The article deals with the origins of the image of the ideal city in ancient Russian literature (biblical and patristic thought); New Jerusalem in «Law and Grace» - Kiev; in «The Tale of the Murder of Andrei Bogolyubsky» - Vladimir; the image of ideal city into Galician-Volyn annals; ideas about the spiritual purity of the inhabitants of the old Russian city, their connection with the Church, the need to liken the earthly life to heavenly life.