In 2010, Yaroslavl celebrated its millennium - a solid age! However, than the ancient city, the more information about its early history is hidden in the centuries. So it happened with Yaroslavl. There is very little reliable information about the foundation of the city. The official version says that the city was founded by Yaroslav the Wise, the son of Prince Vladimir, the Red Sun, in the last year of his reign in the city of Rostov on the bank of Lake Nero.

Yaroslav Mudry fortress, according to legend, laid on the site of the ancient village Bear's corner at the confluence of the river Kotorosl to the Volga . At this place, which today is called the Strelka, and a memorial stone was erected about the foundation of the city . However, when the Strelka decided to build the Assumption Cathedral, archaeological excavations were carried out, which refuted this version . no remains of the ancient fortress were found, but it was scientifically proven that at that time there was a grain field . Thus, the exact location of the fortress and the very fact of its existence remained a riddle .

In 1071 Yaroslavl was mentioned for the first and only time in the "Tale of Bygone Years". The significance of Yaroslavl increases by the beginning of the 13th century, when the Volga trade route becomes the most secure, and in 1218 Yaroslavl acquires the status of the capital city of the newly formed Yaroslavl principality. But after 20 years the flowering of the city was interrupted by the Tatar-Mongol invasion, Yaroslavl was devastated and destroyed. Gradually life returned to the city, and in Yaroslavl princedom peacefully part of Moscow in 143.

Quickly moving away from the troubles of the Time of Troubles, Yaroslavl in the 17th century is experiencing an economic boom, throughout Russia, fame is spreading about it as a major trade and craft center . At that time in Yaroslavl there are foreign offices - English, Dutch, German trading stations. The fire of 1658, which destroyed almost all the wooden buildings, contributed to the emergence of new stone buildings and churches, during this period the school of Yaroslavl architecture develops, icon painting and wall painting flourish.

The 18th century brings Yaroslavl the status of the center of the province, and a little later the first plan for the regular development of the city. According to this plan and its subsequent editions, in the 19th century the city is actively built up. Today Yaroslavl is one of the most beautiful cities in Russia, and its historical center is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage.