I want to tell you a few words about the history of Saratov.
Saratov was founded in 1590 as a stronghold against the forays of nomads. The buildings were wooden and in 1693 our city suffered the same fate as London in 1666 - a great fire demolished the settlement, also it's wooden Trinity Church.
The inhabitants began to reconstruct the town and built a new Trinity Church using stones and bricks in 1695. According to the chronicle, Tsar Peter the Great visited the city in the summer of the same year sailing along the Volga to Azov.
In 1712 another big fire broke out and destroyed a lot of buildings and houses but the Trinity Church survived that desaster.
Peter the Great visited Saratov for the second time for negotiations with Kalmyk Khan, Ayuka, in 1722. The Tsar was pleased to see the wonderful Cathedral and was satisfied with the negotiations with Kalmyk Khan. The town fathers decided to rebuild that place: the streets must be wide and laid in straight lines.