Zaraysk is one of the most ancient Russian cities. It is the administrative center of Zaraysk District of Moscow Region. The city with the population of 24 232 people (as of 2006) stands on the right bank of River Osetr, an inflow of Oka. It is located at the distance of 162 km to the southeast of Moscow.

Museums

The State History, Architecture, Art and Archeology Museum Zaraysk Kremlin.

The Museum has two branches: the House of Sculptor A.S. Golubkina and Dostoevsky's Manor in Darovoe Village.

Sights of Zaraysk

Architectural monuments of the Kremlin:

The stone Kremlin built in 1528-1531 takes the area of 125 to 185 m, rectangular in the plan, with the length of the long part of about 500 meters. The Kremlin has 7 towers (Nikolsky, Kazenny, Kabatsky, Spassky, Tajnitsky, Bogojavlensky and Karaulny Towers), three of which are gate towers. Troitsky Gate was made in the eastern wall in 1789. The Kremlin yard has the following constructions:

Nikolsky Cathedral (1681);

St. John the Precurser Cathedral (1901-1904, architect K. M.Bykovsky), in neoclassical style, but painting of the church is mostly represented by mediocre modern replicas;

House of Bureaus (late 18th century) – today houses Sunday School and St. Seraphim of Sarov Baptismal Church;

Building of the former Zaraysk Religious School.

Major architectural monuments of Zaraisk:

Trinity Church of (1776-1788);

Annunciation Church (1777-1795) and the bell-tower (1825);

Gostiny Dvor (shopping arcades) (late 18th century, restored in 1977);

Ivanov's House (late 18th century);

Yartsev’s House (late 18th century);

Saint Elias Church (1819) and the belltower (1835);

Loktev's House (early 19th century);

The City Council (early 19th century);

Tipitsyn’s House (early 19th century);

Building of Zemstvo (1910) in art nouveau style;

Water tower (1914).

To the northeast of Kremlin there stand numerous 19th century two-storeyed private mansions in the style of classicism, and to the south there are mostly wooden houses of the late 19th century.

Sculptural and military monuments:

Monument to Marshal K.A.Meretskov;

Monument to soldiers from Zaraisk who perished during the Great Patriotic War;

Monument to D.M. Pozharsky;

Stele to D. Blagoev;

Stele to poet A.I.Polezhaev;

Communal grave of soldiers of the Moscow-Arzamas people's volunteer corps, who died while defending the city in 1608

Archeology monument:

Zaraysk Settlement of the Upper Paleolithic Age. It is the most ancient of the discovered settlements of the early man on the territory of the modern Moscow Region. It was found in 1980. Regular excavations are conducted there by Zaraysk Upper Paleolithic Expedition of the Aarcheology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The site is a monument of history, archeology and culture of federal value.

Around Zaraysk

12 km away from Zaraysk there is Darovoe Village, where Fyodor Dostoevsky spent his childhood and often came in his mature years. The writer’s father Mikhail Dostoevsky purchased this village in 1831, and then in 1833 acquired the nearby Cheremoshnya Village, which later was also frequented by F. M.Dostoevsky. The Village of Cheremoshnya is mentioned in the famous novel The Brothers Karamazov and Darovoe Village is described in the short story Muzhik Marey. Only a small wooden outhouse (which hosted a public library in the Soviet epoch) and a grove have remained from the Dostoevskys’ estate in Darovoe.