"On the Seven Hills - the History of the Ancient City" 4-6 hours

The cost is indicated from ...; for 1 hour of excursion without renting transport, depends on the season and the number of people.

"On the Seven Hills - the History of the Ancient City" 4-6 hour program

... Smolensk is believed to stand on seven hills.

There are legends and real events that I will tell you about during our tour.

We will pass through 7 hills on the left bank of the Dnieper, get acquainted with the history of our ancient city from pagan times to the present day, inspect its streets and streets, houses and courtyards, ancient churches, monasteries, Smolensk fortress, Vladimir embankment, visit the Assumption Cathedral.

Ascension Hill is unique even for Smolensk - it is one of the most mysterious and mystical places in the city. Make it such as the Ascension Cathedral of the active convent and the “House of the Ghost” standing next to it.

During a walk along the Ascension Hill, I will tell you about the Perunov temple, one of the first Smolensk Christian churches - Vasilievskaya, on the site of which the now functioning Ascension Women's Monastery was built with a very difficult fate, which survived both the "Time of Troubles", and the Napoleonic invasion, and the liquidation of the monastery during the years of Soviet power; reborn in the early 21st century.

Near the Ascension Monastery we will see the "ghost house" - the remains of the first in the city "heights" of the early 30s. Built on the site of the monastery cemetery, the house overgrown with eerie legends, witches, ghosts, and demonic entities appeared in them. Now it has become another Smolensk attraction, although very peculiar.

Here we turn to one of the most ancient streets, which has almost not changed since the Middle Ages, it even preserved an ancient pavement, its former name - the Great Resurrection, the architectural landmark of the street is the newly functioning Church of the Resurrection.

I will tell you the difficult history of the temple, you will learn why for 38 years the Smolensk people spoke in the temple not with God, but with the stars; you will see the holy spring consecrated in honor of Mercury of Smolensk.

Near the Resurrection Church there is a "Bunker Tukhachevsky" - one of the Soviet dungeons, on the other - the Smolensk planetarium and observatory.

Next, we head to Kazan Hill, inspect the monument to the native of Smolensk Grigory Potemkin, opened in 2011. It was through the efforts of Potemkin in 1783 that the Crimea (Tavrida) was first annexed to Russia, for which the brightest received the title of Prince of Tauride by decree of the Empress.

A peculiar monument of the Soviet era of pre-war time is the residential town of the flax plant, during the construction of which the western section of the fortress wall was destroyed, there were Kolomenskaya, Nameless, Theological and Mikulinskaya towers. Now the street in the area repeats the configuration of the wall.

And here we go to the Dnieper embankment. Once there was a famous trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", it was from Byzantium that Christianity came to Russia.

From the observation deck of the Vladimir embankment we will admire the hills on the right bank of the Dnieper. I will tell you about the ancient rites linking the hills on the right and left banks of the Dnieper, about the rituals of fertility and sacrifice, about how many hills Smolensk actually stands on.

From here we climb the Cathedral Hill, on which stands our famous Assumption Cathedral.

Note: If you have already been to the Cathedral and the Cathedral Hill, this part of the tour can be skipped.

Nature made the cathedral hill impregnable: on three sides it was protected by deep ravines, and on the north side by the Dnieper River. Here stood the children of the Krivich princes, here married Vladimir Monomakh, who built in 1103 the first stone cathedral in Smolensk, and from the 12th century Cathedral Mountain is forever transferred to the Church.

We will visit the Assumption Cathedral, built in 1740.

The Assumption Cathedral survived two wars: Domestic 1812 and the Great Patriotic 1941-45. He survived the period of the “war with the temples” in the 20-30s of the last century – an anti-religious museum was opened in the temple.

And now the cathedral is not only the main temple of the Smolensk diocese, but also the most famous tourist attraction of the city. At the beginning of the 18th century, it was the largest building in Russia - 80 meters high, an area of more than 5000 square meters.

The greatness of the iconostasis of the temple is striking – a 30-meter five-tier carved gilded, decorated with a large number of wooden sculptures; you will not find anything like this in other Russian lands.

In the temple there are three Orthodox shrines, the fame of which goes far beyond the boundaries of the Smolensk land: the sandals of St. Mercury (XIII century), a gold woven shroud of workshops of kn. Euphrosyne Staritskaya (1561) and, of course, the miraculous image of the Icon of the Smolensk Mother of God “Odigitria” (XVI century).

Further, our way lies on the Svir Mountain, its main sign is the ancient church of the same name.

We are heading to the Church of Archangel Michael (Svirskaya), built in 1191-94 at the court of Smolensk Prince David Rostislavich. For a long time it was the most beautiful church in western Russia. At the moment it is the only church of the pre-Mongol period in Smolensk, which preserved fragments of frescoes.

We go to Kozlovsky Hill, on the street, the former name of which is Spasskaya, which, according to local historians, was inhabited already in the XII century.

It was named after the Church of the Transfiguration, built in the 18th century and preserved to this day.

The Kakhovsky House is an ancient mansion belonging to one of the “Ekaterininin eagles” – Mikhail Vasilyevich Kakhovsky.

In this house in 1796-1797, the first political club of freethinkers was created, organized by Alexander Mikhailovich Kakhovsky, a participant in Suvorov campaigns. Banned books were read at the meetings, royal decrees and new orders were criticized. This activity ended with arrests and trials.

One of the unsolved secrets of Kozlovsky Hill is the fact that in August 1812 this house was intended for Napoleon. But why did Napoleon refuse the proposed house? Because of the inconvenient location or still because of the mystical atmosphere that hovered on this small and modest street.

We will see the building, which was before the revolution theological seminary, where our famous fellow countryman, science fiction writer A.Belyaev studied. During the Great Patriotic War, the headquarters of the Belarusian district was located here.

Its current name - Revolutionary Military Council-.street received after the revolution of 1917.

The main landmark of the next point of our excursion is the famous Veselukh Tower, and in general the entire extensive eastern section of the fortress wall. Each tower of the Smolensk fortress is unique and entangled with a huge number of beautiful legends and secrets, we will touch them during our tour.

• You will learn what events taking place in real life of the 18th century gave rise to terrible legends about ghosts living in the tower of the Eagle, and about the adventures in the Smolensk region of Count Cagliostro;
• The Veselukha tower, according to one version, got its name from the resting place of citizens in the lap of nature: it opens a “fun panorama” – a picturesque view of the Dnieper. However, despite the name, it is associated with a terrible legend about the walled in the most beautiful girl in the city.

And the name of the mountain received from the Avramievsky monastery of the 13th century standing on it, which we will explore during our excursion. His first abbot was St. Abraham of Smolensk – a philosopher, preacher and painter, this outstanding man was the first enlightener of Smolensk.

Sheina Mountain is huge. It has received its name since the 1630s. It was here that the Russian voivode Mikhail Shein deployed his army camp when he tried to retake Smolensk from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Street. Sobolev we go to the Church of the Savior of the Unmade Image on the street. Trench.

The preserved church, built in 1776, is a sample of temple architecture with a predominance of baroque motifs. The bell tower belongs to early classicism.

To the east of the altar there is a tombstone above the grave of the first historian of Smolensk – priest Nikifor Adrianovich Murzakevich (1769-1834).

The tour ends in the city center.