Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

For other places with the same name, see Gorodets.
Gorodets (English)
Городец (Russian)
-  Town[1]  -

In Gorodets

Location of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia
Gorodets
Location of Gorodets in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Coordinates: 56°39′N 43°29′E / 56.650°N 43.483°E / 56.650; 43.483Coordinates: 56°39′N 43°29′E / 56.650°N 43.483°E / 56.650; 43.483
Coat of arms
Administrative status (as of February 2014)
Country Russia
Federal subject Nizhny Novgorod Oblast[1]
Administrative district Gorodetsky District[1]
Town of district significance Gorodets[1]
Administrative center of Gorodetsky District,[1] town of district significance of Gorodets[1]
Municipal status (as of February 2011)
Municipal district Gorodetsky Municipal District[2]
Urban settlement Gorodets Urban Settlement[2]
Administrative center of Gorodetsky Municipal District,[2] Gorodets Urban Settlement[2]
Statistics
Population (2010 Census) 30,658 inhabitants[3]
Time zone MSK (UTC+03:00)[4]
Founded 1152
Town status since 1922
Postal code(s)[5] 606500–606505, 606508, 606509
Gorodets on Wikimedia Commons

Gorodets (Russian: Городе́ц) is a town and the administrative center of Gorodetsky District in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Volga River, 53 kilometers (33 mi) northwest of Nizhny Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 30,658 (2010 Census);[3] 32,442 (2002 Census);[6] 34,210 (1989 Census);[7] 34,000 (1970).

History

The town was founded in 1152 by Prince Yury Dolgoruky (also the founder of Moscow) as a large fortress on the Volga River, the first Russian fortress in today's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. It was a starting point for numerous campaigns of the princes of Vladimir and Suzdal against Volga Bulgaria. In 1216, Yury II of Vladimir was dethroned by his brother and exiled here. In 1239, the town was burned to the ground by Batu Khan's army. Folk tradition identifies Gorodets with Little Kitezh, a legendary town destroyed by the Mongols.

In 1263, Alexander Nevsky died in Gorodets on his way back to Novgorod from the Golden Horde. His son, Andrey, made the town his chief residence. A famous medieval icon-painter, Prokhor, was born there. In the mid-14th century, the town was overshadowed by the neighboring Nizhny Novgorod but continued as the third largest town of Nizhny Novgorod Principality until 1408, when Edigu razed it to the ground.

For two following centuries the town was known as Gorodets Pustoy (i. e., "Gorodets the Empty"). Some chronicles state that its entire population moved slightly downstream and resettled at Salt-on-Gorodets (today's Balakhna). By the 19th century, Gorodets was revived as a prosperous village settled by Old Believer merchants and reputed for its decorative handicrafts, such as wood carving and painting. In 1875, the Nizhny Novgorod writer A. S. Gatsisky described Gorodets as a major center of trade in grain and wooden kitchenware.[8]

In 1922, Gorodets becomes a town again, as well the administrative center of Gorodetsky Uyezd (later, Gorodetsky District). Between 1948 and 1959, the dam of Gorky Hydroelectric Station (now Nizhny Novgorod Hydroelectric Station) was built a few kilometers upstream from Gorodets, and along with the station a new industrial town, Zavolzhye, was built on the right side of the Volga.

In the past, the town was also sometimes referred to as Gorodets-Radilov (Городе́ц-Ради́лов), or simply Radilov.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Gorodets serves as the administrative center of Gorodetsky District.[1] As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Gorodetsky District as the town of district significance of Gorodets.[1] As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Gorodets is incorporated within Gorodetsky Municipal District as Gorodets Urban Settlement.[2]

Architecture and culture

The chief historic monuments of Gorodets—the Trinity Cathedral (1644), St. Nicholas Church (1672), and Feodorovsky Monastery, associated with the famous icon of the same name—were destroyed by the Communists. The oldest surviving structure is a rather plain church (1707–1712), built over the site of an earlier church where the town's best known ruler, Andrey of Gorodets, was interred in 1304.

There are several museums in the town, including the Gingerbread Museum and the Samovar Museum, the latter housing a large collection of tea kettles.

Economy

Besides sharing the Nizhny Novgorod Hydroelectric Station with Zavolzhye, Gorodets has a shipbuilding industry. Traditional local crafts—woodworking, embroidery, honey bread baking—are still pursued in Gorodets, but in a more industrial way, at several local factories, whose products are available at souvenir shops all over the country.

Transportation

The electric railroad branch from Nizhny Novgorod ends in Zavolzhye; but there is a road connection over the hydro dam, which provides the only fixed crossing across the Volga between Nizhny Novgorod and Kineshma.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Order #3-od
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #114-Z
  3. 1 2 Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №271-ФЗ от 03 июля 2016 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #271-FZ of July 03, 2016 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
  5. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
  6. ↑ Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ Demoscope Weekly (1989). "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ A Guide to Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod Fair Alexander Gatsisky, 1875. (Russian)

Sources

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