Vladimir
Despite its history, today’s Vladimir is not the most attractive of Russian cities. First of all it is an industrial center, producing electric motors, watches and shoes; these factories tend to encroach on the historic part. The main street is reasonably pleasant, and a walk along the top of the ledge past the cathedrals would be beautiful, were it not for the railway line spoiling the view of the Klyazma River.
Along with its ancient churches, Vladimir has a number of other interesting architectural monuments and many well-kept museums. The greatest concentration is around the Golden Gate.
Convent, the earliest of Vladimir's post Mongolian churches. It replaced 12th century buildings where the sisters Maria and Anna, both wives of Vsevolod Big Nest, were buried. The present church has no carvings, but several tiers37 of kokoshniki tapering38 to a single dome, giving it a different kind of charm. Formerly a museum, it has now been returned to the Church.
Vladimir stretches along a highway going from West to East. Despite its present ramshackle41 outlook, Vladimir was once a capital. It was founded in the twelfth century by Vladimir Monomakh and remained a tiny provincial town for some time. Nevertheless, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky liked it, preferring it to his town of Vyshgorod which had been given to him by his father, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, the тfounder of Moscow. Andrei Bogolyubsky went up north with the intention of founding a united and strong princedom far from Kiev, where there were so many squabbles42. He was followed by numerous refugees from the troubled south who settled peacefully on the fertile land of Vladimir and its close neighbor, Suzdal.
The Land and the People
Russia or the Russian Federation is one of the largest countries in the world. Its territory occupies the eastern and north-eastern parts of Europe and the northern part of Asia stretching for 2500-4000 km from north to south and for 9,000 km from west to east. A flight from Moscow to Magadan takes eight hours. Russia occupies more than one-ninth of the world’s land area. Its territory is 17 million square kilometrеs. Russia is washed by twelve seas of three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic oceans. Russia borders on fourteen countries including the former Republics of the USSR, which are now independent states The land of Russia varies a lot from heavy forests to deserts, from high-picked mountains to deep valleys. There are several mountain chains in Russia: the Urals, the Caucasus, the Altai and others. The country is divided into the Western and Eastern parts by the Urals so Russia is both a European and Asian country. Russia has over two thousand rivers, the biggest of them – the Volga, the Ob, the Yenisei, the Amur, the Lena offer excellent possibilities for navigation and hydrolic construction. There are 11 time zones on the Russian territory. The climate conditions are rather different from arctic and moderate to continental and subtropical. Russia is rich in natural resources. It has a unique combination of mineral and fuel reserves. It can fully supply itself with all the necessary mineral reserves. The mineral basis of Russia includes practically all types of minerals: fuel and energy resources; ferrous metals; non-ferrous and rare metals. Particularly great are fuel and power resources of natural gas, oil and coal which are traditionally articles of Russian export. There are many modern branches of industry in Russia, such as the transport mechanical engineering, motor industry, aircraft industry, shipbuilding and others. The agricultural mechanical engineering is advanced too.