From Moscow to Ryazan: a quick ride on the double-deck Voronezh express invites a visit. Ryazan traces its roots to 1095 and is now more than 930 years old. The city feels far from sleepy; it’s a dynamic place where modern life sits beside banners of history. The Ryazan Kremlin is famous, but it’s not a fortress in the usual way—it lacks outer walls.
Ryazan began as Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky in 1095. The true Ryazan lay about 50 kilometers away, but in 1237 Batu Khan’s army burned the capital of the Murom-Ryazan principality. The city never fully recovered, and its status moved to Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. This outpost marked the route of Mongol troops toward Moscow and stood on the frontier of the Zasechnaya Line, where forests offered defense against raiders.
Legends tie the defense of the land to a saying about mushrooms with eyes that watch. Mushrooms found along the Zasechnaya Line were not picked; if the caps lay chewed, raiders had passed. Today these eyes live on as statues around the city. Tour guide Olga Pimenova notes there are 14 statues in Ryazan, one large and 13 small.
Ryazan took its present name in 1778 during Catherine II’s reign. The governorate formed, and in 1780 a master plan laid out boulevards, broad streets and stone houses, replacing wooden walls and towers of Ostrog. The surviving elements included the walls, the Assumption Cathedral and the bishop’s courtyard, with further construction through the centuries, including the Cathedral Bell Tower.
The Ryazan Kremlin remains the main draw for visitors, yet it sits alongside a broader urban story. The city’s history goes deeper, with sites dating to Mesolithic times discovered around the Kremlin. Evidence points to human life in the area between the Oka and Trubezh rivers, indicating Stone Age occupation long before written records.
RIAMZ has gathered artefacts that span millennia. A mammoth skeleton, a woolly rhinoceros skull, and Mesolithic tools illuminate the long arc of habitation. The Iron Age brought new techniques, while Finno-Ugric peoples lived in the region until the 7th century, with Vyatichi arriving in the 9th. A dedicated gallery chronicles Ryazan from the 11th to the 19th centuries, forming a bridge between ancient and more recent history.
The walk from RIAMZ to the Kremlin runs along Sobornaya Street, past the Youth Theater building, a drama venue dating from the late 19th century. To the right stands Zurab Tsereteli’s statue of Prince Oleg Ryazansky, installed in 2007. Ahead is the Ryazan provincial administration building, a reminder of the region’s cultural life. A new cultural cluster is taking shape there.
On Pochtovaya Street, pedestrians discover restaurants, bars and cultural spaces, including the museum Smells of Bread. Families can visit with children to learn that buns do not grow on trees. Kalinnik, Ryazan’s beloved dessert, can be sampled more than one way.
Kalinnik today is a cake made with wheat and rye flour, layered with viburnum jam and apples, finished with white chocolate and condensed milk. A modern version, balancing sweetness with a hint of tartness, reflects a long-standing Ryazan tradition. The origins were nearly lost, but in 2018 Titov, a restaurant manager and brand chef in the Ryazan dining network, rediscovered the recipe during a tour in Sasovsky district. There they learned to prepare a rye-dough pie with viburnum wrapped in cabbage leaves, giving today’s kalinnik its distinctive character. Other variations include fillings with currants, sea buckthorn, or raspberries. Once tasted, visitors often want to return for more.
Ryazan VDNKh, a nod to the city’s mid‑20th‑century fair culture, began in 1955 as the Ryazan Regional Agricultural, Industrial and Construction Fair. It transformed into a trading town in 1959, became a market in the 90s, and faced neglect during the following years. Now the project is reviving: most pavilions have been refreshed and host cafes and shops. A hall showcases local crafts such as Skopin ceramics, Kadom veniz, Mikhailovsky lace, and there is a Coffee Museum run by a local roaster. Ghost statues have appeared recently, and some plaster figures from the old Trade Town have been revived with white accents.
A two-day visit can easily include nature in the Meshchersky landscapes divided by the Oka River into forests and steppes. The Oka Biosphere Reserve protects cranes, geese, herons, black storks and the muskrat, with a visitor center and Nature Museum housed in a former brick factory. Summer rafting along the Pre River is popular, and bird lovers may visit the Rare Crane Species Nursery or the Caucasian-Belovezhskaya Bison Nursery.
History buffs will want to explore Old Ryazan, a settlement in the region that bore the brunt of Batu Khan’s campaigns. Izhevsk is another highlight, birthplace of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, with two museums dedicated to the space pioneer. A guided excursion to the Filatov House reveals the life of Ivan Filatov, a self-taught photographer who captured weddings, parades, worker demonstrations, and everyday life from the late 19th century into the early 20th. The village of Izhevskoye preserves about 700 stone peasant houses, a reminder of a once prosperous community.
Izhevskoye was wealthy enough to allow peasants to buy their freedom from masters in 1832, decades before serfdom ended. Tours of the Filatov House are limited and must be scheduled in advance. Local historian Nikita Girin has studied Filatov’s archives and believes the site could become a leading small museum in Russia, telling stories of freedom, community governance, and the resilient, industrious people who shaped the area.
Gezi Tutu was organized within the scope of the Media Intelligence project.