Kirzhach was mentioned in 1332 in the will of Ivan Kalita. The Annunciation Monastery founded by Sergius of Radonezh, which is still functional nowadays, a 15th-century cathedral and the Spasskaya Church, the temple-mausoleum of the Miloslavsky boyars, have survived to this day. Near the city, Gremyachiy Klyuch, a spring of Sergius of Radonezh, especially revered by the Orthodox, is located.
Kirzhach is located 114 km from Vladimir and 108 km from Moscow.
The name of the city and the region was given by the river flowing through it. According to linguists, the word 'Kirzhach' came to us from the ancient tribes that lived here many centuries ago. It means 'left', the Kirzhach River is the left tributary of the Klyazma. Legends recorded in many church chronicles attribute the foundation of Kirzhach to the great mourner of the Russian land, Sergius of Radonezh.
"One day he went out to the river with a sandy roll, waded across it, admired the fish teeming in it, and, climbing a steep slope overgrown with mighty trees, saw, almost at the very top of it, a spring of exceptionally pure water. He quenched his thirst and looked around. Captivated by the beauty and grandeur of the area, Sergius decided to settle here.”
In 1358, he founded a monastery, which marked the beginning of the city of Kirzhach. The people of Kirzhach have always treasured the memory of Sergius of Radonezh and his successor Roman of Kirzhach and tried to the best of their ability to preserve and support the creations of ancient architects. A special place among the Kirzhach attractions is occupied by the ensemble of the women's Holy Annunciation Monastery.
The residents of Kirzhach consider the places of stay and death of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, the world's first cosmonaut, in their area the sights of national significance. The space pioneer and the first cosmonauts had parachute trainings at the airfield in Kirzhach, and, as Gagarin used to say, he loved picking mushrooms and berries here and swim in the Kirzhach river after intense training.
Yuri Gagarin died in an aviation accident in the Kirzhach district, which occurred during a training flight near the village of Novoselovo on 27 March 1968. At the site of the death of Yuri Gagarin and his flight instructor V.S. Seregin, a memorial made of red stone was erected. It resembles a flame that burst from the depths of a black funnel. The beautiful bunches of rowan berries around the monument match the sparks of this flame in autumn and winter. People come and go to the memorial all year round to honour the memory of the heroes with a moment of silence; relatives and friends and other cosmonauts gather here on the Memorial Day.
