Letters to the Editors

To the Editors:

What a pleasure to recognize, on your cover for November, two of the churches of the village of Borisoglebsk rising above the frozen Volga. I remember well three visits there in 2001 to discuss the possibilities of attracting western tourism to this location. One night in November, we sat on the Romanov side and watched, by moonlight, young children sledding down the hill and out across the frozen Volga. For the winter months, the river is frozen enough that cars can cross between the towns.

The identification for the cover is of Tutayev, which is the name of the two towns on either side of the river since 1918. I.P. Tutayev was killed in the Civil War. Before that, the town on the east side of the river was Romanov, founded in about 1370 by the Prince of Yaroslavl. On the west side was Borisoglebsk, founded in the fifteenth century, named for Saints Boris and Glebsk. We were asked in a public meeting by the mayor of Tutayev to recommend the return of the use of the former names, which we acknowledged might be better for tourism but the idea was not approved at the time