Editing Vyazma (section)

=== Medieval history and monuments ===
Vyazma was first mentioned in a chronicle under the year of 1230,<ref name="gr">{{cite book|title=Энциклопедия Города России|year=2003|publisher=Большая Российская Энциклопедия|location=Moscow|isbn=5-7107-7399-9|pages=99}}</ref> although it is believed to be much older than that. The town was named after the river, whose name was from Russian word "{{lang|ru|вязь}}" (''vyaz'''), meaning "bog" or "swamp".<ref name="Pospelov">Е. М. Поспелов. "Географические названия мира". Москва, 1998, стр.&nbsp;108.</ref> At the time, the town belonged to a lateral branch of the [[Rurik dynasty|Rurikid]] House of Smolensk, and carried on a lively trade with [[Narva]] on the [[Gulf of Finland]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Vyazma|volume=28|page=222}}</ref> In 1403, the local princes were expelled by [[Lithuania]]ns to Moscow, where they took the name of Princes Vyazemsky. The most notable among them were [[Pyotr Vyazemsky]], an intimate friend of the poet [[Alexander Pushkin]] and a poet himself, and [[Sophie Viazemski]], a French writer, for a time married to [[Jean-Luc Godard]].

In 1494, Vyazma was captured by the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]] and turned into a fortress, of which but a single tower remains. Two important abbeys were embellished with stone churches, including a rare three-[[tented roof|tented church]] dedicated to Our Lady of Smolensk ([[Hodegetria]]) and consecrated in 1638 after Polish occupation between 1611 and 1634. A [[barbican]] church of the same abbey dates back to 1656, and the town's cathedral was completed by 1676. Other churches are designed mostly in [[baroque]] style.
[[File:Spasskaya tower Vyazma2.JPG|thumb|left|Spasskaya tower is the only tower left of the medieval Vyazma Kremlin.]]
[[File:Вязьма, Церковь Одигитрии.JPG|thumb|left|[[Hodegetria]] church is one of three major three-tented churches in the world, the other two being in [[Uglich]] and [[Moscow]].]]