Exploring Russia. Myshkin

[SergeySud]

After Uglich, my next visited town during the river cruise is Myshkin.

Assumption Cathedral (1805-1820), designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Manfrini. Built with donations from the townspeople. Myshkin, Russia

Do you remember that scene from “The Green Mile” ?

– How about Mouseville?
– Mouseville?
– Tourist attraction. Mouse city made out of old boxes and toilet paper rolls, little windows so you can look in. Plus, they got the Mouseville All-Star Circus. There are mice that swing on a trapeze. Mice that roll barrels. Mice that stack coins.
– Yeah, that’s it.

Well, here you are, welcome to real Mouseville - Myshkin (Russian: Мышкин). Is a town and the administrative center of Myshkinsky District in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. The name of the town is derived from the word "мышь" (mysh) meaning mouse in Russian.

Road sign to museums. In the form of mice, of course. Myshkin, Russia

There are several versions of the origin of the name. According to the main legend, a prince (presumably Fyodor Mstislavsky) lay down to rest on the banks of the Volga and woke up from the fact that a mouse ran over his face. At first, he got angry, but then he saw that the mouse had saved him from a crawling snake. And then he ordered to name the place in honor of the mouse that saved his life. Prince Fyodor Mstislavsky is a real person, he was a Moscow boyar who lived in the 16th century, the Governor of the town of Murom. He is an ancestor of a family that was second only to the tsar in nobility.

On the coat of arms of the town in a silver field, there is a bear standing with a golden halberd in its paw (the coat of arms of Yaroslavl because the city is part of the Yaroslavl Region), in the red field the mouse proves the name of this city.

Coat of Arms of Myshkin (This work is not an object of copyright according to article 1259 of Book IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

There is practically no industry on the territory of Myshkin. The main direction in the business of Myshkin is tourism.

The town attracts a significant number of tourists usually arriving by river cruise ships. Myshkin retains architectural features characteristic of 19th century Russia. It also features a number of museums. In Myshkin there is a “Myshkin People's Museum", a community that unites eight private museums. Among them is the world's only Mouse Museum, which contains a variety of images of mice: toys, dishes, sculptures, etc. 2,000 mouse-related items from all over the globe collected there. In 2008, the Mouse Palace was opened in the town, where inclusive excursions with interactive performances for children and adults are held. In addition to the "People's Museum", the city has an ethnographic museum, the Flax Museum and the Museum of Valenki (valenki being a type of Russian felt boots). Private retro car museum located in the town. Also very interesting is the "Myshgorod" Crafts Center where before your eyes a blacksmith makes a hairpin in a minutes, and a potter makes a clay pot.

Hairpin from a blacksmith. He made it in a couple of minutes during the tour. It's not just the bends of the metal - you can see the symbolic mouse. From left to right - nose, head, big ear, long tail.

Potter at work

Due to the fact that the city is very small and very friendly towards tourism, it left an incredibly positive impression.

Interesting fact:
Work on attracting tourists and creating a tourist infrastructure was started in 1996, from organizing the international festival "Mouse-96".

Weather vane on the roof of a private house. Myshkin, Russia

What to buy in Myshkin:
Here you can buy smoked and dried fish, and surely a huge number of themed products with the image of a mouse.

Crafted mouse-themed slippers

Smoked fish. Myshkin,Russia

What to see in Myshkin:
Mouse Museum
Peter Smirnov Museum
Makhaev Dvor Museum
Old Mill
Flax Museum
Museum of Valenki
Retro car museum
"Myshgorod" Crafts Center
Assumption Cathedral
etc.

I hope you enjoyed my story about the places I visited during the cruise.
Tag for @LuigiZ  @MahabubMunna @helga19 @TorM  @ErmesT @KseniaM 

[helga19]

Hello @SergeySud 

Thank you for mention me in your post,it is the next amazing post, tells us about unique, oldest Russian city.

Myshkin is really very interesting and famous among tourist- town on Volga River. 

I like you legend about the prince Fyodor Mstislavsky. The mouse save him from the snake.

There are many interesting museums, especially "Myshkin's People Museum"

I buy there nice souvenirs. 🐀

 

 There are a lot of wonderful things of handicrafts. 

Did you visit the monument to soldiers, who died during the World War II in Myshkin? 

Did you taste the smoked 🐠 fish?) 

It is delicious., is not it? 

Thank you you so much for your detailed story about this amazing town. 

Inna. 

I am looking forward to your next nice post about Russian cities. 

[SergeySud]

Thank you @helga19 

Of course, we visited the new memorial.

Monument to the residents of Myshkin who died in the Great Patriotic War

Opposite the monument, very touching fragments of letters from one soldier are carved on large granite stones. The soldier, a resident of Myshkin, left for the war and didn't come back. They are so touching that I couldn't take a photo. 

By the way, not far from the monument, a new museum was just opened. It's named "Small town in the great war".

[SergeySud]

@helga19 About the smoked fish.

Of course, we bought fish! As you probably know, smoked fish smells strong. Also, hot smoked fish has a very short shelf life. But I have a life hack - especially for cheese and fish, I took a vacuum sealer with me on a cruise! This is another advantage of the cruise - I carry what I want. This allowed not only to eat everything on the day of purchase but also sealed to bring it to Moscow, fresh and no smell. Of course, I had a refrigerator in my cabin, so I kept the sealed cheese and fish there.

[FaridTDF]

Me gusto mucho poder leer tu post @SergeySud la historia del ratón que salva de la serpiente y luego lo del escudo de armas es muy pintoresco, las fotos que agregaste son muy hermosas, gracias por compartir y tráenos un poco más de esa hermosa Rusia que no conozco tanto 👍🙂

saludos Farid 

[BorrisS]

Hello @SergeySud,

Thank you for sharing these stories and beautiful photos with us, the city looks amazing!

Honestly, it's the first time ever I hear about this city and it looks like a very joyful place to add to my future travel list! Did you buy something during your visit?

Feel free to edit your post and add the Google Maps locations of the areas you're talking about in your post. By doing so, other Local Guides will visualize better where each place is located.

You can edit your publication following the helpful instructions that you will find here: Edit your post - Why and How To.

[SergeySud]

Hi @BorrisS!

We only had three hours in the city. We bought several different fish because you must taste them.

I also bought this amazing unique hairpin (see my photo). After all, it was made by the blacksmith right in front of my eyes. This handcrafted product emits internal heat. Local legend says that if you stick it over the front door, it protects the house from diseases and bad people.

I'll edit my post and add the Google Maps locations of the areas I'm talking about in my post. But there is one problem - very often users thoughtlessly add photos of other places. This is a particularly big problem for well-known popular objects. They are supplemented by photos taken within a radius of tens of kilometers. Moreover, often such incorrect photos become the cover photo of the location (an example). This is a very, very common mistake. It is impossible to fight this. I have complained thousands of times about such photos, and they have never been deleted. So, other Local Guides will wrong visualize places I'm talking about. You will find, for example, that most of the objects in my first message have the Assumption Cathedral as the cover photo, but not a photo of the real object.

[LuigiZ]

Hi @SergeySud,

thank you for tagging me into your next stop, yes I do enjoy reading about your beautiful trip.

The city looks very nice and it is very fascinating the mouse history, also the origin of the name by the Prince. Incredible how all those mouse-based creations have been done to support the name, the historical origins and the tourism.

Thank you for this very interesting and beautiful contribution 😊.

[helga19]

Hello @SergeySud 

Thank you for your reply. You are quite right, this memorial is remarkable!  The letters of residents of Myshkin are touching to tears. 

New museum I did not visited, thank you for the link. 

Best wishes from Moscow, 

Inna

[helga19]

It is great idea to take vacuum sealer in cruise @SergeySud in order to save smoked fish fresh.!