Founding
human settlement in Yuryevetsky District, Ivanovo Oblast, Russia
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Yuryevets is a town (since 1225), the administrative center of Yuryevetsky District of Ivanovo Oblast of the Russian Federation. It is one of the oldest towns in Ivanovo Oblast, with a history spanning at least 801 years and 10 months.
From the 16th century to 1796, it was officially called Yuryevets-Povolsky. Variant: Yuryev-Povolzhsky (in contrast to the towns Yuryev-Polsky and Yuryev-Livonsky - now Tartu, Estonia). Since the mid-16th century, the name Yuryevets has become widespread, where the distinction is achieved not by a definition, but with the help of the suffix -ets, which is widespread in Russian toponymy (cf. Pereyaslavl - Pereyaslavets, Rostov - Rostovets, etc.).
According to the Russian historian of the 18th century V. N. Tatishchev, Yuryevets Povolsky was founded by the Rostov-Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky - in 1150, and not by the Grand Prince of Vladimir Yuri II Vsevolodovich - in 1225, as is currently believed by historical science. Tatishchev's version of the connection between the founding of the town and Yuri Dolgoruky has no confirmation.
The generally accepted version is the foundation of Yuryevets in the first half of the 13th century as a fortification to protect the eastern borders of North-Eastern Russia by the Grand Prince of Vladimir Yuri II Vsevolodovich at the place where the icon of the Great Martyr George the Victorious appeared to him and was named after this saint - Yuryev-Povolsky. The first Yuryevets Kremlin was built on Georgievskaya Gora. In 1897, the famous archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn discovered traces of an ancient settlement on Pusharikha Hill.
According to the historian K. E. Baldin, the oldest towns in the Ivanovo Oblast are Plyos and Yuryevets.
The town was first mentioned in the "List of Russian cities, near and far" (1380-1390).
In 2013, during archaeological excavations on the Turgenev Plateau, an icon-medallion with the image of the Virgin Orans was discovered, which became additional evidence of the early date of the founding of the town of Yuryevets.
In 1237, the town was destroyed by the troops of the Mongol Khan Batu Khan, who invaded Russia. It was part of the Gorodets principality. In 1380, Yuryevets soldiers participated in the Battle of Kulikovo. In 1593-1594, the "Sotnaya Gramota of 1593/94 on the posad of Yuryevets Povolsky" was compiled, the first census - a unique document on the history of the 16th century. In 1552, by decree of Ivan IV, Yuryevets was transferred to the udel of the Astrakhan prince Kaibula. In 1556 Ivan the Terrible assigned Yuryevets to the oprichnina.
In January 1609, in Yuryevets, the local militia under the leadership of the sorcerer Fyodor Krasny rose up against the Polish-Lithuanian interventionists. In the same year, 1609, the town was burned by the Polish-Lithuanian detachment of the Polish nobleman Aleksander Jozef Lisowski. In 1614, it was plundered by ataman Ivan Zarutsky. A new ostrog was built on Predtechenskaya Gora. The length of its walls was 700 m, there were two gates. In 1619-1620, in honor of the victory over the Polish-Lithuanian interventionists, by order of the posad people, the Epiphany Church was erected (the current building was built around 1720).
In the 17th century, Yuryev-Povolsky became an important trading town. The future famous figure of Old Believers archpriest Avvakum served in the town. In 1652, after the second escape from the village of Lopatitsy, where he served as a priest and was persecuted for demanding strict piety, Avvakum was appointed archpriest in Yuryev-Povolsky. Here he condemned any deviation from piety and collected taxes for the patriarchal treasury, which turned the clergy and the flock against him. In May–June of the same year, Avvakum was severely beaten by the crowd, and he fled to Kostroma, and then to Moscow.
In 1655, the plague epidemic claimed the lives of three quarters of the population of Yuryevets.
In 1661, on Voskresenskaya Gora, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a large stone kremlin was laid - "White Town". According to the census of 1676, it numbered 407 posad and 175 non-taxable households. Trade was actively conducted on the town square, blacksmithing, leather, pottery and other crafts were developed. However, due to the different priorities of the new Tsar Peter I, the construction of the kremlin was not completed. Since 1780, it was dismantled for bricks. Currently, a reminder of the fortress remains an earthen rampart with a moat and a lake, local residents call this area "White Town".
In 1708-1714 and 1717-1719 Yuryevets had the status of a uyezd town of the Kazan Governorate, in 1714-1717 and 1719-1778 - a uyezd town of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, since 1719 - the Nizhny Novgorod province as part of this province, in 1778-1796 - the Kostroma Viceroyalty, in 1796-1918 - the Kostroma Governorate. In 1700, the Annunciation Church was built. In 1746, the Transfiguration Church was built and consecrated. The highest body of urban self-government was the magistrate. It consisted of two burgomasters and four councilors. Since 1785, in addition to the magistrate, a city duma was introduced, headed by the city head. During the reform of Catherine II in 1775, the position of Gorodnichiy was introduced in Yuryevets. To maintain order, an invalid team was created, and tenths were recruited. In 1778 - Yuryevets received the status of a town. On March 29, 1779, Empress Catherine II "For the services of the town to the state, granted Yuryevets a personal coat of arms." In accordance with the general plan of 1795, a regular layout was implemented in the town. The land surveyors were P. Shubnikov and I. Gove. In 1798, the Uprava Blagochiniya was opened. At the end of the 18th century, a postal tract with a postal station was opened in Yuryevets. By 1800, there were already 10 pairs of postal horses. In 1806, a special house was built for the post office. According to censuses at the end of the 18th century, there were about 500 houses in Yuryevets. Most of the population consisted of townspeople. Merchants, clergy, officials, and retired soldiers also lived there. In total, about 1,500 revision souls were registered in the town.
In 1800, the stone Church of the Forerunner with a bell tower was built. In 1815 - the Christmas Church. In 1816, on the initiative of the head of the district internal guard, a hospital was opened in Yuryevets to treat soldiers of the invalid team and prisoners. This was the first medical institution in the town. In 1820, a parish church school was opened. By the 1820s, there were about 140 private shops in Yuryevets, united in trading rows according to the goods sold. Since the mid-19th century, a large cargo-passenger pier has been formed. In 1871, the Yuryevets flax-spinning factory was built and the first meteorological observations began in Yuryevets. In 1838, a special public house was built for a hotel. In 1876, the Yuryevets District Library named after F. S. Gribunin was founded. In 1878, the almshouse of the Yuryevets city house of care for the elderly and disabled of both sexes was opened. In 1880, M. I. Krasilnikov founded a brewery in Yuryevets. On April 23, 1889, the Yuryevets almshouse for poor citizens was opened. In 1895, the Moscow company "Brant and Co" acquired a plot of land from the Krivozersky Monastery and began construction of the largest sawmill in the Volga region on the left bank of the Volga, opposite the town of Yuryevets. As a result, housing for workers was quickly built around the plant, forming the village of Novaya Slobodka. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, with the assistance of the city head Vasily Eremeevich Litsov, a women's gymnasium and a craft school were opened in the town, and the streets were paved. In 1904, the first zemstvo hospital was opened. In 1906, a starch factory was built. In 1911 the Summer Theater was opened in the town park. On July 18 (old style) 1914, the 323rd Yuryevets Infantry Regiment was formed and transferred to defend the Ivangorod fortress.
On December 22, 1917 (January 4, 1918), Soviet power was established in Yuryevets. On May 10–12, 1918, in the hall of the Zemstvo Council, the first uyezd Congress of Soviets was held. In 1918-1929 Yuryevets had the status of a uyezd town of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Governorate, in 1929-1930 - the district center of the Kineshma Okrug of the Ivanovo Industrial Oblast, in 1930-1936 - the center of the Yuryevetsky district of the Ivanovo Industrial Oblast, from March 11, 1936 to 1963 and since 1965 - the center of the Yuryevetsky district of the Ivanovo Oblast. On May 17, 1921, by the decision of the Plenum of the Yuryevets Uyezd Executive Committee, the Yuryevets City Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies was organized. On April 1, 1923, the Yuryevets State Shipping Administration was organized, and the Yuryevets archive was also established. In 1928, the district industrial complex was created. In 1929, the Yuryevets chemical forestry was created. On April 10, 1939, by the decision of the Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee, an air mail and passenger line was organized along the north-eastern route covering the district centers.
By January 25, 1945, the workers of the Yuryevets timber industry, the staff of the Yuryevetsles trust, and the rafting office had collected 175,000 rubles for the tank column "Forest Worker". During the Great Patriotic War, 6,847 residents of the town and the district did not return from the front.
In 1954-1957, during the construction of the Gorky Reservoir, a protective dam with a length of 3.2 km was built, however, despite these measures, part of the historical buildings in the northern and southern parts of the town was lost. In the Yuryevets district, the work on the resettlement of the flooded zone began in 1950, although until February 1952 there was no management system. The Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee decided to withdraw 39,621 hectares of land, including 26,687 hectares of collective farms (51 collective farms) and 13,004 hectares of other land users, for the reservoir pit. This affected a total of 22 village councils and 81 settlements. There were 384 state institutions in the flooded zone, some of which were transferred to the Ivanovo Oblast, and some to the neighboring Kostroma Oblast. The Krasny Profintern sawmill and the rural hospital were moved to Glazovaya Gora, and the wooden two-story secondary school was moved to Seletskoye Pole. The bakery was moved from the village of Novaya Slobodka to Yuryevets, the residential houses of individuals were dismantled and moved to different parts of the town. In 1967, an obelisk was erected in memory of the soldiers - Yuryevets residents who died during the Great Patriotic War. By the resolution of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of July 31, 1970 No. 36, Yuryevets was included in the number of historical towns with valuable urban planning ensembles and complexes, natural landscapes and an ancient cultural layer. In 1983, traffic was opened on the Puchezh-Yuryevets highway, connecting the Greater Ivanovo Ring.
Almost all town-forming enterprises (except for the woodworking plant, partially) were closed, the production buildings of the flax-spinning and combing factory, the cannery, the fish factory, the brewery, the bakery, the inter-farm mobile mechanized column (MPMK), the brick factory, the dairy factory were destroyed. The river port "Yuryevets" is not functioning.
In 2000, the reconstruction of the shore protection dam began. In 2003, the oldest enterprise of the town, the Yuryevets Flax Factory, was closed.
At least from 1967 to 2021, the population of the town was continuously decreasing, having decreased almost 2.7 times, from 21,000 to 7,899 people (see table below).
The 800th anniversary of Yuryevets, which, according to the Government of the Ivanovo Oblast, is the oldest town in the Ivanovo Oblast, is planned to be celebrated at the state level in 2025.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Yuryevets, Ivanovo Oblast”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.