Rybinsk

Rybinsk stands at the confluence of the Volga, Sheksna and Cheryomukha — at the Volga's northernmost point. The first mention dates to 1071 in the Laurentian Chronicle; from the late 15th century it was the Rybnaya sloboda, supplying red fish to the tsar's table. Town status came in 1777, with a coat of arms of a bear and two sterlets. Before the revolution Rybinsk was Russia's largest grain-trade centre and the transhipment hub of the Mariinskaya water system: Gilyarovsky called it 'the grain capital of the Volga', and for its cargo role it was nicknamed 'the capital of the burlaki'. Here stands the Grain Exchange of 1842 — the third in Russia and the first in the provinces — the Transfiguration Cathedral of 1654–1660, the Rybinsk lock and the 'Mother Volga' monument. The Rybinsk hydro plant was built from 1936, its first unit launched in 1941; the reservoir it created drowned Mologa and was the world's largest artificial water body at the time. During the war the station fed Moscow's defence through a reserve cable, and the air defence shot down about fifty bombers. Since June 2025 Rybinsk has been part of the 'Golden Ring of Russia'.