Kostroma

Kostroma stands at the confluence of the Volga and the river that bears its name. Once the center of a small principality, it was acquired by Ivan I of Moscow and became one of the northern towns of the growing grand duchy. Its position offered the grand princes a refuge when enemies threatened Moscow. The town itself was not immune to attack: Novgorodian river raiders plundered it in 1375.

Kostroma grew markedly in the sixteenth century as trade through the northern port of Arkhangelsk brought connections with English and Dutch merchants. Boris Godunov had the Ipatiev and Epiphany monasteries rebuilt in stone. During the Time of Troubles, the future Tsar Michael Romanov lived at the Ipatiev Monastery, where an embassy from Moscow offered him the crown. The peasant Ivan Susanin became a celebrated symbol of resistance to invaders in the region. A great fire devastated Kostroma in 1773. The rebuilding gave the city a distinctive plan, with streets radiating from a focal point near the river. Its arcaded central market and other buildings in a provincial neoclassical style reflected the prosperity and ambitions of the rebuilt town.