Chekhov, Russia

Chekhov is a city in the Moscow region on the Lopasna River, a tributary of the Oka. In the past, the village of Lopasnya. Lopasnya was founded in 1175. The city is associated with the name of A.S. Pushkin. His relatives and descendants lived here, many of them are buried here. Natalya Nikolaevna Pushkina (Goncharova) often visited the Vasilchikovs’ estate in Lopasnya with her children. Natalya Nikolaevna's second husband, General Pyotr Lanskoy, was a close relative of the owner of the estate. Lansky’s three sisters lived in Lopasna: Maria (who was married to General Nikolai Ivanovich Vasilchikov), Elizaveta and Natalya. The poet's daughter Sofya Aleksandrovna Pushkina grew up with the Vasilchikov children. The son of the poet Alexander Alexandrovich, a participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, also lived in Lopasna for a long time. The eldest daughter of A.S. Pushkin, Maria Alexandrovna, also loved to visit Lopasnya. Next to the Church of the Conception of St. Anne is the Pushkin family necropolis. The descendants of Alexander Sergeevich rest in it: his eldest son A.A. Pushkin, grandchildren G.A. and S.A. Pushkin, great-granddaughter of the poet on the female side of S.P. Vorontsov-Velyaminov. In 1954, when the villages were united, it received the status of a city and the name in honor of the great Russian writer A.P. Chekhov - the city of Chekhov.

 

Sights

1  Estate “Lopasnya-Zachatievskoye”, st. Pushkina, 10.
2  Conception Church.
3  Sadki Estate.
4  Square named after Chekhov.
5  Museum of A.P.’s letters Chekhov.
6  City park of culture and recreation.

 

How to get there

By plane
Only small aircraft to the airfield in the village of Volosovo.

By train
You can get to the city by electric train from Kursky Station.

Chekhov station, Vokzalnaya square, 7D, Chekhov. ☎ 8 (800) 775-00-00.

By car
From the Moscow Ring Road along the Simferopol highway to Chekhov or the Crimea highway until the turn to Alachkovo-Chekhov. ~60 km.

By bus
You can get there from Yuzhnaya by bus number 365.

Bus station, Vokzalnaya square, 8, Chekhov. ☎ 8 (800) 700-31-13. 04:00 – 23:00.

 

Transport around the city

From the Moscow Ring Road along the Simferopol highway to Chekhov or the Crimea highway until the turn to Alachkovo-Chekhov. ~60 km.

 

Hotels

Hotel "Olympiyskaya".
Hotel "Meridian".

 

Etymology

The city of Chekhov “grew” from the village of Lopasnya. The name Lopasnya, in turn, belonged to a very ancient Russian city, many centuries ago located in the same place or nearby - historians still argue about this. In 1954, the village was transformed into the city of Chekhov in honor of the writer A.P. Chekhov: at the end of the 19th century, he lived near Lopasnya in the village of Melikhovo.

 

Geography

The city of Chekhov is located south of the capital, 50 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road along the highway. The city is connected to Moscow by the Kursk direction of the Moscow Railway, Simferopol Highway, and the Crimea highway passes nearby. The Chekhov railway station is located at the 75th kilometer of the railway (0th kilometer is Kursky Station). Most of the city is located on the left bank of the Lopasni River and west of the railway. The city stretches from north to south for 5 km. The area of the city is 23 km².

The climate is moderate continental with moderately cold winters and warm, humid summers. Frequent passage of cyclones from the Atlantic and sometimes from the Mediterranean causes an increase in cloudiness. The average January temperature is about −9°C, the average July temperature is about +18°C. The average duration of the frost-free period is about 200 days. The soils are predominantly alluvial, gray forest.

 

History

In time immemorial, on the Oka plain, as a result of the melting of a powerful glacier descending from the north, the Oka and its tributaries Nara, Protva, Lopasnya and other rivers arose, which have survived to this day. These lands were inhabited by the first people of the Neolithic era, from whom stone tools axes, knives, and spears remained. From the 8th century BC. e. and to the 6th century AD e. Here settlements of patriarchal tribal communities were formed, which already knew fire and even created primitive clay products. In the second half of the 10th century, the Vyatichi began to settle along the banks of the Oka. The remains of these ancient Slavic villages were found in different places of the Lopasnensky region at the confluence of the Terebenka River with Lopasnya, near the village of Solnyshkova, in Spas-Temna, Stary Spas, Talezh.

In 1175, after bloody battles for the right to own the Vladimir-Suzdal lands, victory went to the brothers Mikhail and Vsevolod the Big Nest. During military campaigns and battles, their wives took refuge under the protection of Grand Duke Svyatoslav of Chernigov. “...And as a dog Svyatoslav escorted their ambassadors, Mikhalkova and Vsevolozha, assigning his son Oleg to them, I escorted them to Moscow. Oleg brought Lopasna back to his volost...” This is the first time the name of the city appears in the chronicle.

And in the future, the history of Lopasnya is a history of endless wars, destruction, and captivity. In 1246, after the death of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov in the Horde, his Chernigov principality broke up into fiefs, and Lopasnya became part of the resulting Tarusa principality.

At the beginning of the 14th century, Lopasna was sold by the Tarusa princes to Metropolitan Peter. “Collector of Russian lands” Ivan Kalita valued the city of Lopasnya and wrote it down in his spiritual will to his son Andrei. Then Lopasna was exchanged by Moscow from the Serpukhov princes in order to give it to Ryazan in exchange for “Ryazan places” along the Protva River. In 1371, Moscow captured Lopasna, and in the 1380s it was forced to return it to Ryazan.

 

16th century

The Battle of Molodin is one of the brightest pages of the heroic past of our Motherland. The Battle of Molodin, which lasted several days, in which Russian troops used original tactics, ended in a major victory over the numerically superior forces of Devlet-Girey. The Battle of Molodin had a strong impact on the foreign economic situation of the Russian state, especially on Russian-Crimean and Russian-Turkish relations. Selim's challenging letter, in which the Sultan demanded Astrakhan, Kazan and vassal submission to Ivan IV, was left unanswered. After the defeat, Devlet-Girey sent a messenger from the road, an old, experienced politician Shigai, demanding the consent of the Russian government to abandon Astrakhan and Kazan and the accession of the Crimean prince Adyl-Girey there.

The Crimean feudal lords understood that as a result of the Battle of Molodin the situation had changed dramatically. That is why Devlet-Girey soon tried to offer the Russian government other conditions as the basis for a possible agreement: only Astrakhan and annual gifts, but this letter from Devlet-Girey, like Selim’s, was left unanswered.

The Battle of Molodin ended Russia’s three-year struggle against the Turkish-Crimean invasion. She increased the prestige of the Russian army and further strengthened the power of Ivan IV. The victory of the Russian troops saved Moscow and also secured the Volga region for Russia. The text does not trace the connection between the Battle of Molodi and Lopasnya.

 

Lopasnya and Pushkins

Everything connected with the name of Pushkin occupies a special place in the history of Lopasnya. After the death of Alexander Sergeevich, his wife Natalya Nikolaevna often visited the Vasilchikovs’ estate “Lopasnya-Zachatievskoe” with their children. Her relatives lived on this estate at the beginning of the 20th century; Some of the poet’s descendants were buried (or reburied) immediately. In 1917, the manuscript of “The History of Peter” was discovered in the manor house.

Natalya Nikolaevna’s second husband, Pyotr Lanskoy, was a close relative of Vasilchikov. Lansky’s three sisters lived in Lopasna: Maria (who was married to General Nikolai Ivanovich Vasilchikov), Elizaveta and Natalya. Sofya Aleksandrovna Pushkina grew up with the Vasilchikov children. After her death in 1875, nine Pushkin children were also raised in the Vasilchikovs’ house. Alexander Alexandrovich himself, a participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, lived in Lopasna for a long time. Alexandra Pushkin’s eldest daughter, Maria Alexandrovna, also loved visiting Lopasnya.

Next to the Church of the Conception of St. Anne is the Pushkin family necropolis. The descendants of Alexander Sergeevich are buried in it: his eldest son A. A. Pushkin, grandchildren G. A. and S. A. Pushkin, the great-granddaughter of the poet on the female line S. P. Vorontsova-Velyaminova.

 

Modern name

In 1954, the village of Lopasnya was transformed into the city of regional subordination of Chekhov. It received its name in honor of A.P. Chekhov, a Russian writer of the 19th-20th centuries. (the Melikhovo estate, where Chekhov lived and worked, is located not far from the city).

In 1965, the workers' village of Venyukovo was included in the Chekhov area. In 1994-2004, Chekhov was also the center of the Chepelevsky rural district.