Murom

Murom rises above the Oka, one of the oldest towns of northeastern Rus'. Its name recalls the Muroma, a Finnic people who lived in the surrounding country. Churches and monasteries stand above the river, while the Oka joins the town to the Volga and the lands of central Russia. Murom also gave its name to Ilya Muromets, the celebrated hero of Russian epic songs.

The town was devastated during the Mongol invasion and its princely line later disappeared from the chronicles for a time. In 1351 Prince Yuri Yaroslavich renewed Murom, which the chronicle described as having fallen into neglect. The struggle for its inheritance ended with Moscow gaining control at the end of the fourteenth century. Murom thus passed from a princely seat into the growing Muscovite state.

In 1552 Ivan IV gathered forces at Murom on his campaign against Kazan. The town's position on the Oka made it a useful point of departure for travel eastward. Monastic foundations and stone churches continued to shape its religious life, while merchants and artisans worked in the town below the old fortified heights. Across the river the wooded hills of the Murom district extended toward the lower Oka. The river was both a link between neighbouring towns and a boundary between the high bank and the settlements on its opposite shore.