Kitezh

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Kitezh

Kitezh was a legendary town

Town

A town is a type of human settlement ranging from a few to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition....
in what is today the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. With a population of 1.3 million, Nizhny Novgorod is the largest city of the oblast and the fourth largest city of the Russian Federation, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk....
in Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.

legend has it that Georgy II

Yuri II

Yuri II , also known as George II of Vladimir or Georgy II Vsevolodovich , was the fourth Grand Prince of Vladimir who presided over Vladimir-Suzdal at the time of the Mongol invasion of Russia....
, Grand Prince

Grand Prince

The title Grand Prince or Great Prince ranked in honour below emperor and tsar and above a sovereign prince .Grand Duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in English and Romance languages, which do not normally use separate words for a "prince" who reigns as a monarchy had been for centurie...
of Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway . It is the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast....
, first built the town of Maly Kitezh (Little Kitezh) on the Volga River

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, Discharge , and Drainage basin. It flows through the western part of Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia....
(today's Krasny Kholm

Krasny Kholm

Krasny Kholm is a types of settlements in Russia in the north-east of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 6,200 ; 6,396 .Krasny Kholm was attested as the village of Spas-na-Kholmu as early as 1518....
). It is sometimes erroneously identified with Gorodets

Gorodets

Gorodets is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Volga River, north-west of Nizhny Novgorod....
, which was actually founded some 30 years before Georgy's birth in 1189.

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Encyclopedia

Kitezh was a legendary town

Town

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.

The legend

The legend has it that Georgy II

Yuri II

Grand Prince

Vladimir

Volga River

Krasny Kholm

Gorodets

River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
s of Uzola

Uzola River

Uzola River, also spelled as Usola River is a river in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga. The length of the river is 147 Kilometre ....
, Sanda, and Kerzhenets

Kerzhenets River

Kerzhenets River is a river in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga, joining the Volga near Lyskovo, about 70 km east of Nizhny Novgorod....
and found a beautiful spot on the shores of the Svetloyar Lake, where he decided to build the town of Bolshoy Kitezh (Big Kitezh). According to folk etymology, the name of the town came from the royal residence of Kideksha

Kideksha

Kideksha is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Suzdalsky District of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kamenka River and Nerl River s, east of Suzdal....
(near Suzdal

Suzdal

Suzdal is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, situated north-east of Moscow, from the city of Vladimir, on the Kamenka River....
), ransacked by the Mongols in 1237, while Max Vasmer

Max Vasmer

Max Vasmer was a Russian-born Germany linguistics who studied problems of etymology of Indo-European languages, Finno-Ugric languages and Turkic languages and worked on history of Slavic, Baltic, Iranian, and Finno-Ugric peoples....
labels the place-name as "obscure".

After having conquered some of the Russian lands, Batu Khan

Batu Khan

Batu Khan was a Mongols ruler and the founder of the Blue Horde. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His Blue Horde became the Golden Horde , which ruled Kievan Rus' and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies of Poland and Hungary....
heard of Kitezh and ordered his army to advance towards it. The Mongols soon captured Maly Kitezh, forcing Georgy to retreat into the woods towards Bolshoy Kitezh. One of the prisoners

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
told the Mongols about some secret paths to the Lake Svetloyar. The army of the Horde

Golden Horde

The Golden Horde is a East-Slavic designation for the Mongol?later Turkic languages?Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus....
followed Georgy and soon reached the walls of the town. To the surprise of the Mongols, the town had no fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs....
s whatsoever. Its citizens didn't even intend to defend themselves and were engaged in fervent praying, asking God for their redemption. On seeing this, the Mongols rushed to the attack, but then stopped. Suddenly, they saw countless fountains of water bursting from under the ground all around them. The attackers fell back and watched the town submerge into the lake. The last thing they saw was a glaring dome of a cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
with a cross on top of it. Soon, there were only waves.

This legend gave birth to numerous incredible rumors, which have survived to this day. It is said that only those who are pure in their heart and soul will find their way to Kitezh (ironically, the road to the lake is still called "??????? ?????", or the Path of Batu). It is also said that in calm weather one can sometimes hear the wailing sound of chiming bell

Bell (instrument)

A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually an open-ended hollow drum which resonates upon being struck....
s and people singing from under the waters of the Lake Svetloyar. Some people say that the most pious individuals may actually see the lights of religious procession

Procession

A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner....
s (called "???????? ???") and even buildings on the bottom of the lake. This is why the Lake Svetloyar is sometimes called the "Russian Atlantis

Atlantis

Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias .In Plato's account, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC....
".

Kitezh in arts

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov , also Nikolay, Nicolai, and Rimsky-Korsakoff, was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as "The Five." Noted particularly for a predilection for folk and fairy-tale subjects as well as his extraordinary skill in orchestration, his best known orchestral compositions...
opera Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is an opera in four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on a combination of two Russian legends: that of St....
(1907) is partially based on the legend of Kitezh.

The town is also mentioned, among many other references to Russian folklore, in Monday Begins on Saturday
Monday Begins on Saturday

Monday Begins on Saturday is a 1964 science fiction / science fantasy novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Set in a fictional town in northern Russia, where highly classified research in Magic occurs, the novel is a satire of Soviet Union scientific research institutes, complete with an inept administration, a dishonest, show-horse pro...
, a novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky and Charodey

Charodey

Charodey is a 1982 in film Soviet film directed by Konstantin Bromberg, loosely based on the science fantasy novel Monday Begins on Saturday by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky....
film and film script.