News from Municipalities

Russian America: traditional bell ringing with performances in Russian Orthodox churches from France to Moscow and from Totma to Alaska.

14.08.2024 09:20

This summer, Russians and fellow citizens celebrate a triple date in the history of the development of Russian America with the bell ringing in Orthodox churches from France to Moscow and from Totma to Alaska.

This year we mark 300 years since the beginning of the first Kamchatka expedition, 230 years since the arrival of the Orthodox Mission to Alaska and 225 years since the founding of the Russian-American company.

Representatives of the historical and educational society "Russian America" suggested that cities associated with the development of overseas lands celebrate this event with a bell chime.

These are glorious examples of those who came before us whose soul purpose was to propagate the Orthodox faith in a new land.

In August, the small town of Totma in Russia’s Vologda Region celebrates Russian America Day at the same time as Fort Ross in northern California, once the southernmost outpost of the Russian empire in the Americas and founded by Totma native Ivan Kuskov.

Totma honours Russian navigators and explorers and the members of the Russian-American Company who founded a series of settlements on America's western coast in the early 19th century, including Fort Ross, founded by Totma merchant Ivan Kuskov in 1812.

In 1812 the first Russian colony appeared in California. Twenty-five Russians along with 80 Aleuts headed by a native of Tot’ma town Ivan Kuskov, Chief Administrator of the Russian-American Company, stepped ashore near the mouth of an unnamed river (which they subsequently named the Slavyanka) and established Fort Ross.

Kuskov made five naval trips to California. On 30 August 1812, the flag of Russia was raised over the completed Fort Ross near what is today San Francisco. Kuskov was able to buy the land where they built the fort for three blanks, three pairs of pants, two axes, three mattocks, and several strings of pearls. The fort was erected in half a year. Ten years later Ivan Kuskov went home, arriving there in 1823 with an Aleut wife. He bought a home, where he died several months later, as the long journey had damaged his health.

Now Kuskov’s former house has been made into a museum full of objects from his California adventures brought by friends of the museum. There is a long-standing friendship between the Totma regional experts and the workers at the Fort Ross museum.

Today, Fort Ross is a national park where visitors can learn about the daily life of the early Russian settlers.

Culture, International and Interregional Cooperation, District of Tot'ma