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Suzdal.

Chronicle

9th –10th centuries – setting of a town on the territory of Finno-Ugric settlements.
1024 – first mention of the town in St. Lawrence's Chronicle in connection with the peasants' revolt led by the Magi.
First half of the 12th century – part of the property of Kievan Grand Dukes assigned to their young sons.
1054 – the Rostov-Suzdalian territory enters the estate lands of the prince Vsevolod Yaroslavovitch. Foundation of settlements where live the members of the prince's patrol. Strengthening of the power of local boyars. Heightening of the church influence.
End of the 11th century – beginning of the feudal war for the ownership of the region.
1096 – construction of the first fortress. Yuri Dolgoruky – first independent prince of the Rostov-Suzdalian principality. Suzdal – capital of wealthy lands belonging to Yuri Dolgoruky.
1107 – defeat of Bulgarian troops near the fortress walls.
1113-1125 – the Rostov-Suzdalian principality – patrimonial estate of the Kievan prince Vladimir Monomakh.
1125-1157 – Suzdal – capital of the Rostov-Suzdalian lands. Reign of Yuri Dolgoruky.
1152 – construction of the white-stone cathedral of St.Boris and St. Gleb in Kideksha by the order of Yuri Dolgoruky.
Second half of the 12th century – Suzdal becomes a part of the Vladimir-Suzdalian principality and gets a status of town.
1175-1177 – revolt of town people and peasant on the Vladimir-Suzdalian lands.
13th century – capital of an independent principality.
1222-1225 – finishing of the construction of the Nativity Cathedral of the Holy Virgin.
1238 – capture and burning of the town. Suzdalian people's patrol takes part in an armed revolt of northern towns against the Golden Horde. Building of new monasteries: the Intercession Monastery and the Redeemer Monastery of St. Euphimius
1262 – revolt against the Golden Horde.
1328 – Suzdal enters the Suzdal-Nizhni Novgorod principality with the center in Nizhni Novgorod.
1380 – Suzdalian detachment takes part in the Kulikov battle as part of Dmitry Donskoy's army.
1392 – the town loses its political independence. Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod making up a single principality enter the Moscow state. Strengthening of the church power. The town becomes big religious center.
1608-1610 – Polish-Lithuanian intervention. Devastation of the town.
1634 – attack of the Crimean Tartars.
1642 – death of Dmitry Pozharsky. Buried in the Redeemer Monastery of St. Euphimius in Suzdal.
1654-1655 – plague takes away half of 2467 peoples living in town.
17th century – period of the trade and economical upsurge. Development of handicrafts.
1708 – the town enters the Moscow province.
1720 –1758 – years of life of D.I. Vinogradov, the inventor of Russian porcelain.
1781 – the town's coat of arms is adopted.
1788 – adoption of the regular construction plan.
1813 – construction of the bell-tower in the Monastery of the Deposition of the Holy Robe in memory of the defeat of Napoleon's army.
1829 – Decembrist F.I. Shakhovsky is put into a secret cell of the Redeemer Monastery of St. Euphimius.
19th century – the town falls into decay due to the removal of trade roads.
1917 (November) – establishment of the Soviet Government.
1944 – foundation of the Vladimir area.
1950 –1980 – large-scale restoration works.
1067 – adopted the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on creation of a tourist center in Suzdal.
1983 – Suzdal is awarded with a special prize "Golden Apple" of the International Federation of Journalists writing about tourism.

Sergiev Posad

1345. Sergius of Radonezh founds the Holy Trinity Monastery which becomes the great cultural and spiritual center of the principality of Moscow. Nearby villages and settlements appear (Kokuyevo, Klementievo).
1380. Sergius of Radonezh blesses Dmitri, the prince of Moscow, for the struggle with the Golden Horde.
Peresvet and Oslyablya, monks of the Holy Trinity Monastery of St.Sergius, take part in the Kulikov battle which began with a single combat of Peresvet and the Tartar warrior Chelubey.
1392. Death of St. Sergius of Radonezh, founder of the Holy Trinity Monastery of St.Sergius.
1408. The Holy Trinity Monastery of St.Sergius is reduced to ashes by the troops of Yedigey-khan.
1422. St. Sergius of Radonezh, founder of the Holy Trinity Monastery of St.Sergius, is canonized.
The first stone temple of the monastery, the Holy Trinity Cathedral, is built. It contains a reliquary with the mortal remains of St.Sergius.
1540. Building of the first stone monastery wall is launched.
1608. The monastery sustains the siege laid by the troops of Sapega and Lisovsky during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention.
The Monastery supports the people's volunteer corps of Minin and Pozharsky.
1610. The Pushkarskaya (Gunners') and Streletskaya (Soldiers') settlements are established.
The Iconnaya (Icons), Povarskaya (Cooks'), and Konyushennaya (Stables) settlements are built. Construction is launched on the monastery grounds.
1682. Young Peter I with his brother Ivan and Tsarina Sophia hide in the monastery during the revolt of strelets.
1689. Peter escapes from his sister Sophia to the monastery. Then his loyal Poteshnye (detachment of boy-soldiers) troops come to his rescue, along with the Sukharevsky regiment of strelets. In the monastery Peter deals with Sophia's supporters. He organizes a public execution in the square facing the monastery. From here Peter, now the single ruler, returns to Moscow.
1742. Ecclesiastical Seminary opens in the monastery.
1744. The monastery gets the title of Lavra. Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Moscow, becomes the holy archimandrite of the Lavra.
1782. Settlements shaped on the outskirts of the monastery merge into a merchant quarter (posad) called Sergiev Posad.
1792. Plan of regular construction of the town is adopted.
1814. Ecclesiastical Academy opens in the Lavra.
1862. Railroad from Moscow to the Lavra is built.
1918. Russian government makes a decision to close down the Lavra.
1919. Relics of St. Segius are blasphemously opened.
1920. Museum is organized on the monastery grounds.
1946. Stalin allows to open the Lavra and the ecclesiastical schools. From that moment the Lavra becomes the largest active monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1988. Sessions of the Provincial Council of the Orthodox Church in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Russia are held in the Refectory Chamber of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Kostroma

12th century – presumable date of the fortress foundation by Yuri Dolgoruky to protect the approach to the Rostov-Suzdlian principality.
1231 – the first mention of the town in the Resurrection and Tver chronicles in connection with feudal skirmishes of the heirs of the prince Vsevolod the Large Nest.
1243 – Kostroma is handed over by Yaroslav Vsevolodovitch to his son Vasily nicknamed Dough-Tough who was the prince of the town for 44 years.
1272 –Victory of Kostroma people over Tartars in the battle by the village of Nekrasovo by Saint Lake. The voevode (commander of an army) A. Pleshcheev, ancestor of the famous Russian poet Pleshcheev, took place in the battle.
1318 – Kostroma supported the Tver prince Mikhail in the struggle for the great dukedom against the Moscow prince Yury. Struggle for the Kostroma lands between Tver and Moscow princes.
1340 – Acquisition by Ivan Danilovitch Kalita of Galitch and large villages on the Kostroma lands.
1362 – Kostroma enters the Moscow principality
1375 – Devastation of Kostroma by Novrorodian brigands arrived in 70 boats.
1380 – Participation of Kostroma people in the Kulkov battle under the voevode Ivan Rodionovitch Dough-Tough.
1382 – The town serves as a refuge for the Great Duke of Moscow Dmitry who moved there after the news of Moscow invasion by Tokhtamysh-khan.
1408 – Kostroma – refuge for Vasily Dmitrievitch hiding from Edigey-khan.
1413 – Devastating fire. A new fortress is founded on the high left bank down the Volga.
1425- Intestine skirmishes between the princes for the great dukedom of Moscow.
1435 – Signing of the peace treaty between Vasily the Dark and Vasily the Squint-Eyed.
1471, 1478 – Participation of Kostroma troops in raids of Ivan III against Novgorod.
1493 – Another devastating fire.
1540 – Battle on the Yazovka river. Victory of Kostroma army over Tartars.
1609 – Siege of the False Dmitry's supporters of the Monastery of St. Hypatius that protected the approach to Kostroma. The monastery of St. Hypatius turns into a strong point of the military actions in the north-east of the country. Banishment of the invaders from the town by Kostroma volunteer people's troops under the voevode Davyd Zherebtsov. Merge of Kostroma people's volunteer corps with volunteer corps of Minin and Pozharsky.
1613 – Kostroma – center of the events of national importance. Election by the regional council of Mikhail Fyodorovitch Romanov, nephew of the first wife of Ivan the Terrible Anastasia, for the post of tsar. The Monastery of St. Hypatius – place where Mikhail Romanov stayed during his election to the throne and where the delegation came to ask him to become the ruler of the devastated Russia.
The feat of the peasant Ivan Susanin from the village of Domnino.
1614 – Census registered 312 homesteads.
1628- Census registered 1633 homesteads.
1650 – Census registered 2088 homesteads. Kostroma – one of the large artisan towns with textile, leather and soap-boiling industries.
1751 – First cotton manufactory is launched.
1767 – Arrival of Katherine Ii. Approval of the town's coat of arms.
1778 – Kostroma – chief town of the province.
18th-19th centuries. Intensive construction in town.
1858 – Arrival of Pavel I.
1897 – Arrival of Alexander II. Rebuilding of the Romanovs's chambers in the Monastery of St. Hypatius by the project of the architect F.F. Rikhter.
1913 – Pompous ceremony in honor of the visit of Nicholas I.
20th century – Kostroma – large industrial town. Opening of the Arts Museum and Historical-Architectural Museum-Preserve.