Totma, Russia

Totma

 

Transportation

 

Description of Totma

Totma is located in the eastern part of the Vologda region. Totma is not less interesting than the neighboring Great Ustyug, and from the tourist point of view, this city of the Russian North, underestimated, lying on the Sukhona River. The city, which at the present time, bears the memory of Russian explorers and navigators who have mastered Siberia and Russian America. Evidences of this are on every corner, be it monuments, temples-ships of authentic Totma baroque and even an American silver fox, unique from the point of view of Russian heraldry, located on the city's coat of arms. The natural objects on Sukhona are interesting in the vicinity of the city.

A visit to the city will be especially interesting for pilgrims, travelers who are interested in the history of Russia, lovers of auto expeditions. The trip is better to plan for summer time.

 

Orientation

For the most part, Totma is located on the left high bank of the Sukhona with rugged relief and partly on the opposite low bank. There is practically nothing to do in the trans-river part, perhaps with the exception of a few viewpoints that allow you to enjoy panoramic views of the city.

The small central part of the city naturally stretches along the river. The correct quarter planning according to the town-planning plan is sometimes broken by the natural features of the relief, hollows and streams. For orientation, the city center can be conditionally limited to Kirov Street in the north, Sukhona Street in the south, Dmitrovsky or a little more distant Korepovsky stream in the east, and a river with a memorable name - Dog Denga in the west. The latter has nothing to do with dog currency, the name has historically been remade into Russian from the Finno-Ugric Pyos-Edenga. The central streets of Lenin and Sovetskaya, transverse Belousovskaya, connect the Totem settlement (Cathedral Hill), the main city Trading Square, and park areas. There is no clearly marked embankment in the city, but there are several exits to the river on high steep banks, on which good viewpoints are formed.

The outskirts of Totma are former villages with corresponding names, now microdistricts, some of which are must-see: Zelenskaya Sloboda - to the west of the center, as well as the village of Varnitsy to the north of the city. Babushkina Street leads to the northwestern outskirts of the city, where the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery is located.

 

Sights

Totma has an interesting historical and architectural heritage. Presented are Russian baroque, classicism, "Russian style", eclecticism, peasant houses and outbuildings, barns, merchant warehouses. Three of the surviving city churches are classic examples of the original architectural school of the "Totem baroque", two more temples in one way or another have features of this style. In addition, a number of interesting civil buildings stand out, including those that housed various educational institutions of the city.

"Totem Baroque"
Most of the temples built in the second half of the 18th century in the style of the so-called "Totem baroque" (a kind of classical northern baroque) are exceptionally original. Local architects were able to creatively process Western European ideas. Churches built in this style are very high, literally looking into the sky; their silhouettes are similar to the silhouettes of sailing ships. Exquisite ornaments on the facades of churches - cartouches, or, as they were called in the 18th century, "brands" - give them a special originality. Totem cartouches differ from the usual ones (stucco, carved or painted) and represent an external element of the decoration of temples - a part of the wall masonry, as a rule, protruding by a third of the brick and framed by a roller of brick set. The inner margins of the cartouches depict stars, flowers, shamrocks, crosses and shells. There is a version that totem cartouches are nothing more than a drawn element of sea charts stylized in architecture, which were used by local merchants in their campaigns.

Temples in the style of "Totem Baroque":
Church of the Entry into Jerusalem (1794)
Trinity Church in Zelenskaya (Rybachaya) Sloboda (1772; active)
Church of the Nativity of Christ (1746-1748; 1786-1793; active)

Temples with elements of the "Totem Baroque" style:
Church of the Assumption (1800-1808)
Church of John the Baptist (1738)
Church of the Resurrection in Totma (1744-1749)
Church of the Resurrection in Varnitsy (1743-1772)

Classicism in temple architecture is represented only by the Epiphany Cathedral (1863-1872) and the Ascension Cathedral of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery (1796-1801). In total, at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 17 stone temples in Totma. Until now, five have survived - Vhodoyerusalimsky, Assumption, Resurrection, Rozhdestvensky, Trinity. The last two have been handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church, where divine services have been resumed. Other churches built in this style have not survived to this day, having been destroyed during the years of militant atheism (there were at least three more outstanding churches - John the Theologian, Kazan and Paraskevo-Pyatnitsky).

 

Monuments of civil architecture

Among the monuments of Totma civil architecture there are no masterpieces, but nevertheless, the building of the city is quite original and interesting. In particular, it is worth noting the estate of the merchant-navigator Fyodor Kholodilov on the banks of the Sukhona, which has been well preserved to this day. Classicism is represented by the building of the former teacher's seminary on Belousovskaya street and the Zamyatkins' house on Sadovaya. The most widely represented eclecticism:
the building of the Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium, in the city center with a claim to pseudo-Gothic (1912-1916)
building of the Theological School (1898-1900)
the building of the Petrovsky Craft School - a monumental three-story building on the banks of the Sukhona (1902-1904).

In the central part of the city, stone and wooden merchant mansions have been preserved, among which it is worth highlighting:
Malofeev's estate, semi-stone-half-wooden with outbuildings
the merchant's house of Kuznetsov, a classic for northern Russian cities, wooden with a spacious balcony above the entrance.
the house of the merchants Panovs, with baroque elements, was built in the very center of the city for the merchants-builders of the Temple of the Entrance to Jerusalem.
Singer's shop, a monument of history and culture of regional importance.
House of the merchant Belov.

Ordinary buildings of the city are represented by one-story houses of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, the most interesting in the appearance of which are openwork chimneys on the roof and carved drainpipes. An interesting wooden house with Art Nouveau elements has been preserved.

 

Spaso-Sumorin Monastery

A kilometer west of the city center is the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery (formerly Spaso-Preobrazhensky), known since 1554. In 1919, the monastery was closed and became operational again only in 2014.

The complex of the former monastery was significantly damaged in the Soviet years and is currently only partially restored. The 76-meter bell tower, built at the beginning of the 19th century, partially burned down in 1917, and since the 1930s it began to be dismantled into bricks. The following buildings have been preserved on the territory of the complex.

The Ascension Cathedral is an excellent example of mature provincial classicism designed by V. M. Kazakov, externally restored, but closed to the public. The Totma community has repeatedly drawn attention to the unique frescoes of the outstanding Vologda artist of the second half of the nineteenth century, P. S. Tyurin, dying inside the temple, but so far no real steps have been taken to preserve them. Built in 1796-1825.
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (without domes, in a ruined state). Built in 1685-1689, rebuilt in 1880.
Monastery fence tower (in a ruined state).
Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God (ruins).
Rector's building (museum "Open storage of funds").
Corps of fraternal cells (in a ruined state).
Corps of fraternal cells (Hotel "Monastic cells").
Hotel for pilgrims (hostel).

 

Other attractions

Other notable places in Totma include:
Monument to Russian sailors and explorers on the central square, which is a boat, on the sail of which the outlines of totem temples are visible;
Memorial sign "Sixtieth Parallel";
Monument to I. A. Kuskov;
Monument to the painter F. M. Vakhrushov;
Monument to the poet N. M. Rubtsov, the first in Russia.
The Elk stone on the Sukhona River is one of the largest Odintsov stones, which has been mentioned in historical documents since the 18th century. According to legend, during the journey of Peter I through the Vologda lands to Arkhangelsk, the tsar and his retinue rested on this stone and drank tea from a silver ladle, and since then the stone has sometimes been called the “royal table”. This granite stone is 2.5 times larger than the famous boulder Thunder-stone, on which the Bronze Horseman stands in St. Petersburg.
Also among the interesting features of Totma can be called the presence of a considerable number of viewing platforms due to the complex urban terrain, as well as wooden sidewalks, “bridges”, preserved on many city streets.

 

Museums

Since 1915, a local history museum has been functioning here, which in the 1990s was divided into several relatively independent branches, which became the Totma Museum Association. As of 2013, the city has 6 museums under the auspices of the Totem Museum Association:

The Totma Museum of Local Lore, which occupies the building of the former religious school and contains the historical, art, archaeological departments, as well as the department of nature. It contains a rich collection of items of folk art and everyday life of the Sukhon region: enamel, blackening on silver, carving on wood and birch bark, painting on wood, embroideries, artistic processing of metals, etc.
the Museum of Church Antiquities, exhibiting in the former Assumption Church wooden sculpture, icons and church items from the churches of the former Totemsky district;
Museum of Sailors, which consists of three exhibition halls in the building of the Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem, telling about the phenomenon and history of Totem navigation;
House-Museum of Ivan Kuskov, the founder of the Fort Ross fortress in Northern California, the most famous of the Totem sailors;
The complex of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery, representing the open storage of funds on the territory of the former Spaso-Sumorin Monastery;
Museum and exhibition center in the former Church of the Resurrection, holding temporary exhibitions.

Two more museums are located in the Totemsky district:

Museum of childhood and family in the village of Tsareva;
The house-museum of the poet N. M. Rubtsov in the village of Nikolsky. Many exhibits from the city's secondary school No. 1 (located in the building of the former Petrovsky vocational school), where in 1976 the first school literary museum of Nikolai Rubtsov was opened here, were also transferred here. Its creator was the teacher of literature of the same school, Margarita Afanasievna Shananina. Since there were difficulties in designing the school museum as an independent one, it was decided to transfer some of the exhibits to the museum with. Nikolskoye.
During the summer period (from May to September) there are two viewing platforms located on the ringing tiers of the bell towers of the Assumption and Entrance to Jerusalem churches. The last restored belfry.

Other cultural institutions
There are two folk theater groups in the city - the Totma Folk Theater of the Totma Youth Center (director - Svetlana Samodurova) and the Totem Theater "On Krasnaya Gorka" at the City Cultural Center (director - Lyudmila Goncharova). The Totemsky regional library named after N. M. Rubtsov functions with several branches. The municipal cultural institution "Intermunicipal Organizational and Methodological Center" operates, which implements the directions of cultural policy related to the development of various types, genres of folk art and amateur art, cultural and leisure activities, with the support of institutions of culture and art, tourism in the region.

 

Russian Orthodox Church

Currently, services are held in three active churches: the Trinity Church in the Zelenskaya Rybachya Sloboda, the Church of the Nativity of Christ and the Ascension Cathedral on the territory of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery. One parish community is registered - the Parish of the Holy Trinity. There is a Sunday school at the Church of the Nativity of Christ, events related to pilgrimage tourism are held. The Totma deanery also includes the territories of the Tarnogsky and Nyuksensky municipal districts.

 

 

History of Totma

Origin of name

The name Totma most likely comes from the Finno-Ugric languages (where the Komi “tod” is “a damp place overgrown with spruces and shrubs”, “-ma” is “earth”). This point of view is supported by official science. However, toponymic legends are actively circulating in the city, explaining a different origin of the name. One of them says that Peter I, on his first visit to Totma, said: "It's not a city - it's darkness." However, the incorrectness of this legend is confirmed by the fact that the city had its current name long before the Petrine era. According to another version of the legend, these words allegedly belong to Ivan the Terrible. Another legend says that "Totma" is translated as "a city that conjures water", which is allegedly explained by the fact that the Sukhona River changes the direction of its flow twice a year (since it originates in Lake Kubenskoye, and when the water level in the river is higher than in the lake, in the upper reaches of the river the direction of the flow changes to the opposite and for some time the river flows towards the lake from which it flows).

 

Early history

The date of foundation of Totma is considered to be 1137, based on the data of the letter of the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav Olgovich, where among the lands subject to tribute, the churchyard of Toshma is mentioned. Previously, historians believed that this churchyard was located 15 kilometers downstream from the modern city; Now these data are questioned, because the exact date of the founding of the city in the Middle Sukhohnye can hardly be clarified. Nevertheless, a certain settlement at the mouth of the Staraya Totma River still existed in the 13th-14th centuries.
In the 15th century, part of the Totma, apparently, moved to a new place, 2 km north of the modern city. It was there, according to scientists, that the inhabitants of local villages were the first in Russia to master the processes of deep salt production. The first manual on deep drilling of salt wells, created in Russia, has survived to this day - “A painting on how to start making a new pipe in a new place,” written by master Semyon Sablin. Around the varnits built by the inhabitants of the villages of Uglitskaya and Galitskaya (on the banks of the Kovda, Lyapunikha (Lyapunka) and Solonukha rivers) a new administrative center of the volost, Usolye Totemskoe, grew up. From that time until the 18th century, Totma remained one of the largest salt towns and at one time was also called the Posad of Totemskaya Salt or Totemskaya Salt, by analogy with Vychegodskaya Salt, Galician Salt, and others. At first, well-known Vologda monasteries, including Spaso -Prilutsky, as well as the richest peasant salt producers. This continued until the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery acquired the right to duty-free salt production and trade, which significantly expanded its salt holdings. Soon other merchants began to arrive on the Totma land. Salt pans were repeatedly devastated. In 1539-1541, the city was heavily devastated by the Kazan Tatars. Apparently, it was during the period after the departure of the Kazanians that the construction of a fortified fortress on the highest of the coastal hills on the left bank of the Sukhona began. The Totem fortress-prison was a powerful defensive structure that repelled the attack of a fugitive detachment of Poles in the Time of Troubles, which, however, plundered the local varnits. It was around this fortress that a new settlement began to grow, resembling the modern city center with its borders. Totma is quite accurately indicated on the map of Asia from the third part of the Mercator Atlas, released in 1595. There is also a legend that Ivan IV the Terrible visited the city and allegedly even had time to rest on a halt near the city, which is why the concept of Sovereign Lug later appeared in the city toponymy. But there is no documentary evidence of Ivan the Terrible's stay in Totma. A notable fact in the history of the city of the 16th century was the foundation of a large monastery near Totma by the monk of the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky monastery Theodosius Sumorin, which was called the Transfiguration of the Savior. Soon, many land holdings, as well as salt works, moved to the new monastery. The founder of the monastery Theodosius Sumorin was canonized in 1798. The relics of Theodosius, extracted in 1919 from the shrine of the monastery cathedral, spent most of the 20th century in the Lazarevsky Church in Vologda, and in the 1990s returned to Totma, to the current Church of the Nativity.

 

Totma under the Romanovs

Totma under the Romanovs
The 17th century is becoming a century of prosperity for Totma, as well as for other cities that stood on the North Dvina waterway. Almost all foreign trade of the Russian state, due to the lack of access to the Baltic Sea, was carried out through Vologda, Totma, Veliky Ustyug and Arkhangelsk, which contributed to the emergence of courts and representative offices of foreign merchants and trade missions in Totma. In just a year, from 500 to 1000 ships passed through the city. The commercial importance of the city, which increased due to the further development of salt mines, allowed Totma to be one of the richest and most important cities of the Russian kingdom. According to the census books of the 1st quarter of the 17th century, in the old Totemsky settlement along the Kovda and Lyapunka rivers, there were 8 varnits, where brines contained from 5 to 6% salt. Salt production reached 200 thousand pounds per year.

Peter I visited Totma three times. There is a legend that the tsar, visiting the Totma varnits, personally tested the work of the salt-worker and pulled a tub of brine out of the well. Peter was the last of the Russian rulers to personally visit the city. Soon, the commercial and economic importance of Totma began to decline due to the founding of St. Petersburg and the complete cessation of trade on the Sukhono-Dvina route, as well as the discovery of new sources of salt (in particular, salt lakes Elton and Baskunchak) in southern Russia. But the Totem merchants were able to find new sources of income and provide the city with an equally impressive economic prosperity. In the second half of the 18th century, Totma residents — Fedor and Alexei Kholodilov, Peter and Grigory Panov, Stepan Cherepanov and a number of others — organized many expeditions to the east[16]: to Siberia, the Far East and to the shores of the American continent. Companies of Totma merchants equipped about 20 expeditions to the Pacific Ocean - this is more than the companies of Moscow, Vologda and Veliky Ustyug merchants combined. That is why Totma is called the city of sailors. During these expeditions, geographical discoveries were made, recorded by science in 1755, maps of a number of islands were compiled. These expeditions took out 1/5 of all the furs mined on the American continent for half a century - a record figure among the cities of Russia. The fur trade brought tangible profits; Thus, with the proceeds from Siberia, Totma merchants-navigators had the opportunity to build richly decorated and large enough for such a small city temples: Entrance Jerusalem, Trinity, Rozhdestvensky. In 1785, Empress Catherine II adopted a decree granting Totma a coat of arms with a black fox on a golden field: "as a sign that the inhabitants of this city are practicing catching these animals." Totmichi proved to be active participants in the Russian-American Company, explored the Pacific Ocean, discovered a number of the Aleutian and Commander Islands. Totmich Ivan Kuskov on the coast of Northern California near Bodega Bay in 1812 founded the Fort Ross fortress, which became the southernmost point of "Russian America". The surviving building of the city government, a federal monument, also belongs to the second half of the 18th century.

In the second half of the 19th century, Totma gradually became an ordinary county town. The salt mines in Totma and Ledengsky lost some of their significance, largely due to the discovery of large salt lakes Elton and Baskunchak in the south of the country, as well as due to the secularization of monastic lands carried out by Catherine II, as a result of which local and Vologda monasteries were deprived of the right to engage in salt production. Gradually, salt mines passed into the hands of local salt producers and the treasury. By 1915, salt production had already become oriented towards local consumption.

City churches continue to be built, education is developing: a higher primary school, a women's progymnasium, spiritual and real schools are being opened. At the beginning of the 20th century, Totma was considered one of the "educational capitals" of the Vologda province. The Petrovsky craft school, opened at the expense of a local native, merchant N. I. Tokarev, enjoyed particular success. The purpose of the school was to teach children from peasant families how to make toys and household items. There were several workshops at the school: locksmith, turning, carpentry, tin, basket, toy. In 1905, at the international exhibition in Liege (Belgium), the school was awarded the Grand Prix. In the press, Totma began to be called the Russian Nuremberg - the city of toys.

In addition, Totma continued to be a place of political exile since the 17th century. Especially many exiles passed through the city in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The populist writer and publicist P. L. Lavrov, who began work on his famous “Historical Letters” here, the democratic writer N. V. Shelgunov, the ethnographer and folklorist G. N. Potanin, the future People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov (Scriabin). In 1876, the writer V. G. Korolenko stayed here for a short time, later describing his personal impressions of the city in “The History of My Contemporary”, one of the chapters of which is called “Stop in Totma”. Also in Totma, I. V. Dzhugashvili (Stalin) stopped for some time, moving from Solvychegodsk to Vologda. But the most detailed memories of the Totma exile were left by A. V. Lunacharsky, who lived here in 1903-1904.
My memories of Totma are even more pleasant than those of Vologda... Totma is a charming, patterned town, with churches in the rococo style, on the banks of a huge river, beyond which dark forests stretch. Not far from the city lies a monastery where you can ride a sleigh through silver winter forests and where they give bread, kvass and fish soup, which I have never eaten before or since ... I remember Totma as some kind of winter fairy tale, some kind of decoration for "Snow Maiden".
- A. V. Lunacharsky. "From Vologda memories"

 

Soviet authority

After the abolition of the Vologda province, and with it the Totemsky district in 1929, the city became the center of the newly formed Totemsky district - first the Northern Territory (1929-1936), then the Northern Region (1936-1937), and then - the Vologda Region separated from its composition. (since 1937). The processes of industrialization have little affected the city. A power station was built and food and forestry production expanded, but the economy remained oriented toward agriculture. The struggle of militant atheists with religion ended with the demolition of more than half of the temples of the city, the conversion of the Temple of the Entrance to Jerusalem into a winery, and the premises of the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery into a forestry technical school.

For several years (1950-1952), the future poet Nikolai Mikhailovich Rubtsov studied at the Forestry Technical School, who had previously been brought up in an orphanage in the village of Nikolskoye, Totemsky District, and subsequently repeatedly came to Totma and considered these places his spiritual homeland. In 1985, a monument to N. M. Rubtsov was solemnly opened on the banks of the Sukhona. The revival of the historical traditions of the city began only in the 1970s and is closely connected with the activities of local historian S. M. Zaitsev. S. M. Zaitsev “rediscovered” the history of Totma navigation and the phenomenon of Totma cartouches (“brands”), thanks to his active work, it was possible to protect the historical center of Totma from demolition under the Lengiprogor project.

Modern period
The 1990s became a difficult time for the city to close a number of enterprises (a timber industry enterprise, a furniture factory, a flax mill). On the other hand, at that time the Church of the Entry into Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity and the Assumption were restored, the Museum of Church Antiquities and the Museum of Sailors were opened, and new ideas for the development of tourism arose.

In the 2000s, a sports and recreation complex, a new building of the youth center "Totma", a hotel and entertainment complex "Varnitsy" were built in Totma, the building of the city bus station, turned into a bus station, was reconstructed. A monument to Russian explorers and sailors was solemnly opened on the central square. Since 2001, the Transfiguration Fair has traditionally been held on the second Saturday of August, and the city has been admitted to the new Hanseatic Society (Hanseatic League).

 


Transportation

Getting here

By car
From Moscow on the federal highway M8 "Kholmogory" through Rostov, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kadnikov, in Chekshino exit to P7 to Totma. The quality of the road from Chekshino to Totma is not bad, there are some broken sections that are being actively repaired. From Totma, the P7 highway continues south across the bridge in the direction of Nikolsk, the natural continuation of the road from Chekshino to the east towards Veliky Ustyug is the Sukhonsky tract (distance 240 km, 90% of the distance is a new roadbed). There are several gas stations in Totma, incl. Lukoil, refueling will not hurt, since the next gas stations are only in Ustyug.

By bus
Buses and fixed-route taxis run from Vologda to Totma.

Bus station.

 

Hotels

Hotel "Varnitsy", Severny per., 1a. ☎ +7 (81739) 2-42-88. from 2 400 ₽.
Hotel "Rassvet", st. Kirov, 12.
Hotel "Monastic cells", in the Spaso-Sumorino monastery.
Guest house "Pilgrim".
Camping Alaska.

 

Planning and development

Totma is located on several low hills on the left bank of the Sukhona and partly in a gently sloping low part on the right bank. The layout of the streets has been preserved since the time of the master plan granted by Catherine II. The city is quite compact; the historical center, which houses the main architectural monuments and other sights, is located on the territory bounded by Sukhona from the south, Pesya Denga from the west, Kirova Street from the north and Dmitrievsky Creek from the east. In this part there are the Totem settlement (Cathedral Hill), the main city square - Torgovaya, the city market, 4 out of 5 totem museums, the main shops. The rest of Totma is conditionally divided into a number of small microdistricts, which are former settlements and villages: Korepovo - in the east, Fetikha and Zelenskaya Sloboda - in the southwest. From the north, Totma is adjoined by the large village of Varnitsy, which is nominally part of the Pyatovsky municipality of the Totemsky district, but, in fact, has merged with the city limits. In the right-bank part of Totma there are several streets, a recreation area and a city cemetery.

The main streets marking exits and passing through most of the city territory are Lenina, Belousovskaya, Sovetskaya, Babushkina streets. Totma's buildings are predominantly low-rise, there are no houses higher than five floors in the city. The central part is almost completely devoid of modern residential buildings, which are built up on the eastern and northern outskirts of the city. Among the whole areas of preserved old buildings, the preserved ensemble of commercial and residential buildings on Belousovskaya Street, a quarter of educational buildings near Lenin Street, and Zelenskaya Rybcha Sloboda attract attention.

Totma forms the municipality "City of Totma", which has the status of an urban settlement. OKTMO code - 19 246 501. The charter of the municipality was adopted on August 10, 2005. Since November 2017, the head of the municipality "city of Totma" has been Koposov Alexander Alexandrovich, and the mayor of the city is Skoryukov Anatoly Anatolyevich. Since Totma is the largest center of the territory, conditionally called the Middle Prisukhonye, a number of various institutions located in the city work for several municipal districts of the Vologda Oblast, for example, a military registration and enlistment office, an internal affairs department, a post office, etc.

 

Economy

Industry and construction

The city is dominated by the timber and food industries. There are a bakery, a butter factory, the Totemsky branch of Vologdaenergo, JSC Totemskaya elektroteploset, a shop for the production of soft drinks and a bakery of the Totemsky RaiPO. In the Soviet years, a mechanized flax mill was built, but in the 1990s it was stopped and ceased to exist. An asphalt-concrete plant is also located near the city. The “Shining of the North” gas pipeline passes through the territory of the Totma region, therefore the development of Totma is also closely connected with the gas and oil industry.

Trade and services
The sphere of trade in the city is developed quite widely. In addition to the Totem RaiPO, a butter factory, a bakery, numerous private entrepreneurs also have a network of their stores. There are shops of the federal chains "Magnit", "Evroset", regional chains "Cherny Kot", "The Freshest" and others in the city. Large shopping centers are the "Almaz" and "Seven Days" built in the last decade. Totemsky city market in 2011 was recognized as the best among the markets of the regional centers of the Vologda region. The network of public catering enterprises is represented by two restaurants, five cafes and several eateries.

Restaurants and cafes
Restaurant "Shining of the North", st. Volodarsky, 31. Dishes of Russian cuisine.
Cafe "California", st. Lenina, 59B.
Cafe "Sukhona", st. Volodarsky, 6.
Cafe "Pelmennaya", st. Lenin, 55.
Cafe "Lyubava", Belousovskaya st., 16.
Pirozhkovaya snack bar, Sovetskaya st., 17. Pies, cakes and drinks (tea, coffee, lemonade).

 

Tourism

Totma is an attractive city for tourists due to the high preservation of many monuments of both church and civil architecture, its favorable geographical position and the availability of resources for recreational and natural landscape tourism. According to the results of 2012, Totma took the fourth place in the Vologda region in terms of the number of tourists received (yielding to Vologda, Kirillov and Cherepovets).

The information and tourist portal of the Totem region is working. Currently, the following are engaged in the reception of tourists in Totma:
Municipal unitary enterprise "Tourism and folk crafts"
Totem Museum Association
Fyodor Konyukhov Travel School
The trademark "Totma - the salt of the Russian land" and the brand "Totma - the city of sailors and explorers" are being developed. Options for cultural, educational, entertainment, gaming, corporate and family tours have been developed. Since 2012, rafting services on the Sukhona have been regularly offered both within the district and to Veliky Ustyug.

Event tourism in the city is represented by the following regular events:
exhibition-fair "Real Totem product" (June 12).
the annual Preobrazhenskaya Fair, accompanied by a teleconference and the chime of the Totma-Fort Ross bells (second Saturday in August).
Interregional festival "Rubtsovsk autumn". It usually takes place in September. Includes classes and meetings in libraries, exhibitions, film screenings, concerts and reading competitions, book presentations. And all those who are not indifferent to the poetry of Nikolai Rubtsov gather near the monument to the poet on the banks of the Sukhona.
inter-district festival-competition of performers of songs and poems “Here is the homeland of my soul”, dedicated to the memory of Nikolai Rubtsov.
competition of water travelers "Sukhonskaya regatta".
There are three hotels in the city (“Dawn”, “Varnitsy”), as well as the camping “Alyaska” and the guest house “Pilgrim”. The Monastic Cells Hotel, located in the Spaso-Sumorin Monastery, was closed in 2019, as the buildings were transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

Geography

Climate

Totma is located in the temperate continental climate zone, which is formed under conditions of low solar radiation in winter, under the influence of the northern seas and intense western transport, with relatively warm short summers and long cold winters. The removal of warm sea air associated with the passage of cyclones from the Atlantic and the frequent intrusions of arctic air from the Arctic Ocean make the weather very unstable throughout the year. Winter in the city is long and moderately cold, lasting five and a half months. Spring and autumn are cool, summer is warm, the coldest month is January, the warmest month is July. Precipitation falls more in summer and autumn, in the form of rain. Due to its geographical position, the climate in Totma is generally somewhat colder than in the regional capital.

 

Relief and hydrography

Totma is located on both banks of the Sukhona River (the left bank is much more populated than the right). The relief of the city is a riverine hilly area, indented by numerous rivers and streams that form ravines. The following flow in the city: the Pesya Denga River, the Dmitrievsky and Korepovsky streams (tributaries of the Sukhona), the Kovda River, the Rozhdestvensky and Petukhov streams (tributaries of the Pesya Denga), the Lyapunka stream (a tributary of the Kovda). An automobile bridge was built across the Sukhona River, which is part of the regional highway P7 (Chekshino - Totma - Nikolsk). Another fairly large road bridge ("Savinsky") within the city was built across Pesya Denga. There are a lot of pedestrian bridges in Totma due to the peculiarities of the relief.

 

Ecology

The level of air pollution in Totma is low, which is due to the almost complete absence of industry that uses toxic emissions. Nevertheless, the pollution of the waters of the Sukhona River within the city is increased, which is associated with the Sokolsky pulp and paper and woodworking plants located upstream.

 

Telecommunications and media

There is one informational newspaper (Totemskiye Vesti) and three advertising newspapers (County News-Advertising, Express Bulletin, Useful Newspaper) in the city. In 1999-2005, the informational weekly Uyezdnye Novosti was also published. The newspaper "Totma and Totmichi" was also published.

Four channels are publicly available: Channel One, Russia 1/GTRK Vologda, NTV and Channel Five. There is cable TV. As of 2013, there is no broadcasting of the Totemsky district television, there are no plans to restart it.

Cellular communication is represented by four operators: MegaFon, MTS, Beeline, Tele2.

Internet media are represented by the regularly updated news portal City of Totma. Ru”, as well as information communities in social networks.

 

Infrastructure

Transport system

Road network
Totma is a major transport hub in the eastern part of the Vologda Oblast. The city is located at the intersection of two highways of regional importance: P7 (Chekshino - Totma - Nikolsk) and "Sukhonsky tract" (Totma - Nyuksenitsa - Veliky Ustyug). According to these roads, there is access to the federal highways M8 "Kholmogory" (Moscow - Yaroslavl - Vologda - Arkhangelsk) and P157 (Uren - Sharya - Nikolsk - Kotlas). District roads connect Totma with the northern (Seredskaya, Moseevo) and southern (Veliky Dvor, Nikolskoye, Gremyachy) parts of the district.

Public transport
Thanks to the developed road network, it is possible to travel from Totma daily to Vologda (more than 12 public transport flights per day, not including private minibuses), as well as to Veliky Ustyug, the village of Babushkina, Nikolsk, Tarnogsky Gorodok, Kichmengsky Gorodok, Nyuksenitsa, Kadnikov, Cherepovets . The bus station is located in the northern part of the city, half a kilometer from the center (Privokzalny square, next to the Northern lane).
Urban public transport as such is completely absent, although there are two suburban routes to the villages of Sovetsky and Ust-Edenga, making a number of stops in the city (the cost of traveling around the city is 3-12 rubles). There are several taxi dispatch services. The cost of a trip within the city limits at the moment is 50 rubles.

Other modes of transport
There is no railway within the city, the nearest station is Vologda. The broad-gauge railway project that existed in the 1930s (Galich - Soligalich - Totma - Velsk) was abandoned in connection with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War and was not started again; and the Pyatovskaya narrow-gauge railway built since the 1950s, which ran 12 km from the city, was finally dismantled in 2006. There is currently no passenger traffic on the Sukhona. It is possible to hire a pleasure boat, pre-organized rafting on catamarans or kayaks.
Air transport ceased to exist in the city by the end of the 1990s, the territory of the former airfield is being built up, and there are no prerequisites for its revival.

Department of Housing and Utilities
The housing and communal services of Totma are represented by enterprises that ensure the operation of the city's engineering infrastructure: housing maintenance, heat supply, water supply, electricity supply, gas supply, as well as landscaping and waste disposal. Among these enterprises are MUP Vodokanal, OOO Fidesz, Totemsky branch of Vologdaelektrosetey, Totemsky branch of Vologdaenergo, etc.
The main source of water supply is the Sukhona River. The main communal problem remains the high wear and tear of existing engineering and technical communications, primarily the city water supply system. In this regard, it is recommended to pass tap water through a filter before boiling. A significant number of residential buildings in the city are not connected to a water supply system and a centralized sewerage system, therefore there are many standpipes on the streets of the city, and on the Sukhona River you can see rafts for rinsing clothes.
The city's gas supply is carried out mainly on the basis of natural gas from the Siyaniye Severa gas pipeline.

 

Education

The following educational institutions are located on the territory of the city:
preschool. 7 kindergartens.
comprehensive schools:
Totem Secondary School No. 1[69]
Totem Secondary School No. 2
Totem Secondary School No. 3
institutions of additional education:
children's music school
Petrovsky children's art school. Created in the 1990s as an attempt to revive the Petrovsky craft school.
the House for arts and crafts for children
children's and youth sports school
dance school "Bravo" at the Youth Center "Totma"
karate club "Katana"
secondary specialized educational institutions:
Totem Polytechnic College. One of the largest such establishments in the east of the Vologda region.
Until 2012, there was also the Totemsky Pedagogical College, reorganized and attached to the Polytechnic in 2012.
Higher educational institutions in the city are represented only by a branch of the Modern Humanitarian Academy.

 

Health and Social Services

Medical care in the city is provided by the Totma Central District Hospital. The hospital campus is located in the northern part of the city in the quarters between Sadovaya, Voroshilov, Kirov and Zagorodnaya streets. There is only one clinic in the city. Separately from the hospital campus, in the central part of the city, there is a dental department of the Central District Hospital. There are three drugstores. Also on the territory of the city there is a municipal institution "Comprehensive Center for Social Services for the Population", at which a boarding school for lonely elderly people has been created.

 

Sports and recreation

Basically, the sports life of the city is concentrated in the premises of the sports and recreation complex, in which a swimming pool is open and many circles and sections operate. There are two fairly large stadiums in the city: the central Fetiha and the stadium of the youth sports school, but none of them is fully equipped for sports. At the central stadium, there is also a beach volleyball court and a basketball and volleyball court, which are currently almost not used for their intended purpose.
In the central part of the city, there are several parks that are popular recreational areas for Totma residents: the Freedom Fighters Garden, Vakhrushev Park, and the Seafarers Square. Near Rubtsov Square, near the former pier, there is the only relatively convenient, though not well-maintained, city beach. For swimming and recreation, Totma residents most often use suburban beaches on the Edenga River and in the town of Desyatina on the Tsareva River.

 

International activity

International activity in Totma is primarily associated with the development of the project "Russian America: the connection of times and generations", implemented with the support of the administration of the Totma region. Signed a number of important agreements with the Fort Ross Museum-Reserve in Northern California. Every year there is a video bridge and the chime of the bells Totma - Fort Ross, timed to coincide with the Preobrazhenskaya Fair. In recent years, in connection with the 200th anniversary of the Fort Ross fortress, Totma was visited by the ex-US Consul in St. Petersburg Sheila Gwaltney and the current consul Bruce Turner, the ex-president of the Fort Ross Historical Association John Middleton, the president of Fort Ross Park Sarah Svidler and a delegation of North American Kashaya Indians. Partnerships continue to develop to this day.