Any ancient city has preserved many different architectural monuments, historical places and other attractions. Not an exception is Yelets, which is incredibly rich in architecture and unique objects.
Initially, the development of the city went in an disordered way, but at the end of the eighteenth – beginning of the nineteenth century a special plan appeared for the development and construction of an ever-growing settlement. The results of the implementation of the special plan are visible to this day. In the center of the city, a small island of old buildings built according to the projects of 1770 was preserved.
In the city itself and its environs, many residential estates, which belonged in the past to noble persons of the state, are still preserved. They are dated to the first half of the nineteenth century. A tribute to the people who glorified the city, and also played a significant role in the history of the whole country, gives a lot of monuments, plaques, monuments.
Now in Yelets there are several house-museums in which you can visit the exhibition dedicated to the former owners of these buildings. So, for example, there are house-museums of N. N. Zhukov and T. N. Khrennikov. In honor of the great writer I. A. Bunin, a literary and memorial museum was erected, which collected various materials related to the life and work of the Nobel laureate.
In 1918, at the initiative of the writer M. M. Prishvin, a school museum of visual aids appeared in the city. During the Civil War, he was sacked by Mamontov’s troops. Later, it was restored and retrained in local history. Today, the museum has many rare unique exhibits. For example, Bunin’s personal items, paintings by Aivazovsky and Vereshchagin, ancient household items, weapons and much more are exhibited here.
And, of course, visiting Yelets, it is impossible not to admire the beauty of ancient Orthodox churches, of which there are many, and each of them is unique in its own way. The Grand Ducal Church was founded in 1909, and on February 11, 1911, the consecration of the new church took place. The gaze of the townspeople appeared in a magnificent building, decorated with golden domes and colored majolica. After this, the facility had to go through a lot, in the early nineties the building was in critical condition. However, thanks to the timely intervention of the authorities, a restoration was carried out and now the Grand-Ducal Church looks almost the same as a century ago .