Suzdal

The town was founded in the 10th century and was subordinate to Rostov Veliky. Later in 1125 Grand Prince Yury Dolgoruky made Suzdal the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality. His son Andrey Bogolyubsky built new capital Vladimir, and principality began to be known as Vladimir-Suzdal. Suzdal's political influence started to fade away. Although it was for a short time the centre of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod Principality in the fourteenth century. It finally was annexed by Moscow in 1392. Stone construction in Suzdal was started at the beginning of the thirteenth century before the Mongol invasion. A single Church was built — the Nativity Cathedral of Suzdal Kremlin. Once the Tatar-Mongol invasion ended and the political situation stabilized, stone construction started again in 16th century. It was just slightly inferior to the construction held in Moscow, it continued to prosper until the end of the eighteenth century. At this time Suzdal was an important trading city, located in the heart of a rich agricultural region. In the 19th century Suzdal stopped developing because the Trans-Siberian Railway bypassed it and due to the absence of factories in town. For this reason town's appearance has remained unchanged. During the time of the Soviet Union, nearly all of Suzdal's economy was planned around its tourist potential. As a result, very few modern buildings were constructed in Suzdal (by law there are no structures more than 2 stories high except cathedrals)....