The first reference to Suzdal was made in the chronicle in 1024 in connection with the peasants' uprising, which spread "throughout the land". At the turn of the 12th century a fortified town (i.e. the kremlin) was built at the bend of the Kamenka river.

The ancient cathedral of the Assumption was constructed in the Kremlin by the craftsmen of prince Vladimir Monomahk of Kiev at the end of the 11th - the beginning of th 12th centuries. It was at the same period that the first Suzdalian monastery of St. Demetrius was founded to the west of the Kremlin. To the east of the Kremlin the posad inhabited by craftsmen and traders began to grow. The posad was also fortified with ramparts and walls. All the main parts of the old town (the Kremlin, the posad, the monasteries) are well preserved in Suzdal. Suzdal is one of those rare towns in Russia, which could preserve their old lay-out. The best monuments to be visited - the Kremlin, the monastery of Our Saviour and St. Euthimius and the Museum of Wooden Architecture - belong to the Vladimir-Suzdal museum-reserve.