Bogoliubovo

an urban-type settlement in Suzdal’ Raion, Vladimir Oblast, in the RSFSR, 10 km northeast of the city of Vladimir. Railway station. Population, 3,900 (1969). A fruit canning plant and the brick works of the Vladimir ceramic goods plant are located there.

Bogoliubovo is the former residence of Prince Andrei Bogoliubskii, who ruled from 1157 to 1174. The settlement was built between 1158 and 1165 by order of Prince Andrei at the mouth of the Nerl’ River, where it flows into the Kliaz’ma, joining the Rostov-Suzdal’ lands with the Oka and Volga river basins. The founding of Bogoliubovo was always linked by the clergy with the legend of the appearance of the Holy Virgin to Prince Andrei. After the death of Prince Andrei in 1177, Bogoliubovo was razed and looted by Prince Gleb of Riazan’, and during the Tatar invasion in the 1230’s the fortifications were destroyed. The mud walls, trenches, and the lower parts of the walls and pillars of the white brick fortifications were partially preserved. The remnants of a castle were also preserved—a walkway on semicircular arches; a white brick tower, square in plan, with a spiral staircase; and the socle part of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1158–65), on top of which a second church, in the baroque style, was built in 1751. The main basilica, the bell tower over the entrance, and the monks’ cells were built in the 19th century. The Shrouds Upon the Ned’ Church (1165) is located 1.5 km from Bogoliubovo. The architectural monuments at Bogoliubovo are under the jurisdiction of the Vladimir-Suzdal’ historical, artistic, and architectural museum and reservation.