Sights of Kolomna

The historic centre of Kolomna is the area which is located inside the Kolomna Kremlin, of which now only several sections and towers remain, at the confleunce of the River Kolomenka and the River Moskva. Today this is the area around Ulitsa Lazareva, Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi and Ulitsa Zaitseva, and many of Kolomna's sights are found here. The centre of the Kremlin is formed by Sobornaya Ploschad (Cathedral Square).

Outside the Kremlin the main street is Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi (October Revolution Street) which runs all across the city. The eastern district of Kolomna is historically known as Golutvin and the city's bus station is located here next to Golutvin Station and a modern shopping centre. The main sight in this part of Kolomna is the Staro-Golutvin Monastery. You can reach the monastery by getting on any bus heading to the bus station (автовокзал) and then walk from there down Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi away from the centre.

Also of interest for tourists is the village (selo) of Staroe Bobrenevo, which is located around 1.5km north of Kolomna on the other side of the River Moskva, and can be reached by foot from the centre of Kolomna by crossing the River Moskva using the bridge at the end of Ulitsa Zaitseva. From this side of the river you can also enjoy great views of the Kolomna Kremlin.

Around the City

Archangel Michael's Church

71 Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi

Archangel Michael's Church is the biggest church in Kolomna. It was built between 1820 and 1833 in the empire style, replacing an earlier version. The bottom part of bell tower dates from the second half of the 18th century when it was built adjacent to the original stone church. The church was closed by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s and later housed the city's regional museum, which only recently vacated the church. The church has since undergone reconstruction work. Read more »

Dmitri Donskoy Monument

Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi (outside Kremlin next to Kolomenskaya Tower)

Just outside the Kremlin near the Kolomenskaya Tower stands a statue of Dmitri Donskoy on horseback and in full battle armour. The statue was unveiled in 2007 and taking into account its pedestal stands at 12 metres high. Dmitri has a special connection with Kolomna as it was here that he was married and from where he set off for the Battle of Kulikovo Field. Read more »

Kolomna Pastille Factory Museum

4 Ulitsa Polyanskaya
http://www.kolomnapastila.ru/
+7 (985) 727-52-92

The second pastille museum in Kolomna is the Pastille Factory Museum which was opened in 2011 and is located in the pastille factory founded by Pyotr Chuprikov in 1852. You can visit the museum as part of an excursion which explains the process of how the pastilles are made in the traditional way. These museums are popular stops with coach trips and so you should call in advance to ensure you get a place on an excursion. Read more »

Kolomna Pastille Museum

13A Ulitsa Posadskaya
http://www.kolomnapastila.ru/
+7 (985) 727-52-92

In the past there were so many apple orchards in Kolomna that the city would have too many apples to eat and so they were used to make sweet apple-flavoured pastilles. Over time Kolomna's fame for these pastilles spread all over the empire. Now in the city there are two museums dedicated to this local delicacy. The first is the Kolomna Pastille Museum located near St Nicholas' Church in the Posad. This museum was opened in 2009 in an old estate-house and hold excursions dedicated… Read more »

Memorial Park

opposite Sovetskaya Ploschad, Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi

Kolomna's memorial park is located on the site of a mass grave for soldiers who died on the front or in Kolomna's hospitals during the Second World War. An alley runs through it lined with busts of local war heroes. Other memorials are located in the park, including an eternal flame and monuments to grieving mothers, victims of unlawful political repression, victims of the Chernobyl and other nuclear disasters, and Kolomna's war dead from other wars and military conflicts. Read more »

Museum of Military Glory

Memorial Park, Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi

The Museum of Military Glory was opened in May 2010 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The museum is dedicated to citizens of Kolomna who took part in various wars and military conflicts and includes an electronic remembrance book containing the names of the heroes. The museum has exhibitions on the city's military history in general but mainly concentrates on the Second World War. Materials from the city archive and personal belongings are on… Read more »

Ss Peter and Paul's Church

Ulitsa Meshkova, Memorial Park

This church dates from 1779 when it was built on the Petropavlovskoe Cemetery which in turn was opened in 1775 after a cholera epidemic struck the region and Catherine the Great prohibited cholera victims from being buried in inner city graveyards. The church is built in the baroque style with a small white-stone cube church attached to a red-brick black-domed vestibule. It remained opened until 1942 when it and the adjoining cemetery were closed. The surrounding area was used as a… Read more »

St John the Apostle's Church

Ploschad Dvukh Pevolyutsi, Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi
www.apostol-ioann.ru

The original St John the Apostle's Church was a wooden church located in the kremlin. When it was burned down in the 18th century it was decided to rebuild it again in stone in the classical style, this time outside of the kremlin in its present location. Work started in 1733 but was only completed in 1756 after several breaks. The most striking feature is the church's enormous 67-metre bell tower which was completed in 1865 in the empire style. After the church was closed in 1930,… Read more »

St John the Baptist's Church

102 Ulitsa Gorodischenskaya

St John the Baptist's Church is believed to date from the 14th century making it one of the oldest buildings not only in Kolomna but also in the Moscow Region. The oldest part of the church is the cube building built out of white-stone, and this was adapted in the 16th century. A small bell tower was also attached in 1780. Closed in the 1930s and having its relics publically destroyed, the church was only reopened in 1993. Read more »

St Nicholas' Old-Believer Church in the Posad

18 Ulitsa Posadskaya

St Nicholas' Church was built in the late 16th - early 17th century to replace an older version if the church. It is unusual for two reasons: firstly as it is an Old-Believers church and secondly as it is an excellent example of an architectural style known as Russian Uzorozhie, which is similar to Russian baroque. The small white-stone church is topped with five small domes but what is unique is the five rows of small corbel arches known as kokoshniks. Next to the church is a… Read more »

Vladimir Lenin Monument

Ploschad Dvukh Pevolyutsi, Ulitsa Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsi

On Ploschad Dvukh Pevolyutsi (which translates as Two Revolutions Square) stands a statue of a silver-coloured Lenin in his standard outstretched arm pose. The statue made headlines in January 2010 when it was mistakenly believed that it had been kidnapped by vandals after it disappeared one day during the long New Year Holidays. In fact it turned out that the statue had just been removed for renovation work. Read more »

Golutvin

Staro-Golutvin Monastery

11 Ulitsa Golutvinskaya
www.starogolutvin.ru

On the very outskirts of Kolomna is the Staro-Golutvin Monastery. It was founded in 1385 (or possibly in 1374) by St Grigory of Golutvin, a pupil of St Sergius of Radonezh, upon the wish of St Sergius and Dmitri Donskoy. In fact St Sergius actually played a significant role in its foundation by choosing the location near to where the River Moskva flows into the Oka and dedicating the first church to the Epiphany. Originally just called the Golutvin Monastery the word Staro (meaning… Read more »

Inside the Kremlin

Dormition Cathedral

Sobornaya Ploschad

The main cathedral in the kremlin is the Dormition Cathedral. The original Dormition Cathedral was built in 1379 on the orders of Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich . It was here that Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich prayed before his victory at the Battle of Kulikovo Field where he earned the epithet 'Donskoy'. The cathedral holds a revered copy of the Our Lady of the Don Icon which was given to Dmitri Donskoy by the Don Cossacks before the battle (the original is held in Moscow's… Read more »

Eastern Towers of the Kremlin

along Ulitsa Kazakova and Ulitsa Zaitseva
http://www.kolomna-kreml.ru/

Of the kremlin's seven surviving towers four of them are located on the eastern side. Running north to south these are the Pogorelaya (Alekseevskaya), Spasskaya, Semyonovskaya (Simeonovskaya) and Yamskaya (Troitskaya) Towers, which are all square in form. The walls which once ran between these towers have not survived apart from a section of wall attached to the Yamskaya Tower. Read more »

Exaltation of the Cross Church

24 Ulitsa Lazareva

The Exaltation of the Cross Church is situated in what was once the trade centre of the city. The current building is built in the empire style and was constructed between 1832 and 1837 replacing an earlier version of the church. Previously it held the city's copy of the Our Lady of the Don Icon up until 1825. During the Soviet era the bell tower and dome were destroyed and were only rebuilt in the 1990s. Read more »

Kolomenskaya (Marinkina) Tower and Granovitaya Tower

along Ulitsa Oktyabryaskoy Revolyutsi
http://www.kolomna-kreml.ru/

The tallest tower of the Kremlin to survive is the Kolomenskaya Tower, which stands at 31 metres. The tower was used to watch over the west of the city and had 27 firing-holes. A spiral staircase runs up inside the tower. It is often also called the Marinkina Tower as according to legend Maryna Mniszech, who was briefly tsaritsa during the Times of Troubles, was imprisoned here. The longest surviving part of kremlin walls runs from the Kolomenskaya Tower to the Granovitaya Tower… Read more »

Kolomna Kremlin Walls

14 Ulitsa Zaitseva
http://www.kolomna-kreml.ru/

Pyatnitskie Gates The Pyatnitskie Gates used to serve as the main entrance to the kremlin, and although they have survived the surrounding walls have not. The gates were built between 1525 and 1531 and their tower is 29 metres high and 13 metres thick. The front and back of the tower are decorated with an icon and in addition the outer side has a plaque inscribed with the prayer "God Save this city and its people and bless the entrance into these gates", which was traditionally… Read more »

Novo-Golutvin Convent

9-11 Ulitsa Lazareva
www.novogolutvin.ru

There are two convents located within the Kremlin, the first is the Novo-Golutvin Convent. The convent was founded in the 19th century on the base of the residence of the archbishop which was left empty after the Kolomna Eparchy was dissolved and the archbishop was moved to Tula. It was decided that some monks from the nearby Golutvin Monastery would move to the newly vacated space and establish the Novo-Golutvin Monastery, novo meaning new. The monastery was closed during in the… Read more »

Our Lady of Tikhvin Cathedral

Sobornaya Ploschad

The Our Lady of Tikhvin Cathedral was built between 1858 and 1861 to replace an earlier version dating from 1776. It is a pretty red and white cathedral with five domes. Unlike the Dormition Cathedral which was built to be used as a summer church, this in the kremlin's winter church meaning it is heated and remains open in the winter months. The cathedral is adjoined with the kremlin's bell tower which has a 6,400kg bell named Pimen, which was made in Voronezh and put in place in… Read more »

Regional Museum

15 Ulitsa Lazhechnikova

Kolomna’s Regional Museum was recently relocated and is now located in the kremlin in the 19th century Kolchinsky Estate. The main building has two floors: the first floor holds temporary exhibitions whilst the top floor has the permanent ones which are dedicated to the history of the city from ancient times to present day. The staircase and hallway is also decorated with paintings of the city. On display in the courtyard outside are several pieces of military equipment from the… Read more »

Resurrection Church

Sobornaya Ploschad

The Resurrection Church was built between 1780 and 1789 to replace an older version of the church which was one of the first stone buildings in Kolomna. It was in the original version of the Resurrection Church that Dmitri Donskoy is supposed to have married Princess Yevdokia Dmitrievna of Suzdal. In the 19th century a new vestibule in the classical style was added. During the Soviet years the church was closed and turned into a sports hall, meaning that its interior was almost… Read more »

Ss Cyril and Methodius Monument

Sobornaya Ploschad

Also inside the kremlin is a statue of Ss Cyril and Methodius. Ss Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Byzantium who set out on a mission to convert the southern Slavs to Orthodoxy. In order to translate the Bible into the local language St Cyril invented an alphabet which would develop into the Cyrillic alphabet, the alphabet of modern Russian and other Slavic languages. This monument was unveiled in 2007 as part of a celebration dedicated to the Slavic Script Day and depicts… Read more »

St Nicholas' Guest-Church

16 Ulitsa Lazareva

This small and simple white-stone church was built in 1501 using the funds of a rich merchant, who was a guest in Kolomna hence the name of the church to distinguish it from other churches in the city dedicated to St Nicholas. In the 1930s the church was closed and much of it was damaged and destroyed, including the upper storey and the bell tower. It was returned to the church in 2002 and restoration work continues. Read more »

Uspensky Brusensky Convent

10 Ulitsa Lazhechnikova

The second convent located within the Kremlin is the Uspensky Brusensky Convent. It was originally founded as a monastery in 1552. Only after being heavily damaged during the Times of Troubles was it reorganised as a convent. The convent's most striking feature are the neo-gothic towers which form part of the convent's walls. The convent was closed in 1922. The Dormition Church was restored in the 1970s due to its historical value but restoration work only started on the remainder… Read more »

Staroe Bobrenevo

Bobrenev Monastery

village (selo) of Staroe Bobrenevo
http://bobrenew.narod.ru/

The only sight in Staroe Bobreneve is the Bobrenev Monastery. Its full name is the Bobrebev Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvensky Monastery as it is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (“Rozhdenia Bogoroditsty”). The monastery was founded in 1381 by Dmitri Donskoy after he made an oath to do so should he be victorious at the Battle of Kulikovo Field. The victorious battle took place on 8 September 1380 which is the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, hence the dedication of the… Read more »