Yurevets (Ivanovo Oblast, Russia):View from Fortress Hill, north along Soviet Street.  On the left i

Yurevets (Ivanovo Oblast, Russia):View from Fortress Hill, north along Soviet Street.  On the left isthe Cathedral of Entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Bell Tower ofSt. George; on the right is Church of the Purification, near theVolga River.Pre-revolutionary high school on Soviet Street 97.Dormition Cathedral (north-west view).Cathedral of Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (north-west view).Bell tower and the Church of St. George.House on Lenin Street 55.Church of Nativity of Christ (south-west view).Cathedral Square, with the Bell Tower of St. George and Cathedral ofEntry of Christ into Jerusalem.  (North view from Fortress Hill.)Yurevets Povolzhsky (on the Volga) was founded in 1225 by Yuri II ofVladimir, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest (the last major ruler ofVladimir before the Mongol invasion of 1237).  Legend says that whilejourneying from Yaroslavl to Vladimir, Yuri camped here and had avision of an icon of St. George.  Because of this, he built a logfort and a wooden church dedicated to St. George.  However, it waslikely a practical decision to fortify a strategic river bend, asYurevets is located where the Volga flows eastwards before turningsharply to the south towards Nizhny Novgorod.  The landscape isdominated by forested bluffs and ravines that descend to the mainpart of Yurevets along the river.The settlement suffered from the Mongol invasion in the winter of1237 – 1238, and Yuri died in March 1238 during the Battle on theSeet River.  However, under the authority of regional princes, thetown gradually recovered.In 1452, Yurevets was absorbed into the territory of Grand PrinceVasily II of Moscow.  The town was often attacked by Tatar raidersfrom the south, but this ended in 1552 when Ivan the Terribleconquered Kazan.  Yurevets was briefly granted to Kaibul, a Tatarprince from Astrakhan, as a favour from Ivan.During the Time of Troubles (1598 – 1613), Yurevets organized apeople’s army led by Fyodor Grigorevich Krasny, a local nobleman.  In1613, Fyodor witnessed the enthronement of Michael Romanov, the firsttsar of the Romanov dynasty.In 1651, Avvakum Petrov was the main priest in Yurevets for a shortperiod of time.  He was uncompromising in his interpretation ofproper behaviour, which led to several weeks of confrontation withparishioners.  He then left Yurevets for Moscow, where he led theopposition to Patriarch Nikon’s reforms of the Russian OrthodoxChurch (part of the Schism of the Old Believers).Alexander Mindovsky was a peasant who bought his freedom in 1820 andbecame a textile magnate.  He established the Yurevets Linen Factoryin the 1870s, and his family rose to prominence in Moscow as aresult.Yurevets is well-known for its impressive churches.  The Cathedralsof the Entry into Jerusalem were built in the early 1700s, and theDormition Cathedral in the mid-1800s.  The Bell Tower of St. George(also built in the mid-1800s) is one of the tallest bell towers onthe Volga River.  It has five tiers, and contains a small churchdedicated to St. George.  The cathedrals were badly damaged duringthe Soviet era, but the bell tower is still the town’s dominantlandmark.Hydroelectric projects that came to fruition after WW2 caused asignificant increase in the water level of the Volga.  When theGorkovskoye Reservoir was completed in 1957, parts of the Volga nearYurevets widened to nearly 14.5km.  This threatened the small town ofYurevets, whose population had declined over the past 50 years tojust over 8000 people.  However, a large levee was built to save muchof the historic region at the edge of the river. -- source link

More pics about