Tutayev: Churches, Bells and Museums

• Tutayev has ten active churches.
• Built in 1652, the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross is Tutayev’s oldest stone church.
• The museums cover, among other topics, the history of Mologa, merchant life, bell casting, and seafaring.

Historic churches stand along the riverbank, spaced 400 to 500 meters apart, their domes rising high above the town. The Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross combines a specific date with a special place in the town: it was built in 1652 and is considered Tutayev’s oldest stone church. This makes it possible to explore the religious architecture both through individual buildings and by following their sequence along the riverbank.

From the viewing platform, the main focus is the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lady of Kazan. There, the church and bell tower form an architectural ensemble atop a slope above the Volga. The viewpoint draws attention to the buildings as a unified whole, while the churches along the riverbank can be seen as a series, each with its own spacing.

The “Ozhivshaya istoriya” Museum offers insights into the history of Mologa and the life of Father Pavel Grudzev. The “Dom kuptsa S.A. Vagina” Museum focuses on the everyday lives and customs of the less affluent merchants of Romanov-Borisoglebsk. Together, the two topics offer different ways to explore the past: the history of a region and the daily life of a social group.

The house of merchant Stepan Aleksandrovich Vagin is an urban estate dating from the mid-19th century. It was built to a standard design in the Classicist style. The merchant family’s living quarters are on the second floor. This topic therefore focuses both on the estate’s architectural style and on rooms associated with the family.

The “Borisoglebskaya storona” Museum features a peasant hut and a shepherd’s house in its “Tsarskaya ovtsa” exhibition. The exhibition complements the merchant-related topics with depictions of rural life. Skver SSSR is described as one of the first open-air museums of its kind in post-Soviet Russia.

At the Museum of Bell-Casting Art, the collection comes together with the sound of bells. On display are original bells from ten of Russia’s leading bell foundries; visitors can also hear the sound of door, ship, corridor, railway, and fire bells. The collection was assembled during the 29 years that Nikolai Shuvalov’s bell foundry (Italmas LLC) was in operation.

The Museum of St. Admiral Fyodor Ushakov and the Russian Fleet offers a different way to explore bells. Activities described there include ringing a real ship’s bell, tying sailors’ knots, and handling a sail. A signal alphabet using flags, sounds, and semaphore is also part of the experience. While the bell-casting museum focuses on different types of bells and their sounds, the fleet museum’s activities connect the ship’s bell with other aspects of seafaring.

Discover more destinations: Perebory Microdistrict, Konstantinovskiy, Troitskaya Sloboda, Glebovskoye, Isakovo, Yaroslavl, Uleyma, Lukino.

Which bells are on display in the second hall?

There are 23 church bells dating from the 17th to the early 20th century. They weigh between 16 and 340 kilograms.

What does the “Tsarskaya ovtsa” exhibition include?

On display are a peasant hut and a shepherd’s house with wooden household items, benches, sheepskins, a stove, and a prayer corner.

How was the Vagin merchant’s house designed?

The urban estate dates from the mid-19th century and was built to a standard design in the Classicist style.

For the broader travel overview: Yaroslavl Oblast.