Kirillov and its neighbourhood

The town Kirillov is an administrative center of the Kirillov district, the Vologda region. It is situated 130 km far from Vologda and 7 km far from the Volga-Baltic waterway. Kirillov is the so called tourist gate of the Vologda region. The town which population is about 8 thousand people meets up to a quarter of million tourists every year. The architectural ensembles of the Kirillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov monasteries and frescoes of Dionisy brought the town and its district the world glory. The famous writer of the 19^th century Andrey Muravyov called Belozerye the “Russian Thebes in the North”. First of all this poetic comparison means a large number of monasteries in the Belosersk area and the spiritual life in the walls of these monasteries… They were founded by the Moscow monks Cyril and Ferapont in the end of the 14^th century. These monasteries were the centers of Christian culture and economic life of the Russian North. The Russian North is also famous for the monastery of St. Nilus of Sora and the Goritsky nunnery situated on the shore of the Sheksna river. This nunnery was the place of imprisonment of famous Russian women.