The 'Golden Ring' (Zolotoe Koltso) is a modern name for a loop of very old towns north-east of Moscow that preceded the present capital as the political and cultural heart of Russia. The towns' churches, monasteries, kremlins (city forts) and museums make an incredibly picturesque port-folio of early Russian craftwork. Another attraction of the region is that some of the towns are really little more than villages, providing a peaceful glimpse of country life as it is lived all over European Russia.