Vladimir was
one of the medieval capitals of Russia, with significant buildings surviving from the 12th century. Two of its Russian Orthodox cathedrals, a monastery, and associated buildings have been designated among the
White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. In the past, the city was also known as
Vladimir-on-Klyazma () and
Vladimir-Zalessky (), to distinguish it from
another Vladimir/Volodymyr in
Volhynia (modern-day
Ukraine).
Foundation The founding date of Vladimir is disputed between 990 and 1108. The city's founding is neither mentioned in the
Primary Chronicle (PVL), nor the
Synodal Scroll (Older recension) of the
Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL). Only the 15th-century
Commission Scroll of the Younger recension of the NPL states after "А се князи русстии" that Volodimer' Monomakh "поставилъ град Володимерь ЗалЂшьскыи в Суждальскои землЂ" ("founded the city of Volodimer' Zalěsh'kyi in the Suzhdalian Land"), but without naming a year. In the
16th-century Lvov Chronicle, Vladimir's founding is specifically mentioned under the year 6616 (1108): During the Soviet period, this year was decreed to be its foundation year with the view that attributes the founding of the city, and its name, to
Vladimir Monomakh, who inherited the region as part of the
Rostov-Suzdal Principality in 1093. It is named there as
Vladimir. The chronicles also describe how inhabitants from neighbouring towns, namely
Suzdal and
Rostov, alluded to Vladimir as a young town. Accordingly, the 850th anniversary of the city foundation was celebrated in 1958, with many monuments from the celebrations adorning the city; this enabled
Nikita Khrushchev, who recently took power in the Soviet Union, to link his administration with early Russian history. In the 1990s, a new opinion developed that the city was instead founded in 990 by
Vladimir the Great, with local historians supporting the alternative foundation date and citing various chronicle sources. Scholars reinterpreted certain passages in the
Hypatian Codex, which mentions that the region was visited by
Vladimir the Great, the "father" of
Russian Orthodoxy, in 990, so as to move the city foundation date to that year. The Charter of Vladimir, the
basic law of the city passed in 2005, explicitly mentions 990 as the date of the city's foundation. The city administration officially recognizes 990 as the foundation date. In 2006 a memorial was built in the Knyaz-Vladimirskoe cemetery, commemorating Japanese POWs, and representatives of other nations who were held in the prison. Earlier, in 1993, a memorial plaque was attached to the wall of the Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvenskoe monastery, occupied since 1918 by the Cheka and its successors until 1991.
Vladimir-Suzdal The city's most historically significant events occurred after the turn of the 12th century. Serving its original purpose as a defensive outpost for the
Rostov-Suzdal Principality, Vladimir had little political or military influence throughout the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (1113–1125), or his son
Yury Dolgoruky ("Far-Reaching") (1154–1157). was a venerated model for cathedrals all over Russia story of
King David. Under Dolgoruky's son,
Andrey Bogolyubsky (1157–1175) (also known as Andrew the Pious), the city became the center of the
Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. It had a Golden Age, which lasted until the
Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1237. During this time, Vladimir enjoyed immense growth and prosperity. Andrey oversaw the building of the city's
Golden Gates and the
Dormition Cathedral. In 1164, Andrey attempted to establish a new
metropolitanate in Vladimir, separate from that of Kiev. He was rebuffed by the
Patriarch of Constantinople. Scores of Russian,
German, and
Georgian masons worked on Vladimir's white stone cathedrals, monastery, towers, and palaces. Unlike any other northern buildings, their exterior was elaborately carved with high
relief stone sculptures. Only three of these edifices stand today: the Dormition Cathedral, the
Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, and the Golden Gate. They are included among the
White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal, designated as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. During Andrey's reign, a royal palace in
Bogolyubovo was built, as well as the world-famous
Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, now considered one of the jewels of ancient
Russian architecture. Andrey was assassinated at his palace at
Bogolyubovo in 1175. outside Vladimir presumably demanding submission before sacking the city Vladimir was besieged by the
Mongol-
Tatars of the
Golden Horde under
Batu Khan. It was finally overrun on February 8, 1238. A great fire destroyed thirty-two limestone buildings on the first day alone, while the grand prince's family perished in a church where they sought refuge from the flames. The grand prince escaped, but was killed at the
Battle of the Sit River the following month.
Grand Principality of Moscow After the Mongols, Vladimir never fully recovered. The most important Rus' prince (usually the Prince of Moscow, but sometimes a Tver or another principality) was styled the Grand Prince of Vladimir, but the title had become an honorific symbol of majesty. From 1299 to 1325, the city was seat of the
metropolitans of Kiev and All Rus', until
Metropolitan Peter moved the See to
Moscow in 1325. The Grand Princes of Vladimir were originally crowned in Vladimir's Assumption Cathedral, but when Moscow superseded Vladimir in the 14th century as the seat of the Grand Prince, the
Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin became the site of their coronation. The Moscow cathedral was loosely copied by the Italian architect
Aristotele Fioravanti from Vladimir's original. After the rise of Moscow, Grand Princes of Moscow continued to build several new churches in Vladimir. Notable examples include the Annunciation Church at Snovitsy (ca. 1501), three kilometers northwest of the city, and a church in the
Knyaginin Nunnery (ca. 1505), which today includes murals dating from 1648.
Imperial Russia Remains of the prince-saint
Alexander Nevsky were kept in the ancient Nativity Abbey of Vladimir until 1703, when
Peter the Great had them transferred to the
Monastery (now Lavra) of Alexander Nevsky in
St. Petersburg. The Nativity Church (built from 1191 to 1196) collapsed several years later, after workmen tried to fashion more windows in its walls in an effort to brighten the interior. The city was the center of , part of
Moscow Governorate from its establishment by Peter the Great in 1708. Vladimir was separated from Moscow Governorate and made the center of a new by a ukase of
Catherine the Great in 1778. In 1796,
Paul I's administrative reform transformed the viceroyalty into the
Vladimir Governorate in the same borders. In the years 1838–1840,
Alexander Herzen was exiled in Vladimir, passing through the city on the infamous
Vladimirka. In December 1858 the city began to operate
telegraph. On June 14, 1861, the began to operate through Vladimir. In 1866, construction of a running water supply was completed, with telephone lines being put up in 1887 and the first electrical power lines on December 5, 1908. On November 29, 1898, Vladimir provincial scientific archival commission was established.
Soviet Union After the establishment of Soviet power, many streets were renamed in Vladimir; most of the parish churches were closed and condemned to be demolished. In the first decades of Soviet rule industrialization occurred in Vladimir. On January 14, 1929, the Vladimir Governorate was abolished and the city became part of the newly formed
Ivanovo Industrial Oblast. On August 14, 1944, Vladimir became the administrative center of a new
Vladimir Oblast carved from
Ivanovo Oblast. In 1950 from the basis of the teachers' institute the
Vladimir Pedagogical Institute was created. On November 5, 1952, the first trolleybus line began to operate in the city. In 1958 the was created, composed of a group of unique architectural monuments of Russian defense and church architecture. The monuments are located in three cities—Vladimir,
Suzdal and
Gus-Khrustalny—as well as villages of
Bogolyubovo and
Kideksha. Architecture of the Soviet period is present in structures such as building complexes and polytechnic colleges, the
Torpedo Stadium (built 1952), a reinforced concrete arch bridge over the river Klyaz'ma (1960), the Hotel Vladimir (1956), the Drama Theatre (1971) and others. In 1971 the city was awarded the
Order of Red Banner of Labor. ==Administrative and municipal status==