Kostroma, Left tributary of the Volga River in Kostroma Oblast and Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia
The Kostroma River is a tributary of the Volga, running through Kostroma Oblast and Yaroslavl Oblast in European Russia. It winds in wide curves across a flat, forested landscape before reaching the Gorky Reservoir at its mouth.
The Kostroma once flowed directly into the Volga at a different point, but the construction of the Gorky Reservoir in the 1950s shifted its mouth. That project permanently changed the lower part of the river's course.
The river's name comes from an old Slavic tradition in which rivers were treated as living presences tied to the seasons. Along its banks, villages have long arranged their fields, paths, and landing points around the water's yearly cycle.
The river is navigable below the town of Buy, where the channel widens and the current steadies. Water levels rise considerably in spring, so the timing of a visit affects what you can do along the banks.
For its last stretch before emptying into the reservoir, the river forms the natural boundary between Yaroslavl and Kostroma regions. This line is not marked on any bridge, but the administrative border follows the riverbed exactly.
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