If you suffer from insomnia, go to Rostov the Great. The dream will begin to return to you already at the entrance to the city. And after you have lived in Rostov for a week or two, you will hardly distinguish between sleep and reality. Officially, Rostov the Great has changed for 1150 years. The year 862 is considered the reporting point. It was this time that the entry in the oldest Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" dates, which says that the city was owned by Rurik, and the "first inhabitants" belonged to the Merya tribe. True, many historians believe that the record was added to the chronicle in the XII century, but this is unlikely to somehow radically affect the fate and temperament of Rostov.
As already mentioned, Rostov arose on the site of a settlement of the mysterious Meri tribe. Nobody knows what kind of people it was, what gods it professed and where it eventually disappeared.
Probably, like most ancient Russian cities, Rostov was founded by Norman ("Varangian") colonialists. Those who gravitated towards large water areas chose Lake Nero and created an outpost here, counting on the economic prospects of the lake.
Rostov froze in the north-west of Nero, as if neatly embracing him like a thief. In the south, in a more advantageous place, in the very underbelly of the lake, where the Sara River flows into it, at least from the 7th century there was a center of the Meryan people, called by archaeologists the Sarskoe settlement.
Judging by the excavations, during which they found a large number of silver coins, ingots of copper and tin, weapons, jewelry and objects from Western Europe, the Kama region, Volga Bulgaria, Kievan Rus, the settlement was a large trading hub. Probably, initially, the founders of Rostov did not plan to stay here for a long time, since it would be very strange for enterprising Normans to settle on a low coastal terrace, the most disadvantageous coast of Lake Nero. Most likely, in the long-term plan of the colonialists, there was an advance to the south, to the Sarskoe settlement. But something unknown interrupted these plans, and Rostov fell asleep in a "strange" place for a millennium. He fell asleep like a passenger in the waiting room of a provincial railway station, having slept through his train and never woke up.
Promotional video:
The trace of the city of Rostov could have disappeared already in the XI-XII century, if the Kiev metropolitan had not sent here in 990 with a missionary task to baptize the inhabitants of Zalesye the monk Theodore. Back in Kiev, the monk was ordained bishop of Rostov and went to his flock. The first mission of St. Theodora failed: the local population drove the bishop out of the city. Two years later, the new prince of Rostov, Boris, returned the bishop, understanding all the prospects for the presence of the episcopal see in the city. But after his death, the pagans drove out the bishop again. But, despite this, the diocese managed to stay in the city, and not only to stay, but also to become one of the most influential in the first centuries of Orthodoxy in Russia. This fact left Rostov in the context of Russian history, and the city somnambulously, like a lunatic, trailed behind it, arms outstretched. For a short time, he even bore the title of "capital city" until the "table" went to the more lively Suzdal.
The city humbly submitted to fate. In 1237 Rostov surrendered to the Mongol-Tatars without a fight, and in the XIV century he also humbly accepted the primacy of ambitious Moscow. Then the Rostov boyars went into voluntary exile: "alas, to Rostov and his princes, they took from them power, reign, property and glory." Then the city became part of Ivan the Terrible's oprichnina, and in 1608 the troops of False Dmitry II burned Rostov and took prisoner the Rostov Metropolitan, the future Patriarch Filaret (Romanov).
The occupants never set foot on Rostov land again - for over 400 years. True, Rostov himself retired from the affairs of the big Russian game, resigned to the fate of a provincial city, over which the Rostovites themselves make fun: “The earth is damp, the water is rotten. The people are like an oak."
When you walk around Rostov, somewhere subconsciously perceive it as a "budget" cinema pavilion. It is no coincidence that many films were shot here. Moreover, along with the self-evident historical ("Peter I", "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession", "Split"), filmmakers found here good "playground" for comedies ("Thirty-three", "Seven Old Men and One Girl", "Police and thieves "and all the same" Ivan Vasilievich … ") Although it is difficult to call the city conducive to fun. Perhaps Rostov's "hibernation" creates a good setting for the "funny".
Truth be told, when you leave town, you catch yourself thinking you've been in Christopher Nolan's Inception, a limbo where you can't tell whether you are asleep or awake. One of the main attractions of Rostov is the unique belfry, for which huge thousand-pound bells were cast. Thanks to the bell ringing, you keep in touch with reality.
You leave with the feeling that it rains here all the time. Even when he doesn't go …
Alexey Zagorski