Novokhopyorsk is a city (since 1710) in Russia, the administrative
center of the Novokhopyorsk district of the Voronezh region and the
urban settlement of Novokhopyorsk.
The city is included in the
list of historical cities of Russia.
Population - 5948 people.
(2021).
The city is located on the right bank of the Khopyor River (a
tributary of the Don) at an altitude of 50-70 m above river level, 202
km from Voronezh.
The historical center of the city is surrounded
from the north, through a ravine - Crimean (Kosymskaya) Mountain, from
the south, through the southern ravine - Cossack Mountain, and through
another ravine - Selivanova Mountain.
From Novokhopyorsk to the
nearest railway station Novokhopyorsk on the Liski - Povorino line - 5
km.
In the middle of the 17th century, the future Novokhopyorsky district
was located in the western part of the territory of the “dwelling of the
Don Cossacks”. Here, on the banks of the Khoper in the second half of
the 17th century, the Khoper Cossacks founded several settlements -
towns:
Belyaevsky,
Grigorievsky
Pristansky.
There was a
shipyard in Pristanskoye. On it, in 1698-1699, three ships were built
and launched by the merchants of Prince B. A. Golitsyn, F. Yu.
Romodanovsky and steward I. Bolshoi-Dashkov: “Bezfayazn”, “Good
Beginning” and “Connection”. This town was a significant trading point
on the so-called “Ordobozarny road”, connecting Moscow (via Ryazan and
Kasimov) with Astrakhan. Already from the 17th century, this road began
to be called “Khopyorskaya”, and from the 18th century - “Astrakhan
Highway”. The town of Pristan is located on the banks of the Khopr, to
the south of the hill on which the historical center of the city is now
located, at the mouth of the Mamayev ravine, at the foot of the Cossack
Mountain. The Cossack Sloboda was subsequently located there. This is
where the passing trade road passed.
During the period of the
existence of the first settlement - Pristansky town (mid-17th century -
1709), the functions of the future city of Novokhopyorsk were laid down.
The active participation of residents of the Pristansky town in the
uprising of Stepan Razin (1670-1671), and then in the uprising of
Kondraty Bulavin (1707-1708) led to Peter I ordering the burning of the
Cossack towns on Khoper, including Pristansky.
Soon, however,
again by order of the tsar and according to his plan, a new Khopyorsky
earthen fortress was founded on the ashes of Pristansky, with a shipyard
attached to it. For the construction of ships for the first Azov
flotilla began. The fortress was founded in 1710 on a high coastal hill
according to a drawing drawn up by Peter I. The drawing of the fortress
was sent to the Azov governor, Admiral Count Apraksin, and he entrusted
the construction of the fortress to the Voronezh vice-governor S. A.
Kolychev. In the eastern and southern walls of the fortress there were
passage gates, from which roads diverged down to the river, along the
plateau, around the fortress. 1710 began to be considered in official
historiography as the year of the founding of Novokhopyorsk.
In
1715, a wooden Resurrection Cathedral was built in the fortress, and a
century and a half later a stone one appeared in its place. The Khopyor
fortress was built for one and a half thousand service people; it was
surrounded by an earthen rampart and wooden towers with 26 cannons. In
1716, dragoon and soldier companies were stationed here. In 1732, next
to the fortress, opposite its southern gate, the wooden Cathedral of St.
Nicholas the Wonderworker was built, located on the site of the current
Church of the Exaltation of the Cross.
From the eastern gate of
the fortress, a steep winding road immediately descended to Khopr (“the
old Cossack tract”, the cobblestone surface of which has been partially
preserved to this day), the second road first went north along the edge
of the coastal terrace (now Karl Marx Street), and then went steeply
down -to the shipyard (Vezzhaya street, which also retains its
cobblestone surface).
In 1768, by decree of Catherine II, the Don
Expedition was created to assist ground forces in the fight against the
Turkish fleet and prevent landings on the Black and Azov Seas. Rear
Admiral Alexey Naumovich Senyavin was appointed head of the expedition.
A shipyard was established in Novokhopyorsk. In 1769-1870, the boats
“Elan”, “Khoper” and others were built at the Novokhopyorsk shipyard.
The first squadron consisted of the ships “Taganrog”, “Corona”, the boat
“Courier” and the frigate “Second”, the second squadron - of 16 the
two-masted cannon "Khotin", the ships "Azov", "Novopavlovsk", "Morey"
and the frigate "First". In 1771, the frigate “First” was transferred
from the shipyard to Taganrog for completion, and the future invincible
naval commander F.F. Ushakov was among its crew. Later, thanks to
Ushakov, already the captain of the ship Modon, the city of Sevastopol
was founded in Crimea.
The crews of the ships built on Khoper
proved themselves heroically in the war with Turkey of 1768-1774. In
total, more than 30 ships were built at the Novokhopyorskaya shipyard,
which became part of the first Black Sea flotilla.
Lev Konstantinovich Naumenko (1933-2020) - Doctor of Philosophy,
professor, specialist in dialectics.
Vasily Vasilyevich Litvinov
(1873-1941) - local historian, teacher at the Novokhopersky City School
(1898-1910). In 1910 he moved to Voronezh, where he received the
position of chief curator of the Voronezh Provincial Museum. At the same
time, head of the museum library (since 1921). Head of out-of-school
education of the Voronezh district department of public education
(1918-1922). He was unreasonably repressed in 1930 in the so-called
“case of local historians.” In 1934, he was released early and worked at
the Voronezh Statistics Department. From the mid-1890s, he published
informational notes in the Don and Voronezh Telegraph newspapers. Since
the beginning of the 20th century, he began to study biographies of
outstanding natives of the region, the history of educational
institutions, historiography and bibliography of local history.
Nikolai Ivanovich Jordansky (1876-1928) - Russian journalist, publicist,
social and political figure, Soviet diplomat.
Food industry enterprises, butter factory, production of building
materials.
In Novokhoperskoye, there has long been a folk craft
known in the USSR and Russia - women and girls knit soft, warm down
scarves with a beautiful border, they are in no way inferior to Orenburg
down scarves. In winter, hats are replaced. The down for making scarves
is shorn from goats. The village of Rusanovo, Novokhopersky district, is
considered to be the birthplace of scarves.
Novokhopyorsk was mentioned in the novel “The Twelve Chairs” by Ilf
and Petrov: in a note addressed to Madame Gritsatsueva, Ostap Bender
said that it was to this city that he urgently had to go with a report
(in the film - “to Novokhopyorsk with a report to a meeting of the Small
Council of People’s Commissars”) . Apparently, even then the city was
perceived as a symbol, and could lay claim to the title of “capital of
the Russian province,” just like nearby Uryupinsk.
The events of
Andrei Platonov’s novel “Chevengur” unfold near Novokhopyorsk.
Chapter 15 of Arkady Gaidar’s story “School” begins with the phrase “For
several days there have been battles near Novokhopyorsk.”