Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod (), colloquially shortened as
Nizhny and also
transliterated into
English as
Nizhniy Novgorod or
Nizhni Novgorod or
Nizhnii Novgorod, is the fourth largest city of
Russia, ranking after
Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and
Novosibirsk. Population: 1,311,252 (
2002 Census). It is the economic and cultural center of the vast
Volga-Vyatka economic region, and also the administrative center of
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and
Volga Federal District.
From
1932 to
1990 the city was known as
Gorky () after the writer
Maxim Gorky.
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A medieval house in Nizhny Novgorod |
A seat of medieval princes
The city was founded by Grand Duke
George II of Russia in
1221 at the confluence of two most important rivers of his principality, the
Volga and the
Oka. Its name literally means
Newtown the Lower, to distinguish it from the older
Novgorod. A major stronghold for border protection, Nizhny Novgorod
fortress took advantage of a natural moat formed by the two rivers.
Along with
Moscow and
Tver, Nizhny Novgorod was among several newly-founded towns that escaped
Mongol devastation on account of their insignificance and grew up into great centers of Russian political life during the period of
Tatar yoke. Its importance further increased, when the seat of the powerful
Suzdal Principality was moved here from
Gorodets in
1350. Grand Duke
Dmitry Konstantinovich (
1323-
1383) sought to make his capital a rival worthy of Moscow: he built a stone citadel and several churches and was a patron of historians. The earliest extant
manuscript of the
Russian Primary Chronicle, the
Laurentian Codex, was written for him by the local monk Laurentius in
1377.
The strongest fortress of Muscovy
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The Kremlin is the oldest structure in Nizhny Novgorod |
After the city's incorporation into
Muscovy (
1392), the local princes took the name
Shuisky and settled in Moscow, where they were prominent at the court and briefly ascended the throne in the person of
Vasili IV. Nizhny Novgorod was regarded by the Muscovites primarily as a great stronghold in their wars against the
Tatars of Kazan. The enormous red-brick
kremlin, one of the strongest and earliest preserved citadels in Russia, was built in
1508–
1511 under supervision of Peter the
Italian. The fortress was strong enough to withstand Tatar sieges in
1520 and
1536.
In
1612, the so-called
national militia, gathered by a local merchant
Kuzma Minin and commanded by
Knyaz Dmitry Pozharsky expelled the
Polish troops from Moscow, thus putting an end to the
Time of Troubles and establishing the rule of the
Romanov dynasty. The main square before the kremlin is named after Minin, and his remains are buried in the citadel. Also in commemoration of these events on
October 21,
2005 an exact copy of
Red Square statue of Minin and Pozharsky was placed in front of St John the Baptist Church, which is believed to be the place from where the call to the people had been proclaimed.
In the course of the following century, the city prospered commercially and was chosen by the
Stroganovs (the wealthiest merchant family of Russia) as a base for their operations. A particular style of
architecture and icon painting, known as the
Stroganov style, developed there at the turn of the
17th and
18th centuries.
The historical
coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod in 1781 was: In a
white field a red deer, horns and hoofs are black. The modern coat of arms circa 1992 is the same but the shield can be adorned with golden oak leaves tied with a stripe with colors of Russian national flag.
Great trade centre
 |
This building formerly housed the Great Russian Fair. |
In
1817, the
Makariev fair, one of the liveliest in the world, was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod, which thereupon started to attract millions of visitors annually. By the mid-19th century, the city on the Volga was firmly established as the
trade capital of the
Russian Empire. The world's first radio receiver of engineer
Alexander Popov and the world's first
hyperboloid tower and lattice shells-coverings of engineer
Vladimir Shukhov were demonstrated at the All-Russia industrial and art exhibition in Nizhniy Novgorod in 1896. Other industries gradually developed, and by the dawn of the
20th century it was a first-rank industrial hub as well.
Henry Ford helped build a large truck and tractor plant in the late 1920s, sending along engineers and mechanics, including future labor leader
Walter Reuther.
Famous writer
Maxim Gorky was born there in
1868, in his novels he realistically described the dismal life of the city
proletariat.Even during his lifetime, the city was renamed
Gorky following his return to the
USSR from immigration in
1932 on invitation of
Joseph Stalin. The city bore his name until
1991. During that time, the city was
closed to foreigners for security of the Soviet military research. The
physicist and the
Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov was exiled there until
1986 to limit his contacts with foreigners. Together with returning of the name the "closed" status of the city has ended.
The modern city has a
subway system, an
airport, numerous
theatres,
institutes, and
museums. Its modern industries are too numerous and diversified to mention; they include the production of
GAZ lorries and Volga cars.
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One of the Stroganov churches. |
Much of the city downtown is built in the
Russian Revival and
Stalin Empire styles. The dominating feature of the city skyline is the grand
kremlin (1500-11), with its red-brick towers. After Bolshevik devastation, the only ancient edifice left within the kremlin walls is the tent-like Archangel Cathedral (1624-31), first built in stone in the 13th century.
Other notable landmarks are the two great medieval
abbeys. The
Monastery of the Caves features the austere five-domed cathedral (1632) and two rare churches surmounted by tent roofs, dating from the 1640s. The Annunciation monastery, likewise surrounded by strong walls, has another five-domed cathedral (1649) and the Assumption church (1678). The only private house preserved from that epoch formerly belonged to the merchant Pushnikov.
There can be little doubt that the most original and delightful churches in the city were built by the
Stroganovs in the nascent
Baroque style. Of these, the
Virgin's Nativity Church (1719) graces one of the central streets, whereas the
Church of Our Lady of Smolensk (1694-97) survives in the suburb of Gordeevka, where the Stroganov palace once stood.
Other notable churches include:
*the
Saviour Cathedral, a huge domed edifice built at the site of the great fair to an
Empire style design by
Agustin de Bétancourt and
Auguste de Montferrand in 1822;
*the so-called
New Fair Cathedral, designed in the Russian Revival style and constructed between 1856 and 1880 at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga;
*the recently reconstructed
church of the Nativity of John the Precursor (1676-83), standing just below the kremlin walls; it was used during the Soviet period as an apartment house;
*the
parish churches of the Holy Wives (1649) and
of Saint Elijah (1656);
*the
Assumption Church on St Elijah's Hill (1672), with five green-tiled domes arranged unorthodoxly on the lofty cross-shaped barrel roof;
*the shrine of the
Old Believers at the
Bugrovskoe cemetery, erected in the 1910s to a critically acclaimed design by
Vladimir Pokrovsky;
*the
wooden chapel of the Intercession (1660), transported to Nizhny Novgorod from a rural area.
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The central square of Nizhny is named after Kuzma Minin and Knyaz Dmitry Pozharsky |
The city has many industrial suburbs, such as
Kstovo,
Dzerzhinsk, and
Bor. The town of
Semyonov, to the north of Nizhny Novgorod, is known as a craft center for
Khokhloma wood painting. Another suburb,
Balakhna, is noted for its medieval architecture. A singular 128-metre-high
open-work hyperboloid tower was built on the bank of the Oka by the eminent engineer and scientist
Vladimir Shukhov in 1929.
The
climate in the region is continental, and it is similar to the climate in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November until late March with a permanent snow cover.
The city can be easily reached from the Russian capital by an overnight train, by car or by air. Since December 2002, a fast
train has connected Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow in less than 5 hours. The expansion of highways in the region is 8,100 miles, of railroads - 750 miles, and of waterways – 500 miles. Nizhny Novgorod has regular air connection (Strigino Airport) with a dozen of Russian cities, and international
Lufthansa flights to the city three times a week. In summer, tourists may travel to Nizhny Novgorod from Moscow and
Saint Petersburg by passenger vessels.
