Golden Ring

The Golden Ring is a grouping of historic towns northeast of Moscow — including Suzdal, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostov Veliky, and Sergiev Posad — that preserve some of the oldest examples of Russian ecclesiastical architecture, much of it predating the Mongol invasion of 1237. Suzdal, the most intact, contains more than 30 churches and five monasteries within a compact area ringed by earthen ramparts, set in a flat landscape of meanders and meadows. The white-stone cathedrals of Vladimir's Assumption and Dmitrievsky churches are UNESCO-listed monuments of the 12th century.