Kursk is one of the most ancient Russian towns. It was founded evidently in the X century, but the first written mention of Kursk occurs in the thirties of XI century. For a long time the town remained a fortress which guarded the frontiers of Kiev Rus and ruled in it Prince Izyaslav-the son of Vladimir Monomach. At the beginning of the XIII century it was destroyed by the Tatar-Mongol and fell into decay, which lasted for more then two hundred years. That is why you can not find any monuments of ancient Slavic architecture in Kursk.
Kursk was rebuilt in the XVI century when in 1596 under the leadership of Voevode Ivan Poleva on the site of the former town new fortress was erected, which got the former name. The town was rapidly built up with wooden constructions but fires razed them from time to time. Now the oldest building in Kursk is Verchney Troitsa church, which was founded in 1695 and sanctified in 1705.

By the middle of the XVIII century Kursk was one of ten the largest towns in Russian Empire. At that time new stone churches appeared in it and some of them you can see today: Sergiev-Kazansky cathedral and St.Michael church. During the reign of Catherine II old fortress was pulled down and Kursk got the main lay-out.
In the XIX century Znamensky cathedral was erected. Its magnificent dome is seen from different places of Kursk till now. In that century a tradition to build one-two storey dwelling houses with gardens established. A remarkable Russian poet Feodor Tutchev being that time in Kursk wrote of it: "The location is splendid.. this is one of those places, which if it were not in Russia would have been interesting for tourists".