Kostroma is a historic
city and the
administrative center of
Kostroma Oblast,
Russia. A part of the
Golden Ring of Russian towns, it is located at the
confluence of the
Volga and
Kostroma Rivers. Population:
History
Under the Rurikids
The city was first recorded in the chronicles for the year 1213, but historians believe it could have been founded by
Yury Dolgoruky more than half a century earlier, in 1152. Like other towns of the
Eastern Rus, Kostroma was sacked by the
Mongols in 1238. It then constituted a small principality, under leadership of Prince
Vasily the Drunkard, a younger brother of the famous
Alexander Nevsky. Upon inheriting the grand ducal title in 1271, Vasily didn't leave the town for
Vladimir, and his descendants ruled Kostroma for another half a century, until the town was bought by
Ivan I of Moscow.