SUZDAL
International pleinar for women-painters:
"Gold Dome of Russia"

   SUZDAL IS ONE OF THE OLDEST RUSSIAN CITIES, FIRST MENTIONED IN THE ANNALS IN 1024. Despite its venerable age, the city has remained young and beautiful as in a fairytale, built lovingly by generations of Russian people on the fertile land of Vladimir Region. Russian craftsmen have built a city very cosy and convenient to live in. Suzdal stands along the banks of the Kamenka River which was navigable 300-400 years ago. White stone was used to build many churches, monasteries. The scenery gives you an idea of the boundless expanses of Russia. If you leave Moscow at 9 a. m., at lunch time you'll drive along the main street of Suzdal. The distance from Moscow to Vladimir, a regional centre of the Russian Federation, is 172 km, from Vladimir to Suzdal - 38 km.

   HAVING INHERITED FROM ANCESTORS THIS FAIRYLAND TOWN, THE DESCENDANTS OF RUSSIAN CRAFTSMEN HAVE PRESERVED THE LOCAL COLOUR AND SPECIAL ATMOSPHERE OF SUZDAL AS A SINGLE ARCHITECTURAL WHOLE. On its 950th anniversary in 1974 Suzdal was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour for the big part its citizens took in preserving and restoring monuments of early Russian art and architec-ture and promoting mass tourism. In 1983 the honorary prize of the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FIJET) Golden Apple was awarded to Suzdal for the preservation and restoration of cultural monuments and their use in the interests of tourism. Suzdal has become town of international tourism. Every year millions of Russian and foreign people visit Suzdal.

   SUZDAL CAPTIVATES VISITORS BY THE TREASURES OF ITS ANCIENT CULTURE. The Archbishop's Palace houses a number of expositions. One of them is devoted to Suzdal's history, another highlights a collection of an-cient Russian icons. The oldest among them is Maximov's Mother of God dating back to 1299. The 13th-century Cathedral of the Nativity. Its Golden Gates is a genuine masterpiece of early Russian art.

   MUSEUM OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE AND PEASANT LIFE WAS SET UP NOT FAR FROM THE KREMLIN, on a green meadow. There is an exposition "Folk Wood Carving" at the Church of the Resurrection and 'Peasant Clothing" - at the Church of St Nicholas and the Holy Cross. There are small expositions on the territory of the Convent of the Intercession: "Interior of the Chancellor's House", "Articles of Needlework". On display in the 17th-century townsman's house is the furnishing of that time: Russian stove, carved wooden table and benches, birchen cradle suspended from the ceiling. Tolling at the Spaso-Yevfimievsky Monastery are copper, silver and golden bells under the melodious sounds of which one examines with special mood the treasures of the gold store-room: icon frames studded with precious stones, silver goblets, old clothes in gold embroidery.

   ARCHITECT AND BUILDERS OF THE TOURIST CENTRE ARE REVERED IN SUZDAL. In the style of traditional Russian structures, it is as though concealed on the lower bank of the Kamenka not to disturb the skyline of the ancient city. The Suzdal centre can accommodate 800 people at a time. It has a hotel with 314 rooms, a restaurant for 500 guests, five bars, a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, cinema and concert hall for 500 seats with synchronyous translation into six languages. Next to it are the blocks of motel for 100 cars. The other hotel complex of the Suzdal tourist centre is on the grounds of the former Convent of the Intercession. At the disposal of tourists are log houses with stylised old furniture, a restaurant with Russian cuisine for 100 guests, a bar. It has also a club and Russian baths. In coachman's yard the guests can ride a horse or have a ride on troika.

Look also site about city Suzdal - www.suzdaltour.ru (unfortunately only on Russian)

WELCOME TO SUZDAL, AND IF YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN THERE COME AGAIN.

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