The ancient Russian provincial town of Makariev (14pics)

Greeting, friends.

Makariev

There is a point on the map of Russia with this name. This is a small town in the Kostroma region, which is located on the banks of the Unzha River. This city is officially more than 580 years old. But a little more than five and a half thousand people live in this city. The fact is that there are no large industrial enterprises here, there are only small timber processing companies. Only in the city center, you can see several brick two-story houses that were built in the 19th century. In fact, all the houses in the city are built of wood. The city stretches along the river for about 7km. When I found myself in this place in the late eighties of the last century, I was surprised that many people ride bicycles, even women at a fairly mature age. In those days, only children rode bicycles in my native village. After analyzing such a love of people for bicycles, I decided that it was connected because of the terrain. There is not a single hill in the city, the terrain is absolutely flat.
I was also surprised by the street structure of the city. The streets radiated from the central park and were connected by ring alleys. This is a structure of old cities, for example, Kostroma, and Moscow. I immediately decided that it was very inconvenient. There are very long distances between streets on the outskirts of the city.



A small old city park is a space surrounded by a ring road. In former pre-revolutionary times, it was the courtyard of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, which occupies the central place of the city. There is a fountain in the park on the central pedestrian path. How old is he? I don't know. But I've never seen water in it. But this bowl always looks clean and tidy.



Old houses are located opposite the cathedral. Who could have lived in them before, to whom could they belong? Local rich merchants, officials, nobles. Who lives in them now? People who can't build themselves a better home.
My wife's cousin lives in one of these houses. Once in Soviet times, the city administration allocated her family an apartment. For all these years, since the mid-80s of the last century, there has not been a single repair in the house. Do you know what the condition of this house is now? It's scary to live in it.
In the 90s, descendants of the owner of this house came to the city from the USA. They told the cousin - live on in this house. I want to say that the condition of such houses in the city is very bad. People are not interested in the quality of these houses. There are no prospects for development in the city. Young people are trying to leave the city.
This city is interesting for its silence, tranquility, and unhurried flow of life. Here you can find good fishing, hunting, mushrooms, and berries. How do people make a living in this city? Basically in this way. They are fed by the forest, they earn money by harvesting and processing wood.









Lenin. The world leader of the proletariat. That 's how people were taught to call him in Soviet times . The USSR died a long time ago, but monuments to this leader still stand in every Russian city. And in every city there is a street with the name of this person. I noticed that in recent years all the monuments to Lenin have been thoroughly renovated. It's bad.



One of the streets from the Cathedral leads to the city cemetery.









Houses in the city mostly have a similar format. The buildings are very close to each other and there is a fence between them higher than the height of a person. It was also unusual for me to see it for the first time. I'm not used to such closed blind fences. Yes, since about the beginning of this century, two-storey houses began to appear in the city. Almost all of them are made according to the same project, as in the previous photo. These houses are designed for 2 families.
Friends, look at what kind of platbands this house has. This is a feature of old Russian houses. I have even met newly built houses, which the owners decorated with such beautiful carved platbands. In the old days, people even competed with each other with the beauty of such platbands.



I wanted to show the monastery, which was built first on the banks of the river Unzha and next to which the city was formed. In Soviet times, there were household warehouses on its territory, then nuns came to live there, now it is again a men's cathedral. In the 90s, it was free to visit it, and now the entrance to its territory is closed.



The monastery is located on a high bank, and below it is this chapel, in which there is a source of holy water. I noticed that all spring water near any church or monastery is considered holy.



I want to say that I have been visiting this city several times a year for 35 years. This is the city of my wife's childhood, the city where her mother lives, and where her father also lived. I walk the streets of this city a lot and I have accumulated various materials that I want to share with my readers in the future.

I hope that it is interesting for someone to see the simple streets of an ordinary Russian town. Moscow is also Russia, but it is a completely different Russia. Often Russians even say that Moscow is another country, but not Russia.