Description

In 2002 the Central Bank of the Russian Federation began an annual program that each year commemorates some of their historical towns on bi-metallic 10 Ruble coins. The coins picture the city and its arms on one side and has the standard Russian 10 Ruble obverse on the other. Unlike a lot of coin programs throughout the world there is no set regularity to the number of coins released each year in this series, with some years seeing 4 coins issued and other years only 3.

Belozersk is a town and the administrative center of Belozersky District in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the southern bank of Lake Beloye.

Belozersk was known as Beloozero (Белоо́зеро, lit. white lake) until 1777, it was first chronicled in 862 as one of the five original Russian towns (the other four being Murom, Novgorod, Polotsk, and Rostov). According to the Primary Chronicle, Sineus, a brother of Rurik, became the prince of Beloozero in 862.

In the 11th century, the region was still inhabited primarily by Finno-Ugric tribes who fiercely resisted Christianization. In 1071, local pagan priests rose in rebellion, which was put down by the Kievan commander Yan Vyshatich. The Primary Chronicle reports that the dead bodies of priests were suspended from an oak tree, until they were torn to pieces by a bear (regarded by pagans as a holy animal). From the 10th to the 13th centuries, the territory was controlled by the Novgorod Republic. Beloozero was the seat of a small principality between 1238 and the 1370s, but subsequently between 1380 and 1384 became subordinate to the Grand Duchy of Moscow.