
- The water tower of 1914–1916 has a viewing platform on its upper tier, the highest point in town.
- The Anna Golubkina house museum is devoted to the sculptor, a pupil of Rodin, who was born and died in Zaraysk.
- Darovoe is the estate where Dostoevsky spent the summers of his childhood, about ten kilometres from town.
How much time to allow and how to get there
Zaraysk has no passenger rail service. From Moscow a bus runs from Kotelniki metro station, taking around two hours, and the time depends heavily on the traffic.
Three or four hours are enough for the kremlin, the cathedrals, the museum and a loop around the centre. A full day is needed if you add the water tower, the Golubkina museum and the Darovoe estate. There is no reason to stay the night: the choice of places to sleep is minimal, and by evening the town empties out.
The most sensible approach is to take Zaraysk together with Kolomna, since they are less than an hour apart by car and the two of them add up to a weekend in the south of the Moscow region. On public transport the combination is awkward.
Who will not enjoy it
Zaraysk is a town with a single sight. If fortification does not interest you, the difference between "survived in full" and "survived by half" will look like a formality, and inside you will simply find a green yard with two churches. There is almost no infrastructure: food is thin on the ground, evening life does not exist, and some of the museums close on weekdays. Beyond the fortress this is an ordinary provincial town of modest means.
