Lake Pleshcheyevo

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Lake Pleshcheyevo

Location	Yaroslavl Oblast
Coordinates	56°45′59″N, 38°47′04″ECoordinates: 56°45′59″N, 38°47′04″E
Basin countries	Russia
Surface area	51 km²
Settlements	Pereslavl-Zalessky

Lake Pleshcheyevo (Russian: Плеще́ево о́зеро), a lake in Russia, and formerly a resort for Russian tsars, is located in Yaroslavl Oblast. The town of Pereslavl-Zalessky is on the southeastern side of the lake.

The lake, which is part of Pleshcheyevo National Park, covers an area of over 51 km², its length being 9.5 km and its shoreline 28 km. Although it is 25 m deep in the middle, the waters near the shore are quite shallow. The lake is well-known for camping, swimming, and fishing. Located on the shore is a legendary twelve-ton boulder, the "Blue stone", which was worshiped by pagans in centuries past, and is still a venue for celebrating Russian Orthodox holidays.

One of Lake Pleshcheyevo's inhabitants is a fish found nowhere else in the world in such a reduced habitat, the ryapushka, known also as "vendace" or "fresh water herring". It usually lives in much bigger lakes. The city of Pereslavl's coat of arms has two golden ryapushka on a black ground. This town was known in the Middle Ages for exporting smoked ryapushka, which was the favorite fish at the Tsars' table.

In 1688–1693, Peter the Great built his famous "funny flotilla" on Lake Pleshcheyevo for his own amusement, including the so-called Peter's little boat, which would be considered the forefather of the Russian fleet. The Botik (small boat) museum in Pereslavl-Zalessky chronicles the history of the first Russian fleet and keeps one of the original ship models.

Lake Pleshcheyevo is now a protected area under the Pereslavl Governmental Nature-Historical Natural Park authority.