Uglich Far from Ugly

Tuesday, May 14 and we docked in Uglich, Russia on the Volga River and got off to an early start. The name Uglich in Russian means "corner" as this town of 35,000 is on a 90 degree right angle corner of the Volga River.  Founded in 1148, it was favored by Ivan the Terrible as a base for his campaigns. 

Upon his death, his one-year old son, Dmitry, joined his mother who had been exiled to Uglich, only to be killed at age 8 on May 15, 1591 by Boris Godunov as part of a campaign to seize the crown.  Dmitry was the last scion of the Rurik dynasty, opening the way for Boris to be king. He ruled until 1605 and ushered in Russia's "Time of Troubles" which brought invasion and destruction from Poland.



The Church of Saint Dimitry on the Blood, colored red
for the blood of the child murdered on this site



The "official" story of Dmitry's death, commissioned by Boris Gudonov in Moscow, was that he stabbed himself in the neck due to an epileptic attack.  The story passed down from those present was that he was attacked by henchmen to remove him from the lineage of his father.   Enraged citizens lynched 15 of Dmitry's supposed assassins, and 60 locals had their tongues cut out.   Even the bell that had announced Dmitrys death was exiled to Siberia with its tongue (clapper) cut out.

 On the spot of the murder, the iconic Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood was created.   Two wooden churches preceded the beautiful stone one present today as built in 1690.  The entire site and surrounding area were part of the Uglich Kremlin (fortress area) of which only one original building from the 15th. century remains, and was the house from which Dmitry emerged to play in the garden where he was killed.

A priest holds mass at the Cathedral of Our Savior's
Transfiguration, an active Russian church

Nearby is the Cathedral of Our Savior's Transfiguration which is an active Russian Orthodox church.   Our beautiful Russian guide (Luba) told us that the people of Uglich fought back quietly against the Communists who tried to destroy all churches by taking icons out of them and hiding them "under their pillows".  They also continued holding secret church ceremonies (e.g., baptisms) in their homes at the risk to their own lives.  The church is now, however, making a comeback as she cited current participation at 25% and growing.

This cathedral was having a mass while we were there, and the guide indicated the priest was "liberal" and didn't mind us stepping inside as long as the women covered their heads and the men removed their hats.  As we were told previously, the Russians stand for their services (and do not sit) and we saw a number of older Russian women attending the service, intently watching the two priests conducting it while holy music intoned in the massive structure.  



The Uglich tourist market

 From here, our tour group split up with some going to a tour of Russian homes to be greeted by Russian families.   We chose not to meddle in that manner (who wants foreign tourists gawking at them?) and, instead, hit the local market for - guess what - shopping.  Again, it is a matter of sorting the wheat from the chaff but we came away with some beautiful objects for ourselves and some of you reading this! 

Vladimir Lenin

A couple interesting things in the nearby city park watched over us.  First, as in every town we've visited, there is some memorial to the dead from World War II and this one, as have others, had flowers on it on this Tuesday.   The second was Vladimir Lenin (with no flowers) who also seems to be omnipresent in these Russian towns despite being the one who kicked off the whole communist thing!

For lunch we're going up on the sun deck for "A Taste of Russia" as we cruise through the lock of Uglich on our way to Moscow.   This will be a relaxing afternoon which we'll need because our last 3 days are packed full of activities in Moscow.   And, tonight is the Captain's Farewell Dinner as he leaves the ship when we dock in Moscow on Wednesday (and Cheryl will go to the world famous Bolshoi ballet with Mary Lee).   More to come soon!