Yaroslavl is a large river port. Its population is 635 thousand people. The city stretches for 25 km on the bank of the Volga river.
Yaroslav Mudry (the Wise) founded it in 1010. It was a large centre of trade and crafts in the 17th century. In 1722 Peter I ordered to found there a great Yaroslavl manufacturing plant and the city became a large industrial centre in the 18th century. It was the eigth industrial city in Russia and took second place in textiles at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays Yaroslavl is still a large industrial centre. It is famous all over the country for its textiles in old tradition of Yaroslavl manufactory.

Yaroslavl belongs to the "Golden Ring" cities of Russia and it's one of the largest centres of Russian architecture and arts of the 13th - 17th centuries. The city has a lot of historical and architectural monuments. The most ancient among them are Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery in the centre of the city, founded in the 12th century (the famous collector of literature masterpieces A.I. Misin-Pushkin found there the manuscript of "Slovo o Polku Igoreve" - one of the sacred items of Russian literature, at the end of the 18th century); former Metropolichii chambers (the 17th century), Znamenskaya and Uglichskaya towers of "Zemlyanoy city" in 17th century, the church of Ilia Prorok (1605) with wonderful fresco paintings, the churches of Nicola Nadein (1622) and of Rozhdestva Khristova (1644), the set of religious architecture in Korovniki, the church of Nickola Morskoy (1672). Now the departments of Yaroslavo-Rostov historico-architectural and art museum are situated in the buildings of Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery. The church of Ilia Prorok is a branch of this museum.

The biographies of many outstanding Russian people are closely connected with Yaroslavl. The creator of Russian national theatre F.G. Volkov (1728-1763) lived in Yaroslavl and founded the first Russian drama company there. World famous opera singer L.V. Sobinov (1872-1934) was born there.

Russian poet, and author of "Dubinushka" and "The song of Komarinsky man" L.N. Trefolev also lived in Yaroslavl.
The first woman-cosmonaut, and hero of the Soviet Union V.V. Nikolaeva-Tereshkova studied in Yaroslavl too.