Tourism in Russia > Moscow region > Mozhaysk

Mozhaysk

Mozhaysk municipal district is located in the far west of Moscow region in the upper reaches of the Moskva River. Its area is 2,614 square km. 69,400 people live in two urban and 9 rural settlements. There are 359 inhabited localities in the district.

The district centre is Mozhaysk, one of the most ancient towns in Podmoskov'e. It was first mentioned in the Russian chronicles as far back as XIII century. Joint to Moscow principality in 1303 Mozhaysk was a fortress on its western boundaries for a long time. In XVI century it was one of the largest towns of Moskovskaya Rus'. It had sovereign's court, empress' chambers, patriarch's court, a lot of churches and cloisters. Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov often visited the town.

Thanks to the greatly honored sacred icon of St. Nicholas, Mozhaysk was one of the orthodox centres of the country.

In 1624-1626 a stone Kremlin was built in Mozhaysk and remained there until the end of XVIII century, then it was taken to pieces but retained in the town coat of arms.

Mozhaysk was often in the centre of military events and suffered from the attacks of the Tatars, Lithuanians and at the beginning of XVII century from the Polish intervention. 12 km west off Mozhaysk there's a famous Borodino Field, where the main fighting in the Patriotic War of 1812 took place. The Russian army lead by M. Kutuzov beat off the attacks of Napoleon's army where there were soldiers from 20 European countries. Now Borodino is a world famous Museum-Reserve.