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Kurba
Kurba is one of the largest and most ancient villages of Yaroslavl land. "Kurba" means a "dense forest".
Here archeologists find objects dating from 2000 BC.
From 1426 till the end of the 16th century it was the estate of the Kurbskiy princes family (Andrei Kurbskiy is well-known as a friend of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible).
Since 1743 the village belongs to the Naryshkin nobles.
It is the land of peaceful rivers and lawns, meadow grass smell and spacious sky. The place inspired a lot of Russian painters.
Andrei Kurbskiy
Local legend of the XV century is Andrei Kurbskiy. He is the first Russian political emigre.
In the past Kurba was an estate of the Kurbskiy princes family. Knyaz Andrey Kurbskiy is the legend of the place. He spent his childhood years here. He was an intimate friend and then a leading political opponent of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. His correspondence with the Tsar is a unique source for the history of 16th-century Russia.
He was famous for his military success in Ivan the Terrible's campaigns. At that time, Kurbsky became one of the closest associates and advisors to the Tsar. Years later he fled to Lithuania and became the first Russian political emigree.
In Kurba situated his house, which was destroyed by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.
In his youth, Andrei and Ivan came to the patrimonial lands of the Kurba princes to hunt in the local dense forests: to the north of the Kurba there was a hunting castle surrounded by a water moat. The castle seemed to be standing on an island.
Correspondence
with Ivan the terrible
Kurbsky is best remembered for a series of severe letters he exchanged with the Tsar between 1564 and 1579. In his writings, Kurbsky blames the Tsar for a number of pathologically cruel crimes.
A dramatized account of his life, in which he is depicted as the second most powerful aristocrat in Russia, only after the Tsar, who is constantly put under pressure by boyars that want to make him revolt against the imperial authority at Moscow, can be found in the epic work of Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible.
Kurba is home to a unique complex of ancient churches. One of them (build in 1770) is abandoned and is filled with frescoes from Tarkovsky films.
Kazan Temple
In the center of the Kurba village a huge monumental building, Church of an Icon of Our Lady iof Kazan stands.
It is a unique monument filled with local legends. This is a giant structure for a village with a population of 1,500 people.
It was built in 1770 in a unique 16-petal circle form with money from local peasants. It is the mixture of the Naryshkin's baroque style and the ancient Russian traditions. Inside it's painted with frescoes by Italian and Russian masters.
According to local legend, the church was built just in 40 days by several brigades. Here The miraculous icon of Our Lady of Kazan was placed.
The building has an unusual circled 16-petal shape that you'll never find anywhere in the world. Inside, it gives the impression of a visit to the monuments of ancient Rome.
It was ravaged during Soviet times and still is abandoned.
Bell Tower
The bell tower in the style of classicism was built at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. It is a five tier column with a height of 70 meters. You can even climb on it.
At the time of the Russian Empire it was a very rich merchant village.
Beautiful houses of Russian merchants still stand here.
More photos here
Yaroslavl City
The nearest city to the village of Kurba is Yaroslavl (founded in 1010). It is the capital of the Russian Golden ring. You get there in 3 hours from Moscow (by car). Yaroslavl is also called a Russian movie Mecca, has a lot of beautiful places, 17th, classic 18th - 19th centuries and Soviet (Stalin's) architecture.
Cartoon about Yaroslavl
by Petrov studio
Short clip about Yaroslavl
by studio f/16