Gorodets

Gorodets stands on the steep left bank of the Volga, upstream from the Oka’s mouth. Founded as a fortress on the eastern edge of the Rus’ principalities, it commanded a reach of the great river and became the centre of a principality of its own. Its ramparts, river landing and churches belonged to a town repeatedly exposed to the struggles of the middle Volga.

The Mongol invasion devastated Gorodets in 1238, but the town was rebuilt. In 1263 Alexander Nevsky fell ill on his return from the Golden Horde and died here after taking monastic vows. His son Andrey later ruled the Gorodets principality. By the fourteenth century neighbouring Nizhny Novgorod had grown in prominence, though Gorodets remained a town of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal lands. In 1408 Edigu’s forces burned Gorodets during their campaign against Moscow. The destruction marked a decisive break in the town’s history; a settlement of craftsmen arose again around the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. The Volga continued to connect its inhabitants with the markets and settlements along the river, while the old earthworks preserved the outline of a much earlier fortress.