Vladimir was founded in 1108 by Vladimir Monomakh. Later it became the center of Vladimir-Suzdal principality, when Monomakh's son Yuri Dolgorukii moved the seat of Great Princes of Russia from Kiev to Vladimir. The city's period of greatest importance was probably in the late 12th and early 13 century, up to the Mongol invasion. Several of Russia's greatest architectural monuments were built in Vladimir during this time.In 1238, Vladimir was besieged and taken by the Mongol hordes under Batu Khan. The city never recovered fully, and though it remained the pricipality's capital for a century, Vladimir gradually lost its political and cultural significance to Moscow.In the 15th century the Italian architect who designed several buildings in Moscow's Kremlin visited Vladimir to study its cathedrals. Several of the Kremlin's cathedrals were modeled after those in Vladimir.Remains of the holy prince Alexander Nevsky were kept in the ancient Nativity abbey of Vladimir until 1703, when Peter the Great had them transferred to Saint Petersburg (Russia)|Saint Petersburg.Vladimir continued to be an important provincial city. In the Soviet era the city was heavily industrialized, though much of its historic center remains. http://wikitravel.org/en/Vladimir