Volokolamsk

Volokolamsk () is the administrative center of Volokolamsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. Volokolamsk is located 129 km northwest of Moscow on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River. Population: 16,700 (2003 est.); 16,656 (2002 Census).

Volokolamsk was first mentioned in the Voskresensk Chronicle under the year of 1135. The town was built by Novgorodian merchants on a five-kilometer portage (volok in Russian) on a waterway from Novgorod to Moscow and Ryazan. Hence, the name Volokolamsk (Volok on the Lama = Volokolamsk). Volokolamsk remained the southernmost enclave of Republic of Novgorod until 1398.

19th-century postcard with a view of Volokolamsk

In 1178, the town was burnt by Vsevolod the Big Nest, who added it to Vladimir-Suzdal lands. His son Yaroslav II restored it to Novgorod in 1231. After the Mongol invasion of Russia, the town was divided into two parts, one of them assigned to Novgorod and another one - to the Grand Dukes of Vladimir. The Principality of Tver failed to take it in 1273.

Ivan Kalita presented his part of the town to the boyar Rodion Nestorovich, who presently wrestled the other part from Novgorod too. In 1345, Simeon the Proud gave Volkolamsk to his father-in-law, one of Smolensk princes. While in possession of Smolensk, the town withstood three-months siege by Algirdas (1371). Vladimir the Bold defeated Tokhtamysh near Volokolamsk in 1383. Soon thereafter, it was restored to Novgorod.

In 1398, Vasily I definitively incorporated Volokolamsk into Muscovy. Ten years later, it was granted for two years to Svidrigailo, who had just defected to Moscow. Having lost its Hanseatic trade and connections with Novgorod, the town declined and was not mentioned by any sources for the next half a century. It was in 1462, when Volokolamsk was given by Ivan III to his younger brother, that the town became the seat of a full-scale appanage principality. Its first prince erected the single-domed Resurrection Cathedral, which still stands. The chief monument of Andrey of Staritsa's reign is the three-domed cathedral of the Vyazmischi Cloister (1535).

In 1613, Volokolamsk braved a siege by Sigismund III Vasa , an event which led to the town's fortifications being represented on its coat of arms. By that time, Volokolamsk was associated primarily with the Lavra of St. Joseph of Volokolamsk, situated 17 km northeast of the town.

The Soviet authority in Volokolamsk was established in late October of 1917. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, a number of violent clashes between the German and Soviet troops and partisans took place near Volokolamsk. In November of 1941, 28 Soviet soldiers of the 316th rifle division managed to disable 18 enemy tanks eight kilometers from Volokolamsk right before they reached the Volokolamsk-Moscow highway.