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About twenty miles north of Vladimir is the
poetic and charming Russian town of Suzdal'. With the exception of few new ugly
buildings, everything else remains almost as it was centuries ago. (Please go
to Suzdal to see photos). This is
a unique town spared by foreign influences and still not infected by the Soviet
trend for modernization. Suzdal' still has no town-water; its citizens continue
to draw their water from wells or by using hand pumps which can be seen in some
courtyards. It is a unique town that beautifully shows what the ancient Russia
looked like. Among wooden izbas, orchards, courtyards and fields are dozens of
churches and several monasteries of great charm and beauty. Though most of them
are dilapidated, and just one - the Voskresenskaya church is still used for
religious service, they still offer an extraordinary architectural variety.
Suzdal' was built by common (ordinary) Russians, mostly peasants, or clerics of
peasant origin, who, obviously, were very rich in imagination, originality and
taste. Their gift for choosing the proper location for each church and matching
it with the landscape is easy to see. Why in Suzdal' did so many talented
people work so hard to produce so many masterpieces? Why were there born here
so many silversmiths, bone carvers, glass-blowers, potters, founders and all
sorts of craftsmen, and particularly so many gifted master-builders,
stone-carvers and iconographers? In most cases they did not work for princes or
boyars but for rather simple Suzdal' citizens; and their names remain unknown.
The work they started here developed through centuries to what has become known
as "Suzdal's decorative design," later adopted by Palekh and other
centers of iconography and artistic craftsmanship.
Historical records of Suzdal' begin at the end of the 11th century when
Vladimir Monomakh received it as a gift for his efforts to reconcile local
princes and stop their internecine warfare. Vladimir's conciliatory policy,
however, did not prevent him from later exiling there independent minded or
unfriendly boyars. This detail may explain the etymology of the word
"Suzdal'," which some say comes from medieval Russian words
"Ssuzhat v dal" meaning to exile. In the centuries that followed the
shortened version, Suzdal, became the place where many whose destiny was that
the rulers did not want to have them around were banished. Even two tsarinas
were sent to Suzdal to end their days. When Siberia was conquered, it was there
that most exiles were sent, and Suzdal was reserved for the more privileged.
The ill-fated long road to Siberia, known as "Vladimirka," was named
for the city of Vladimir, through which it passed. To help the exiles pray for
their "Sins," and after severely punishing the local population for
their adherence to paganism, Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh erected the first
known church in Suzdal'. It was named the church of the Assumption and it was
similar to the church of the same name in the Kiev monastery of the Caves.
Though solidly built by experienced builders from Kiev, who used thin reddish
bricks known as "plinpha," the church collapsed early in the 13th
century.
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