Ples walking routes
The Golden Ring of Russia.
What to see during walks.
Imagine that you have come to Ples when travelling the "Golden Ring of Russia" and stayed at the hotel "Grand Sova" at 18 Varvarinskaya str. What are the interesting places you can visit if you leave the hotel in clear serene day? Let's go two routes.
The first route. Zarechye and Mount Levitan.
Our attention is immediately caught by...
St. Barbara Church.
It is the only place of worship in Zarechye (chapel of St. Nicholas still waiting in the wings) and the most prominent architectural point here. All tourists are taking it into the camera lens - and each successful shot necessarily includes stately and highest in Ples (35 meters) bell tower. In addition, St. Barbara Church gives an occasion to remember the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Zarechye Church is slightly tilted.
Just behind Saint Barbara church there is located...
Landscapes Museum
It is one of the places connected with Isaac Levitan. In his second coming in Ples (1889), the artist stopped in these mansion of Old Believers merchants Podgornov and Groshev. And not just stopped, but then, when facing curious situation, portrayed it in the painting "Evening. Golden Ples".
The landscape museum has absorbed the spirit of different epochs: pre-revolutionary, Soviet (from 1935 to 1975 the mansion hosted Ples high school) and post-Soviet (landscape museum was opened on November 14, 1997). This makes an already unique institution even more exceptional. And if we get acquainted with the exposition of the museum, we will not have any doubts of its uniqueness.
When you exit the museum larch alley immediately attracts the eye and you see...
"Summer Resident" Sculptural group
The figure of a woman crouching on the bench, an easel with an open frame, a few benches located along the alley and metal fence in form of broken line have registered here in 2010.
This wonderful area is above the Volga is so loved by newlyweds, that they included it in the list of places intended for the accomplishment of symbolic rites. Metal fence in front of Summer Resident (who, by the way, also looks a bit like a bride - in a long dress and a hat) has a lot of padlocks hanging from it. Apparently, the couples rely on the sculpture to store their family happiness under lock and key.
Now we head down the Lunacharski street in the direction of the historical part of Ples, up the Volga. We pass a new pier for tourist ships, and to the left from us are...
Levitan Cultural Center
It was erected on the very spot where before the Great Patriotic War was a primary school, and during the war there was an orphanage. And Isaac Levitan, when he first arrived with his companions to Ples (1888), stopped in the neighborhood, in the mansion of the merchant Andrei Solodovnikov.
Levitan cultural center was built in 2012. Date of completion was postponed several times for various reasons. On September 7, 2012 the center opened its doors to its first guests - the participants of the VII International Textile Industrial Forum “The Golden Ring". And the official opening of the Levitan Cultural Center was held a week later. It was attended by Svetlana Medvedeva.
Just behind Levitan Hall there is...
Levitan House Museum
The museum has a great history already. It is connected to the first owner of the house – merchant Andrey Solodovnikov, to painters Isaac Levitan and Alexey Stepanov, their companion Sophia Kuvshynnykova, with the legendary Ples guide Alla Vavilova and all the museum staff who dedicated themselves to the restless work. Both in winter and in summer the house-museum attracts the most visitors. Its popularity is so high that it attracts also some dishonest people. On August 5, 2014 House Museum has once again been robbed. The thieves stole five paintings. Their search is ongoing.
After leaving the house, turn on Nikolskaya street. She rushes up the hollow between the museum and the monument to Levitan. The street is named after the St. Nicholas chapel, which is located on the side of the house-museum, a hundred meters from it. We continue to climb, and after walking another hundred meters we will see on the right...
Lev Nikolaev Gallery
This is one of the first private galleries in Ples. Its creator is a man who began to paint, without going through training in art school. This "gap" was more than compensated by Lev Nikolaev with the work in the advertising workshop, work with group of Crimean artists and courses in Leningrad. Lev Gennadievich is one of the few who together with friends always works “en plein air” in freezing or snowy weather. It is no accident many of his paintings show winter Ples and its surroundings. The artist has created more than four thousand pictures.
And he likes to swim all year round and every day. To make face more comfortable after diving in ice-hole in the winter Volga, Lev Gennadievich. grew a thick beard so he looks a bit like Ded Moroz or Santa Claus.
Almost next to the Nikolaev gallery road forks. Nikolskaya Street turns to the left, Kirov Street goes to the right, and between them is Kropotkin lane. It is here, at the 1/2 Kropotkin lane, you can see…
Sculpture of the Gorodovoi
"Oh, master has arrived!" - Palm of Gorodovoi runs to the temple, to give a military salute to the host of colorful house, active patriot of Ples, a passionate collector (more on this below), a lover of fast cycling, skiing, American cars, the owner of pigtail and the stunning mustache not unlike those of Gorodovoi himself, Yuri Marushkin.об этом чуть ниже), любителя быстрой езды на велосипедах, горных лыжах, американских автомобилях, обладателю косички и таких же, как у Городового, потрясающих усов Юрия Марушкина.
Near the Gorodovoi sculpture you can see a small artificial pond with fish and a bench with good back support. If you sit on the bench, you can see a beautiful view of Sobornaya Mountain and the Volga.
The Gorodovoi became the first full-height human sculpture in Ples. After him there were two more stone "persons." Bosun with a tube and a cap with a crab - on the deck of the guest house "My berth." And sculpture of artist Andrey Fedorov – in front of the porch leading to...
Porcelain Museum
It is listed as "Provincialnaya ArtGallery-M" LLC in the brochures. Founder, owner and sole guide of the museum is Yuri Marushkin. He is masterfully able to intrigue and talk about the exhibits of their collections, leaving the visitors stunned. Something from the lacquer miniatures of all time. Something from the Soviet porcelain. Something from Leniniana kind - sculptures of Lenin. And some of the works of the artist Vyacheslav Fedorov.
From porcelain museum we go further, already down on Nikolskaya str. And we get to the bottom fork. We shall turn to the left and steeply up the old cobblestone of Vichugsky drive. It leads us to the top, which does not belong to Zarechye. And this peak is called...
Mount Levitan
Here, any beholder is exposed to beneficial effect of open dome of the sky, a whole handful of orthodox churches, majestic beauty of the Volga and an old graveyard. Therefore, once on the mountain, the man breathes a particular air and feels as if he is surrounded by silence - a part of eternity.
Once on the Mount Levitan there were two Peter and Paul Churches - wooden and stone. Both were lost. Wooden one burned in 1903, and the stone was destroyed in the mid-1920s (only the porch was left of it). However, the mountain is not left without a temple. In 1982, a klet was erected there that is very similar to the one where Isaac Levitan worked in 1888. The klet was taken from the village Bilyukovo, where it was known as the Resurrection chapel. The name was not changed, so now Ples has two Resurrection Churches. One is stone - on the Market Square, the other is wooden - on Mount Levitan.
Before we come to the second of these, you can get...
"On the palette"
The name of the sculpture is connected with the square shape. It is bordered by a curb, artfully laid with small stones, has a backlight. On the palette there is a bronze figure of Isaac Levitan, standing in front of a sketchbook. Besides a working artist, the composition includes two billboards (one - on the mountain, the other - under the mountain, on the promenade) with the image of the painting "Eternal Rest" and Summer Resident sculpture, which we have already described. Both works, Summer Resident and Levitan, are made in Kostroma, in the art castings workshop of Vladimir Murzin.
After standing near Levitan and peering into the size of the sculpture, we go to ...
Resurrection Church (wooden) and graveyard
That church, which was brought to Ples from Bilyukovo, had the loss of timber up to 30 percent. Klet dilapidated from year to year. Restoration and reconstruction work only began in August 2012 and ended in 2013. Experts did not rebuild and did not insulate the temple. It stayed in the summer version. For security near the church there installed a lightning rod 22 meters high.
When choosing a place for this “lightning bait” white stone fragment was found hidden in the ground. Looking closely to it, archaeologists have gasped: stone (perhaps a piece of tombstone) displayed Byzantine ornament!
Churchyard was also recreated together with klet. It has several tombstones, wrought iron and wooden crosses. Among them is worship cross (the total height of 9.5 meters). As for the graves, part of the graves is decorated with the addition of the soil, and some are just covered with grass. The dead lie in four layers and in some places even fifth one can be traced.
From the Mount Levitan go down the wooden stairs to the Kirov street (located three steps away from the bottom of the stairs). Walk it like the crest of the wave in the direction of Saint Barbara church and find yourself in front of our hotel "Grand Sova".
The second route. The historic center of Ples.
Let’s prepare in advance - the new route is longer. From the hotel, we go to the top of the Varvarinskaya street, that is, to the already familiar Nikolskaya street. Here, we turn left, pass the Lev Nikolayev gallery, Yuri Marushkin porcelain museum and go down to the bridge over Shohonka. Over the bridge walk up the cobblestone road. Small break around mid-rise. Here you can see…
Old Russian Family Museum
Museum author, historian and archaeologist Pavel Travkin, collected items in it, reminiscent of those that were found in the course of many years (almost 20 years) of excavations performed by Ples archaeological expedition. Terms of the expedition and the results obtained have made it possible to reconstruct the mansion of Ples skilled jeweler, who lived in the era of Alexander Nevsky. The museum is an open-air one, it has no stands, but there are the interiors of homes of our ancestors.
Just behind the Old Russian Family Museum you can see...
Russian Hut Museum
It was opened in 1999 by the Grivna Tour company. The museum immediately became popular. This was evidenced by a large number of tourists. Known Ples centenarian Svetlana Ivanovna Sorokina, who played the museum Granny Praskovya, recalled that there were days when "Russian Hut" was visited by seven groups. Including foreign tourists. Svetlana Ivanovna sang Russian folk songs and arranged ring dance for foreign guests. It turned out to be so touching that the "hostess" of hut received a large number of letters - the full bag. To do this, envelopes needed just four words: Ples, Ivanovskaya str., hut, to the Granny.
Coming out of the "Russian Hut", we continue climbing the cobblestone and find ourselves in the top Ples - at the very beginning of the Kornilov street. If you go to the left, there...
Holy Trinity church and Presentation temple
They stand side by side in a single enclosure. Only the Holy Trinity Church was built in the town by exactly half a century earlier - in 1628 (the earliest mention of all the Ples churches). The building of Presentation church was dictated by urgent need: Holy Trinity Church was not designed for winter service.
Today, Trinity Church is famous for the fact that, since 1987, it regularly hosts sacred music festival "Golden Ples". Its initiator, organizer and participant was an honorary professor at the Ivanovo Chemical-Technological Academy Yevgeny Bobrov. And the name of the festival of spiritual songs was invented by the wife of Professor Irina Rumyantseva. One day, seeing Ples in golden autumn dress, she involuntarily exclaimed:
- Look, what a beauty!
And Ples now enjoys the sacred songs performed by choirs from Barnaul, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rybinsk, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and other cities. Rector of Holy Trinity parish Father Sergius once stressed:
- The leaders of the choirs are so friendly with each other, they know each other a lot and always remember those who are no longer with them...
If you admire Trinity and Presentation churches from the side, from the beginning of the Kornilov street, and go right, you end up at Sobornaya Mountain. Standing here is...
Assumption Cathedral
Until 1917 Sobornaya Mountain flaunted a whole Orthodox complex: two churches (Assumption and Kazan), a chapel, a beautiful fence with a gate. Sadly, time preserved only the Assumption Cathedral and the rest of the gate. Abbot of Assumption parish is Father Andrew (known in the world as Alexander Lyachin). He is assisted by his wife, Mother Julia and daughters. The whole Lyachins family is painters. Mother Julia holds classes for young artists in Ples School of Art.
Opposite the Assumption Church is located...
Public Places Museum Complex
This is a control center of Ples Museum-Reserve, and a large area for demonstrations of several exhibitions and collections. Of these, one exhibition is permanent - "Ancient Ples and Ivanovo land" - located on the ground floor, which served either as the cellar, where the wine was stored, or as the administration archive. The exposition presents materials related to the great length of time, from ancient times until the XVII century. It was here where after the scandalous story was hidden from the eyes…
Love Stone
The story of it stretched for almost two years: from 2011 to 2013. It involved very different people from ordinary citizens to the Metropolitan. The chain of events was made of the transformation of stone into a meeting place of noisy tourists, letter to the head of city administration, consideration of issue by deputies, transportation of stone from one place to another, applications to the prosecutor, court hearings, and publication in the press. Thus, the unusual shaped stone, staying inconspicuous for a long time, became notorious in a short time.
From the Public Places Museum Complex we descend at the nearest cobblestone ladder to Yurievskaya street, and through it to the left - to the center of...
Trade Square
In ancient times it, matching its name, served as a place of active trade. It regularly hosted the famous Petrovskaya Fair, arranged market days. Fragments of the time are depicted on three of the paintings by the artist Alexander Makovsky. And in our time Trade Square is the object of constant repairs. There workers regularly dig trenches, remove the asphalt, and then put it back on, pave the area and stop the work. And when the working vehicles leaves the Trade Square, it quickly becomes occupied by private vehicles.
The whole history of the square is woven in front of our eyes...
Church of the Resurrection (stone)
It is known in Ples since 1687. Its renovated, bright look was gained by the church at the end of 2012, and on January 13, 2013 its sanctification, and the first liturgy after many years of break was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his wife. Since then, the Church of the Resurrection regularly blesses lower Ples with peal. And it also regularly host the service conducted by high church officials. A July 19, 2015 Resurrection Church was visited by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Cyril...
From the church go along the Lenin Street to the Ostrovsky street. Here we turn right, to the waterfront, and go to the...
Mukha the Cat Monument
At the time, the popularity of this sculpture had no equals. Moreover, the popularity was expressed in flowers, intimate farewells, indispensable photographing, the birth of legends and vandalism. The sculpture was several times broken by lovers of easy money, who saw the cat as the piggy bank. However, the creation of the Minsk artist-ceramist Oleg Illarionov remains the attraction of Ples.
From the Mukha the Cat Monument we go back to the waterfront district. At the same time after 300 meters our attention is attracted by...
The exhibition hall on the waterfront
It presents more than 300 works of different genres of more than 30 artists from Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Ples, Furmanov, Yaroslavl, as well as sculpture and bronze casting. Gallery lets you choose the decoration for any interior - home, museum, office. The cost of the exhibited works range from 5 to 250 thousand RUB.
Visits to the owners of the hall - Sergei and Marina Balins – are often paid by the Medvedev spouses. They have long admired paintings and rarely leave the hall empty-handed.
Published: 13.05.2016
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