The town's image is a mix of nature, history and culture. Together they make Plyos authentic and charmingly beautiful.

The town's image is inseparable with the creations of a prominent artist Isaac Levitan. As a master of "mood landscape" he created about 200 of his paintings there. The highest point of the town is called after him and the house where he stayed was turned into a house museum.

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The Museum of Landscape Paintings is located in Plyos. It is the only museum in Russia dedicated to landscape paintings. In the museum's collection there are works by such remarkable artists like A. Savrasov, I. Shishkin and V. Polenov. There are also paintings by Levitan's friends and students and by soviet artists.

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Since the middle of the twentieth century this town at the Volga River has been attracting both artists and filmmakers. Many of the soviet popular films were filmed there. Among them are The Two Captains, A Cruel Romance, Chinese Service and The Little Golden Calf.

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Plyos is a true open-air museum. For the two last decades 50 old buildings were reconstructed, among them are either architectural monuments and traditional small three-window houses.

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5 FACTS ABOUT PLYOS

Not far from the town there is an underwater labyrinth on the bed of the Volga River. The information about this artificial rapid first appeared in old bylina, a genre of Russian epic literature. A rocky labyrinth made it almost impossible for ships to go down the river. That is why Plyos was the right place for a fortnight and a customs point. You can learn more about the unique archaeology of Plyos at The Public Office Museum and Expo Center.

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Visit the Levitan Memorial Museum. It is a house museum of the great artist who lived there in 1888 and 1889 and painted more than 200 pieces of art. In this small space you can plunge into everyday life of the end of the nineteenth century and see many authentic items.

Walk up the Sobornaya hill and the Levitan's hill and take a photo in the style of the classic Russian landscape painting.

Pop into the workshops of Plyos artists and jewelry designers and attend their master-classes.

Go for a boat ride on the Volga River, enjoy the town's landscape from the water and breathe fresh Volga air.

Walk along atmospheric streets among traditional Plyos three-window small houses and merchants' mansions that were renovated within the Hidden Russia project.

Visit the Ivolga Eco Park, go through ropes course and walk to the nature trail in a scenic forest and along the Volga River bank.

Try local patties called kuleikas and ugols with bream in eateries and cafes.

ATTRACTIONS

WHERE TO EAT

WHERE TO STAY

SOUVENIR IDEAS

Smoked Volga bream in vacuum packaging from Ryba-Lesch shops and famous patties called ugols with bream from Rybniy Ugol eatery.

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Hand-made toys, tissues, tablecloths and pillows from Furlyalyay shop.

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Hand-made women hats from Stolichnaya Modistka Artistic Workshop by Elena Klestova.

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Souvenirs and delicacies from Nasledniki A. I. Solodovnikova shop.

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Paintings and aquarelle paintings by the best Plyos artists like V. Panchenko, V. Nuzhdin, A. Fyodorov and V. Obmanschin.

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Jewelry and decorations by Plyos jewelry designers D. Golubev and B. Nikitin.

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Homemade jams and pickled food, cooking books and souvenirs by Elena Manyenan from Chastiy Visit Russian-French hotel and restaurant.

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Yakovlevskiy jacquard: elegant, eco-friendly and long-lasting tablecloths, towels and tissues made of linen and jacquard.

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Silver jewelry by Krasnaya Presnya factory.

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