Iurev-Polskii

(also Iur’ev-Pol’skoi), a city and the administrative center of Iur’ev-Pol’skii Raion, Vladimir Oblast, RSFSR. Situated on the upper course of the Koloksha River, a tributary of the Kliaz’ma. Railroad station on the Moscow-Kineshma line, 68 km northwest of Vladimir. Population, 23,000 (1974). The Promsviaz’ Plant is located in Iur’ev-Pol’skii. The city’s other industrial establishments include a weaving and finishing factory, a timber combine, a milk plant, and a meat-packing plant. Educational institutions include a financial technicum and a pedagogical school.

Iur’ev-Pol’skii was founded in 1152 by Iurii Dolgorukii, and in 1212 it became the capital of an appanage principality. In 1238 it was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. In the first half of the 13th century, the city was incorporated into the Grand Principality of Moscow, and in 1708 it was included in the newly organized Moscow Province. It became the capital of a district in 1778 and of Vladimir Province in 1796.

The remains of the earthen walls of a nearly round kremlin can be seen in Iur’ev-Pol’skii. Particularly noteworthy is the Cathedral of St. George, which is representative of the Vladimir-Suzdal’ school of architecture. The cathedral was built between 1230 and 1234 and was restored in 1471 by V. D. Ermolin; it was subsequently rebuilt several times. Made of stone, the cathedral is cubical, with three apses, two vestibules, and one cupola; the facades are decorated with carved stonework. Also in the city is the Monastery of the Archangel Michael, which was founded in the 13th century; the surviving structures of the monastery are a fine 17th-century bell tower topped with a shater (tent-shaped superstructure), a cathedral with five cupolas (1792), the Znamenskaia Refectory Church (1625), and the Bogoslovskaia Church (1670), which is above the Holy Gates (1653). The city also contains a number of 19th-century wooden houses. A branch of the Vladimir-Suzdal’ Museum-Preserve of History, Art, and Architecture is in Iur’ev-Pol’skii.