Kostroma Trade Rows

Kostroma burned in 1773 and was rebuilt on a radial plan fanning out from a square above the Volga, and the trade rows were laid out as part of that from the 1780s - a set of long two-storey arcaded blocks in yellow and white, each built for a trade and named accordingly: the Flour rows, the Butter rows, the Gingerbread, the Tobacco, the Fish, the Red rows for textiles, the Small rows. They cover several hectares between the square and the river, with arched galleries running the length of each block and a church built into one of them. What makes them unusual is that they are complete - most Russian towns lost their trade rows to fire, redevelopment or the Soviet period - and that they are still in use as shops and markets rather than converted to museums, so the arcades hold hardware, food, clothes and market stalls exactly as they were built to.

What you actually see

• The complete complex - arcaded blocks covering several hectares, unusually intact.
• The trade names - Flour, Butter, Gingerbread, Fish and Red rows, each built for its trade.
• The continued use - working shops and market stalls rather than a museum conversion.
• The 1773 plan - a radial layout imposed after the fire, fanning from the square.

When to go

May to September; market days fill the arcades. One to two hours walking through them.

Honest expectations

It is a working market, not a preserved monument - expect ordinary shops, hardware and produce rather than heritage displays. Some blocks are shabby and in poor repair. Restoration is patchy.

Nearby

The Ipatiev monastery is west across the river; Susaninskaya Square is above the rows.