Yelets Old Town

Yelets was a frontier fort against steppe raids, then a grain and trading town, and its nineteenth-century centre survives largely unaltered: low brick houses with shopfronts, iron canopies, and streets on a grid running to the river. Over all of it stands the Ascension cathedral, designed by Konstantin Ton - the architect of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow - and built between 1845 and 1889, a building sized for a city rather than a town of this scale, its bell tower dominating every view. Bobbin lace has been made here since the early nineteenth century, in a fine white style with its own patterns; a factory and a museum continue it. The writer Ivan Bunin went to school here and wrote about the town, and Mikhail Prishvin studied here too. The town was briefly taken in December 1941 and retaken within days.

What you actually see

• The Ton cathedral - a church of city scale by the architect of Christ the Saviour.
• The merchant grid - low brick streets with shopfronts and iron canopies, little altered.
• The lace - Yelets bobbin lace, still made, with a museum and a factory.
• The Bunin connection - the school town of the writer, who described it.

When to go

May to September. Half a day. The cathedral bell tower is the landmark for orientation.

Honest expectations

Much of the old centre is in poor repair. The cathedral interior is under long restoration and parts are closed. Museums keep short hours and are Russian-labelled. There is little tourist infrastructure and few places to eat.

Nearby

The Bystraya Sosna runs below; Vorgol rocks are about 15 km west.