What is the oldest city in Russia? History is silent

What is the oldest city in Russia? There is no exact answer to this question, there are versions. The most common of them, based on the first mentions in the annals, suggest that the oldest city in Russia is Derbent. There is much debate, but was there Kievan Rus at the time when the first settlements of Derbent were already built?

The Great Silk Road passed through Derbent . There were very many fierce battles for the possession of this important strategic object. The enemies stormed and destroyed the Narrow Gates. Periods of prosperity alternated with periods of decline. The city survived, and its well-preserved stone structures can be seen in the State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.

The oldest city in Russia. This is also called Veliky Novgorod. He is 1147 years old. In 862, it became the first capital of the Russian state. This city did not suffer from the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Here was the center of development of culture and painting, architecture and applied art. Now the sights of Veliky Novgorod are part of the world cultural heritage of UNESCO.

The oldest city in Russia, unfortunately, did not keep a record of its existence in the historical annals. One can only guess what it was like. Cities and settlements, which are more than 1000 years old, are many in Russia. This is the Old Ladoga, it is 1252, and Pskov - 1101, and Izborsk-1147. The figures are rather conditional, no one will now say the exact date of the foundation. In those times immemorial, they could not write yet, literacy began to spread much later than these settlements were created.

The share of ancient Russian cities fell a lot of tests. Many of them were destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth as a result of sieges and wars. Some cities were restored from scratch, and some of them disappeared into oblivion. There are no more cities Vshchizh, Verzhavsk, Zizhets, Usvyas. After them there were only references in the annals and remains of fortifications. Each of these cities, and another hundred destroyed, can claim this title - the oldest city in Russia.

There are cities with centuries-old history that managed to survive. They showed their strong vitality, passed the test of centuries, but as a result of repeated destructive wars they could not preserve the monuments of the ancient Russian past.

These cities include the Medyn of the Kaluga region (1386) and Dorogobuzh of the Smolensk region (1238). Here the princes were at odds with each other, the warriors of Batu ruled, Polish-Lithuanian detachments, soldiers of the great Napoleonic army passed through them twice Hitlerite It is not surprising that with such a military biography, there are almost no historical traces in the cities.

The oldest cities in Russia were built on the high banks of rivers. Each acquired his own, inherent only to him, appearance. But with all their uniqueness and diversity, the cities have a similar architectural silhouette, formed by churches with domes and bell towers.

And in the Middle Ages, all the ancient Russian cities had defensive fortifications. Studies continue, perhaps historians will still answer the question: "And what is the oldest city in Russia?"

In ancient Russia, there was a high art of urban development. The monuments of antiquity that have survived to our times testify to this.