Suzdal

Suzdal () is a town and the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 10,535.
Suzdal is one of the oldest Russian towns. In the 12th century it became the capital of the principality, while Moscow was merely one of its subordinate settlements. Currently, Suzdal is the smallest of the Russian Golden Ring towns with a population of approximately 10,000, but it has more than 40 historically important monuments and 200 architectural sites. Several of them are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History.
The town's history dates back probably to 999 or 1024 and in 1125 Yury Dolgoruky made Suzdal the capital of the Rostov-Suzdal principality. Suzdal began to function as a capital at the time when Moscow was still a cluster of cowsheds. In 1157 Andrei Bogolyubsky moved the capital from Suzdal to Vladimir, from which time the principality was known as Vladimir-Suzdal. Set in a fertile wheat-growing area, Suzdal remained a trade centre even after Mongol-led invasions. Eventually, it united with Nizhny Novgorod until both were annexed by Moscow in 1392.
After a decline in political importance, the town rose in prominence as a religious center with incredible development projects funded by Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, wealthy merchants paid for 30 charming churches, which still adorn the town. Thus Suzdal reached a remarkable ratio of churches to citizens: at one point, 40 churches per 400 families.
In 1864, local merchants failed to coerce the government into building the Trans-Siberian Railway through their town. Instead it went through Vladimir, away. As a result, Suzdal was bypassed not only by trains, but by the 20th century altogether. Furthermore, in 1967 Suzdal earned a federally protected status, which officially limited the development in the area. That is why the place remains largely the same as ages ago—its cute wooden cottages mingling with golden cupolas that reflect in the river Kamenka, which meanders sleepily through gentle hills and flower-filled meadows.
In 1943 high ranking Nazi officers captured at the Battle of Stalingrad were imprisoned within the monastery 
Today, the town operates as an important tourist center, featuring many fine examples of old Russian architecture—most of them churches and monasteries. Although having just under ten thousand residents, Suzdal still retains a rural look with streams and meadows everywhere and chicken and livestock a common sight on the streets, some of which remain unpaved. This juxtaposition of stunning medieval architecture with its pastoral setting lends Suzdal a picturesque charm, and in the summer, artists and easels are a common sight.
Administrative and municipal status.
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Suzdal serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District, to which it is directly subordinated. As a municipal division, the town of Suzdal is incorporated within Suzdalsky Municipal District as Suzdal Urban Settlement.
Tourism.
The only industry in the town is tourism. Suzdal avoided the industrialisation of the Soviet times and was able to preserve a great number of stunning examples of the Russian architecture of the 13th-19th century. There are 305 monuments and listed buildings in Suzdal, including 30 churches, 14 bell towers and 5 monasteries and convents. 79 of them are federally protected buildings and 167 are regionally protected.
In 1992 two of the monuments (Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius and Kremlin with Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral) were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, together with six other White Monuments in this region.
Infrastructure.
There are four major hotels in Suzdal:
There are also 50 guest-houses with a total number of 700 more rooms. Thus Suzdal has developed an outstanding ratio of about 20 hotel rooms per 100 population ("comparing to 0.2 rooms for Russia in general, or 1.6 rooms for USA").
Suzdal has 13 restaurants ("with 1429 seats"), 10 cafes ("305 seats"), 11 bars and 73 souvenir shops.
In 1982 Suzdal became the first Russian town to receive "La Pomme d'Or" "("The Golden Apple")" - a prize for excellence in the tourism industry, awarded annually by the World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers (FIJET).
Film.
More than 60 movies were filmed in Suzdal and the vicinity. Among them:
According to local historian Yury Belov, in the summer of 1964 three different feature films ("Metel", "Zhenitba Balzaminova" and "Tsarskaya nevesta") were filmed in Suzdal at the same time.
Twin towns.
Suzdal is twinned with: