| On the upper reaches of the Volga, around two hundred and eighty kilometres north of Moscow, is the Russian town of Uglich. The Dimitrijvskaija Church is crowned with blue, onion-shaped domes that are adorned with stars. It was built in 1692 out of stone and replaced a wooden church. Everywhere are illustrations of the mysterious death of the heir to the throne on the fifteenth of May, 1591. The red colour of the church is a symbol of bloodshed. Ivan the Terrible had two sons. The eldest, Fjodor Ivanovitch, was thought to be insane but was crowned anyway and was supported by Boris Godunov. As Godunov's sister, Irina, was married to Fjodor Ivanovitch, his dream of becoming Tsar was almost a reality. When news that the eight year old, Zarevitch, had fatally run into a knife while playing, it caused havoc. Three hundred years later the symbol of the Dimitrijevskaija Blood Church was returned to the place in which the savage deed had taken place. Subsequently, the Romanov Dynasty ruled for three centuries and Uglich became a place of sadness and remembrance of one of the most spectacular events in Russian history. |
