July 23, 2024

A Fairytale Trip around Russia


A Fairytale Trip around Russia
Imagine life in Russian folk landscapes.  Катуллина, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Izvestiya has assembled a list of destinations for the folklore-loving traveler, ranging from sites of natural beauty to the fabled homelands of characters from Russian mythological tradition. 

Many Russian folk heroes are associated with towns in Russia's "Golden Ring" of ancient cities encircling Moscow, including Baba Yaga, whose infamous chicken-leg hut is said to have been located in the town of Kukoboy in the Yaroslavl region. Hero of Kievan Rus myth Alyosha Popovich is also said to have been born in the Yaroslavl region. 

Nearby in the Vladimir region, one can visit ancestral home of the bogatyr Ilya Muromets, a warrior who defended the Rus alongside Alyosha Popovich. 

For the more literal tourist, in the city of Kostroma, visitors can see the "birthplace" of Snegurochka, the "Snow Maiden." Snegurochka is associated with this city because playwright Alexander Ostrovsky wrote his beloved play of the same name in Kostroma in 1873. Now, the city is home to all the props and sets from the film version from 1969

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