Kirillov

Kirillov grew around the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery on the shore of Lake Siverskoye, south of White Lake. Founded in 1397 by Kirill, a monk from Moscow's Simonov Monastery, the community began as a remote hermitage and became one of the great monasteries of northern Russia. Its walls, churches and library bore witness to the wealth and influence it accumulated.

Princes and tsars granted the monastery lands and privileges, while its monks maintained religious and cultural ties across the region. During the Time of Troubles armed bands reached the monastery in 1612, ravaging its outlying yards and settlements. Its defenders held the fortified enclosure against repeated attacks in the following years, despite severe losses and damage to the monastery's estate. The settlement outside its walls later became the town of Kirillov, named for the monastery's founder.