Russian artistic and cultural traditions were cultivated in the Kostroma region for centuries. Many of the
region's unique and highly artistic architectural monuments have been preserved, as well as examples of
skilled metal-forging and wood carving.
Ostrovsky, Nekrasov, Kustodiev and other prominent men in the world of Arts and Letters were frequent
visitors in Kostroma. Pysemsky also lived here for many years.
Kostroma was founded in the middle of the 12th Century. At that time Russia waged a struggle with the
Volga-Kamsk Bulgaria for trade routes along the Volga. Many settlements along the Volga were
strengthened while in Kostroma and other towns, forts were built.
According to a legend, Prince Juri Dolgoruki came here with his forces to protect merchants and traders
from marauders, and founded the town.
In the middle of the 13th Century Kostroma became the seat of an independent principality, but in the first
half of the 14th Century it was incorporated into the Moscow Principality.
Kostroma was burned-down and plundered many times during foreign invasions and wars between the
principalities; that is why earlier buildings have not been preserved. All that has survived is the 13th Century
icon of the Fyodorov Virgin, the 14th Century icon of St. Nicholas (the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg),
and a few smaller objects found during archeological excavations in the town. The study of them has shown
that even in those distant times, there were talented craftsmen who helped create artistic traditions – still
alive today.
Due to its favorable location and lively trade in the 15th and 16th centuries, Kostroma became a major
crafts and trade center. By the end of the 16th and the first half of the 17th Century it had grown into one of
Russia's major towns.
Kostroma was, at the time, situated among forests, so naturally wood was the main building material and,
unfortunately, the town was constantly plagued by large-scale fires.
After the fire of 1413, the town's Kremlin (fort) was built anew on Volga's higher bank. A detailed
description of it has been passed down to our time. The fort had fourteen towers and three gates and its
oak walls were surrounded by moats.
Of course it is hard to reconstruct in full the picture of old Kostroma but, according to 17th century
manuscripts and a few remaining drawings, it was a wooden town with many marquee churches,
closely-standing houses, uneven streets, with wooden bridges across ditches and streams.
By the middle of the 17th Century, Kostroma became a major trade and cultural center of the Moscow
State. The town's builders, icon painters, silversmiths, weavers, blacksmiths and leather craftsmen were
known throughout the land. Its leather goods were exported abroad while its linen, scales and locks were
known far and wide. Kostroma stonemasons were invited to build palaces and cathedrals in the capital and
other larger towns. Especially well known were the town's painters, who were invited to paint the walls in
the cathedrals of Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Suzdal.
Among Kostroma's more well known 17th Century architectural monuments are the Trinity Cathedral of the
Ipatiev Monastery, the Resurrection Church-on-the-Debre, the St. John the Divine Church in the Ipatiev
(now Labot) District, the Ilyinsk and the Spas-Transfiguration Churches, and the Ascension Church on
Melnychni Street.
In 1778, when Kostroma became a provincial seat, the construction of administration buildings was begun.
The building was conducted according to a general plan approved in 1784. When the center of the town
was devastated by fire in 1773, it greatly assisted builders in implementing their successful reconstruction
plan.
It took nearly a half a century to create the central ensemble. Many architects worked on the project,
among them prominent architects such as Vorotilov, who was employed at the end of the 18th century and
Fursov, who was appointed Provincial Architect from 1822 to 1831.
The historical and architectural museum complex of the Ipatiev Monastery is the town's major attraction. It
was built in the 13th century as a fort beside where the Kostroma River flows into the Volga. The
monastery's elaborate complex of buildings includes structures dating from the end of the 16th to the end of
the 19th centuries. In the 16th Century – thanks to the large endowment from the Godunov family, the
Ipatiev Monastery became one of the largest feudal church holdings. From early in the 17th century the
monastery began to be patronized by the new Tzarist family – the Romanovs.
The monastery's sacristy housed many treasures and its library had many unique manuscripts and
first-edition books, among them the famous chronicle: "Tale of the Temporal Years", a copy of one of the
most ancient codes of the 9th through to the 12th century Kiev Russia.
The oldest part of the monastery (the 'Old Town') dates back to the monastery's founding. The stone walls
and towers were built at the end of the 16th Century, in place of the wooden ones, and were
re-strengthened in the 17th Century. In the 1740s the so-called "New Town" was built alongside the fort's
western wall.
The monastery walls were surrounded by moats, but in the 18th Century the fort lost its strategic
significance and they were filled-in. The center of the ensemble is the Trinity Cathedral. This stone structure
was first built in 1558, but in 1649, it was blown up and reconstructed in 1652.
Of great artistic value are the frescos in the Cathedral. They were painted in 1685, by a group of artisans
working under the outstanding painters Guri Nikitin and Syla Savin. These frescos are the finest examples of
their work. The colors of the frescos are rich, the contours graceful but firm, highly detailed and the portraits
are very lifelike. The architecture of the depicted palaces and halls is very interesting. On completing the
frescos the artists wrote, as if speaking to future generations: "Artistic imagination and spiritual fulfilment
forever. Amen".
The Cathedral's five-tier, gilded iconostasis was installed in 1756-1758. It was fashioned by a group of
wood carvers from the Bolshye Soli settlement of the Kostrem province, working under the guidance of
master-craftsmen Pyotr Zolotarev and Makar Bykov. Of special value are the icons on the three
upper-tiers.
West of the Cathedral, in the main square, stands the bell tower. In the 17th Century it had nineteen bells
and a clock with chimes. In 1852, the tower's wooden stairs were replaced by stone, a section of the
arches on its southern side was bricked-in and a gallery added on its west.
Throughout the monastery there are many administrative structures and living quarters, from the monk's
modest cells to the splendor of the Bishop's palace. These buildings were often reconstructed to accord the
tastes of the ruling bishop and/or architectural fashion.
Near the monastery, an open-air museum of old wooden-structures is being set up. Its purpose is to
demonstrate folk building of secular and civil structures in the Kostroma villages, and the way the inhabitants
lived. Kostroma carpenters were well known, especially those from the Galich and the Soligalich counties
that abounded in forests.
The museum inaugurated in 1955, when work began on the clearance of lowlands that were to be flooded
by the dam to supply the Gorki Power Station. The timber Transfiguration Church from the Spas-Vezhy
village – an excellent example of 17th Century Russian architecture, and a number of bathhouses from the
Zharki village were re-sited.
Most of the buildings in this open-air museum stand outside the monastery's territory. Of special interest is
Our Lady Cathedral from the Kholm Village of the Galich District. Built in 1552, it is the oldest-standing
structure in the Kostroma region. The carpenters who built it were master craftsmen.
Most of the wooden structures stand on the southern side of the monastery, protected by a dam. Among
them is an 18th Century church from Fominskoye Village. It is characteristic of the church-style of those
times, with a small belfry built atop the rectory. There is also a small chapel that once stood at the
cross-roads in the Chukhlomsk District. It was built in 1860s but looks more like the houses described in
ancient Russian fairytales.
Many peasant houses, flour-mills and other buildings are now undergoing reconstruction, including houses
with very curious balconies, window frames and shutters, as well as metal-encased chimneys, wrought-iron
dragons and verdure on wooden gates. Standing on this bank of the Volga it is hard to grasp that on the
other side stands a large industrial district of a contemporary town.