Belozersk

Belozersk — one of the oldest cities in Russia. For the first time it is mentioned in the “Tale of Bygone Years” under 862 as the city of Beloozero, located away from modern Belozersk, on the northern shore of White Lake, near the village of Kisnema. Since the X century, Beloozero was at the source of the Sheksna River, 17 km southeast of the modern city. Since 1238, Beloozero is the center of the Belozero principality, as well as a commercial and craft center. In the 1370s, the city came under the rule of the Moscow Grand Duke, and since 1389 was the center of a specific principality within the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1352, the city was devastated by a plague epidemic, after which it was moved 17 km to the west. According to other data, at the end of the XIV century there were two cities of the same name, new and old; chronicles of the XV century belong to the new city. Since 1486, Beloozero became the center of the Belozersky district, at the same time it was turned into a fortified point on the northern border of the Moscow state. Here, at the behest of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, thirty-meter earthen ramparts and wooden walls with 8 towers were built. XV—XVI century — the heyday of the city. The city of Beloozero was in the center of trade routes connecting the south with the north, so it conducted its own trade and acted as an intermediary in many trade operations. During this period, the city was gradually rebuilt and decorated with stone temples. By the beginning of the XVII century, in connection with the movement of the trade route to Arkhangelsk through the Sukhona and Northern Dvina rivers, the previously prosperous Belozero gradually declines. The city was away from the main directions of trade and economic life of the country. The Polish-Lithuanian intervention of the early seventeenth century accelerated this process. Under Ivan IV, the city became a place of exile of disgraced noblemen, among whom were historical figures. Only in the second half of the XVII century White Lake again begins to rebuild. The changes that took place in the country in the XVIII century, reflected in the Belozersk Territory. Since 1719 the city — the center of the province, which was part of the St. Petersburg province, in 1776 Beloozero became the county city of the Novgorod governorship, and in 1777 it received the modern name — Belozersk. May 22, 1972 approved the Soviet coat of arms of the city of Belozersk. Author: P. Goryachev. On October 12, 2001, the coat of arms and flag of the Belozersk municipal district and the city of Belozersk were approved. The coat of arms of Belozersk is: In the undulatingly crossed azure and silver shield at the top, an extended cross over the silver crescent, at the bottom two cross-laying silver sterlets with scarlet fins, finely bordered with azure. In the free part of the coat of arms of the Vologda region. Author of the reconstruction of the coat of arms: Oleg Sviridenko. The coat of arms is entered in the State Heraldic Register of the Russian Federation under 1222. Coat of Arms (1970) At the beginning of the XIX century, the development of the city was facilitated by the Mariinsky water system, which began to operate in 1810, and the last of its buildings. Belozersk bypass channel — was opened in 1846. Logging fisheries have been developed. Products of the forest industry began to be transported by water to St. Petersburg. After the opening of the Volga-Baltic waterway, the connections of the ancient city with other economic regions of the country increased. Until the middle of the XX century, Belozerye was a typical agricultural area, and the urban population was only 16% of the total population. The Assumption Cathedral (1553) is the first stone building in the city and the oldest surviving temple in the city. Located on a hill, this five-domed temple, next to the Church of the Epiphany (1787) with the bell tower, makes up a picturesque architectural complex. In the center of the city, in a ring of earthen ramparts (1487, wooden walls and towers were dismantled in 1758), to which a three-span stone bridge leads through the moat (XIX century), the five-domed Transfiguration Cathedral (1668—1670) rises. Earth ramparts and moats still amaze with their grandiosis. Unfortunately, the church of Basil the Great, standing next to the Transfiguration Cathedral, has not survived, as many more churches in Belozersk have not survived. In the western part of the city, a wooden three-tiered one-headed church of Ilya the Prophet (1696) has been preserved. Not far from the shore of the White Lake, an elegant, with two rows of decorative kokoshniks, five-domed church of the All-Merciful Savior with a refectory and tent bell tower in the traditions of the XVII century (1723, decorated with a wide tiled frieze). In Belozersk, two-storey stone merchant mansions of the 1st half of the XIX century in the style of classicism have also remained virtually unchanged. In the eastern part of the city there is a heavy building of the church of John the Baptist (1810), apparently belonging to the famous architect Bazhenov. Unfortunately, the church is now in a bad state.