June 8
Uglich
The last stop before Moscow . . .
[This was dee-lish!!]
[Buildings on the river front . . . ]
[A monastery? A resort?]
[Boats on the river with the Transconfiguration Cathedral in the background . . . ]
[A double header of St. Dimitry on the Blood Cathedral and the Transconfiguration Cathedral . . . ]
[The Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood stands on a steep bank of the Volga, but initially at the same location there was a wooden chapel built in memory of the tsarevich. Later on, in 1603, the chapel was replaced by a wooden church, and only in 1692 a church of stone was erected in lieu of that wooden one. The templar part of the church has preserved ancient wall painting depicting the death of tsarevich Dmitry and a massacre of the crowd over the alleged killers. Stylistically, it looks like a monumental Yaroslavl and Kostroma painting of the XVII century, but is much inferior to it in grace and colors. The wall painting in the refectory was done later, in 1788, by Pyotr Khlebnikov. In a realistic manner, he depicted scenes of the traditional Biblical legend from the Old Testament “On the Creation of the World and the Fall of Adam and Eve”. Decorated with wrought metal plates, the refectory ancient painted door, extant from the time when the church was built is also of great interest in the interior design of the temple. In addition, the temple displays an infamous “exiled” bell – the very bell whose toll shook the world at the day of tsarevich death. The bell tongue was drawn and the bell itself was sent into exile, and only after a long time it was returned to Uglich. Today the Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood belongs to the local museum, the admission to it is paid (adventour.com).]
[A raw, ugly day in Uglich . . . ]
[Up close with St. Dimitry on the Blood . . . ]
[Prince Dmitry . . . ]
[Pam and the prince . . . ]
[Huddled masses . . . ]
[Readying for assault on the church . . . ]
[Pam’s shot of our guide. No, that is not a clown’s nose . . . ]
[The Transfiguration Cathedral was erected in 1485 in place of a dilapidated wooden church of the XIII century. The present building of the Transfiguration Cathedral was erected in the period from 1700 to 1713. The temple was built of stone by Yaroslavl masters, who decorated the magnificent five-domed building with lush platbands in baroque style. In 1730 an octagonal stone bell tower in “Naryshkin” style was attached to the cathedral. The remarkable fact is that the bell tower was built particularly on the spot, once occupied by the old wooden church bell tower, from which the bell ringer announced the death of Tsarevich Dmitry to the Uglich people by a peal of bell. After many years of exile, the bell was returned to Uglich and today it can be seen in the Church of St. Dimitry on the Blood. In 1809–1811, masters from the serf artist Medvedev workmen’s cooperative association painted the cathedral walls. Among the subjects of painting there is a copy of the works of Italian artists Guido Reni, Guercino, Domenichino. The “Transfuguration” the main temple composition is a copy of the Raphael Sanzio’s painting, kept in the Vatican. The scenes of the painting also show the life of Christ and illustrate the Gospel parables. In 1853 the cathedral was fitted with a golden carved iconostasis filled with sixty ancient icons, dating back to the XVII-XVIII centuries (adventour.com).]
[Tom checks to see if we’re still on schedule . . . ]
[Transconfiguration Cathedral . . . ]
[Chapel of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky . . . ]
[A monument to the people of Uglich who died defending their homeland . . . ]
[Then onto the bus for a visit to a local family home . . . ]
[At the table of . . . ]
[Vladimir and Rita, who have been hosting such events for several years now . . . ]
[Snacks, water, and, of course, more than one shot of vodka!]
[Their family – the visits to local families provides a nice touch to these cruises . . . ]
[Photos by Pam of our hosts . . . ]
[Interesting characters . . . ]
[Further explanation three photos down . . . ]
[The Kalyazin Bell Tower is a Neoclassical campanile rising to a height of 74.5 metres (244 ft) over the waters of the Uglich Reservoir on the Volga River opposite the old town of Kalyazin in Tver Oblast. The steepled belfry was built in 1796—1800 as part of the Monastery of St. Nicholas, with a pentacupolar katholikon dating from 1694. Of its 12 bells, the largest weighed some 17,000 kg. It was cast in 1895 to commemorate the coronation of Nicholas II. When Joseph Stalin ordered the construction of the Uglich Dam in 1939 to form the Uglich Reservoir, the old parts of Kalyazin, including several medieval structures, were submerged under the reservoir’s waters. This included the Saint Nicholas Monastery and Troitsky Makariev Monastery. The katholikon was dismantled, while the campanile was left, a landmark towering above the water (Wikipedia).]
[This is not part of the campanile. ET, call home . . . ]
[OK, final shot of the campanile . . . ]
[How’d we get on Rainy Lake?]
[Strangely . . . ]
[Not identified in the Google machine . . . ]
[As we appear to be . . . ]
[Exiting a lock . . . ]
[To open water and a sculler . . . ]
[Back to school . . . ]
[This time with Alexey . . . ]
[Alexey thought Yeltsin was the most important leader of the Soviet era (he initiated a market-based economy); Sasha thought Gorbachev. I wonder if Yeltsin would have been able to do what he did if Gorbachev hadn’t preceded him?]
[Then it was time for another PAR-TAY . . . ]
[As the sun begins to set over the Volga . . . ]
[Moscow’s North River Terminal (this may be the next morning?) . . . ]
It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, ‘As pretty as an airport.’ ~ Douglas Adams
Up Next: Spain? (nah, not nyet) . . .
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