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Published: July 27th 2014
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I took the express train to Alexandrov from Yaroslavsky Station at 9-20. It went smoothly and quickly, bypassing all the stops except Pushkino and Sergiev Posad. The seats were comfortable and the hostesses young and beautiful. The tickets for this particular train could not be bought via the numerous ticket vending machines.
I had a schematic map of Alexandrov in my phone and consulted it but the map turned out not quite exact. At first, I waited for the bus to Alexandrov Sloboda at the wrong stop, then decided to walk in the wrong way, feeling instinctively that I was going the wrong way, and almost at once I figured out the correct way and decided to go on foot and take the bus if I saw it. As such, Alexandrov Sloboda is the only reason I went to this town.
The street was packed with various shops and service outlets, selling all kinds of things and looking rather colourful but without any architectural sights or monuments for almost the whole two kilometers to the Kremlin. The bus came soon and took me to the Kremlin walls. It is all white with patches of gray
and green colours of church roofings, white walls, green trees and quiet surroundings. First, I walked among the churches and then went to the ticket office and bought tickets for three exhibitions.
The settlement is known since the middle of the XIV century under the name of Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. In the XV century, Moscow princes chose it as a resting place during prayer trips due to its closeness. The palace complex was constructed in 1509-1515. Nowadays, it features: Troitsky Cathedral, Pokrovskaya Church (the first Old Russian church of tabernacular type, beginning of XVI century), and Uspenskaya Church. The Kremlin has powerful walls with four corner towers. Ivan the Terrible also made prayer trips to the Sloboda, visiting it more than ten times. Alexandrov Sloboda became the actual capital of Russian Tsardom’s oprichnina in 1564-1581. It became almost the only site for international negotiations and signing of agreements, welcoming the ambassadors of England, Sweden, Crimea, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Denmark, and other countries. In 1581 Ivan the Terrible murdered his son and never returned to the Sloboda. Today, the town is included in the Russian Golden Ring route.
In the museum halls (housed inside the
churches) I saw ancient manuscripts, body crosses, many icons and paintings, a clock, old Russian coins (a heap of small round metal pieces), dishes and other curiosities. I saw the dining hall and some other rooms (with very low ceilings), and the very interesting ‘husband and wife room’ (there was a detailed description of wedding traditions of that time on the wall – a most interesting account).
After the Kremlin, I walked to the Lenin Square (also took a photo of the Sloboda on a pond’s background) and took the bus back to the station, where I wanted to take the express again, but did not inform the cashier thereof, and so went by simple elektrichka (about 40 minutes longer). The town, all in all, does not look as neat and cared-for as Dmitrov or Kolomna.
As I entered the metro upon leaving the elektrichka, I found I have lost my phone. Shit happens. What an asshead I’ve been. I must have left it on the seat.
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