Vyazma, Russia

Vyazma

Description of Vyazma

Vyazma is a city in Russia, the administrative center of the Vyazemsky district, located in the east of the Smolensk region. Population - 52 506 people. (2018). The city is located on the Vyazma River, 175 km from Smolensk and 210 km from Moscow, on the Vyazma hill, in an area where the river drastically changes its direction of flow from the south to the north-west. It is the junction railway station Vyazma on the lines Moscow - Brest and Torzhok - Bryansk. The city is located on the Old Smolensk Road, which has long connected Moscow with European regions.

On April 27, 2009, by the decree of the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, the city of Vyazma was awarded the honorary title of the Russian Federation “City of Military Glory”.

The birthday of the city is traditionally celebrated on the Orthodox holiday of the Holy Trinity.

 

Sights

Monasteries and temples

Church in the name of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the main part of this building there is a local history museum. Here are exhibits covering the history of the city from ancient times to the middle of the 20th century. The exposition tells about archaeological finds, the Patriotic War of 1812, Vyazma churches, noble, merchant and peasant life, the rich theatrical history of the city, as well as the events of the Great Patriotic War and the post-war life of the Vyazma people. The museum presents personal belongings of the composer A. S. Dargomyzhsky, actors Nikolai Plotnikov, Lyudmila Kasatkina and Anatoly Papanov, commander Lieutenant General M. G. Efremov.
John the Baptist Monastery, including the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria (XVII century)
Trinity Cathedral (XVII century) with Arcadia Chapel (2009)
Arkadyevsky Monastery (Church of the All-Merciful Savior, Holy Gates, Almshouse, Prosphora, Fence Tower).
The Spasskaya Tower (the only surviving building of the Vyazemsky fortress of the 17th century, which later belonged to the Arkadyevsky monastery). Restored in the 1830s by personal order of Emperor Nicholas I, the money was allocated by the mayor IP Neronov.
Church of Peter and Paul. Located on the street III International. The brick church was erected in 1805 by Y. Zhdanov and D. Polyakov, serf architects of the landowner I. I. Baryshnikov, in the style of classicism.
Catherine's Church (XVIII century).
Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Church (XVIII century). Built in 1736 in the Baroque style, later in 1763 a refectory with a porch and a fence were added to the church.
Vvedenskaya Church (XVIII century).
Church of the Nativity (Yamskaya) (XVIII century). Located on Karl Marx street. Erected in 1763 in the Baroque style.

 

Monuments

Monument to the Defenders of the Fatherland 1941-1945; 1914-1918 (sculptor A. Romashevsky), installed in 2020.
The monument-aircraft MiG-17, on which S. Savitskaya underwent retraining, was installed in 1984.
Monuments in honor of the Patriotic War of 1812: a monument to the "Valiant Ancestors" to the heroes of 1812 and a monument to the Pernovsky regiment (money for its construction was collected by the regiment's military personnel in 1912. Established in 1912, destroyed in the 1920s, rebuilt in 1962 ).
Monument to Karl Marx, erected in 1959.
Monument to the commander of the 33rd Army, Lieutenant General M. G. Efremov (sculptor E. V. Vuchetich).
Monument to V. I. Lenin.
Monument-bust to Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov.
Monument to St. Gerasim of Boldin in the John the Baptist Monastery (sculptor I. Chumakov).
Stela "City of Military Glory" (opened on June 12, 2011)
Monument to Anatoly Dmitrievich Papanov, theater and film actor, People's Artist of the USSR (opened on October 31, 2012, on the day of the artist's 90th birthday. (Sculptor I. N. Chumakov).
Monument to Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (opened October 14, 2012)
Monument to Maxim Ivanovich Goretsky, a Belarusian writer who was shot in Vyazma on February 10, 1938.
Monument to Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky (opened on May 26, 2013, as part of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer. Sculptor I. N. Chumakov)
Memorial to Soviet prisoners of war who died in the German transit camp "Dulag-184".

Other attractions
The city has its own gastronomic attraction - Vyazma gingerbread.

 

Origin of name

According to Max Vasmer, the name comes from the name of the river, which, in turn, is derived from vyazky, that is, “Vyazma River” - “silty river”. Vasmer denied the Finnish etymology proposed by Dobrovolsky from the ethnonym Vepsä, all, since this people never lived in the Smolensk region.

 

History of Vyazma

For the first time in written sources, Vyazma was mentioned in 1239 - then the city was given to Andrei Vladimirovich Dolgaya Ruka, the son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Rurikovich. At the same time, the Vyazemsky specific principality was already an integral part of the Smolensk Grand Duchy. Throughout its history, Vyazma was a fortified city, fortifications were strengthened and expanded as the city grew.

A cemetery was discovered on Cathedral Hill in Vyazma, which existed in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries.

In 1403, Vyazma, among the specific cities of the Smolensk land, was captured by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But already in 1493, during the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1487-1494, it ceded to the Russian state.

During the existence of the Hanseatic League, Vyazma was a trading point where goods were brought from the Tver and Suzdal principalities along the still navigable Vyazma River. In the 17th century, 44 cities traded with or through Vyazma. Of the crafts in the city, leather production was developed.

During the time of Ivan the Terrible, Vyazma was assigned to the oprichnina (1565). Ivan the Terrible visited the city in 1563 and 1566 and attended services in the cathedral church.

During the Time of Troubles, peasant unrest took place in the vicinity of Vyazma; after the invasion of Polish troops, the city repeatedly passed from hand to hand. In 1612, Vyazma sent her detachment to the militia of Prince Pozharsky. After the end of the war, the city went to the Russian kingdom, there was an exchange of prisoners between the parties. Nevertheless, Poles raids on Vyazma continued, and in the 1630s, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich ordered the construction of new fortifications in the city. By 1632, a stone fortress with 6 towers was created on the site of the former wooden structures - the Big Lower City.

From October 21, 1654 to February 10, 1655, Vyazma temporarily became the seat of the Russian government: returning from Smolensk with an army, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was forced to stop in Vyazma due to a plague outbreak in Moscow. Patriarch Nikon and the entire royal family arrived here. A wooden palace was built in the city.

In November 1779, Empress Catherine the Second approved the general plan for the development of the city, and in 1780 the city was given a coat of arms.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, in August, battles took place near the city during the retreat of the Russian army. Vyazma was surrendered without a fight and set on fire by the inhabitants. Near Vyazma, on October 22 (November 3), 1812, Russian troops defeated the retreating Napoleonic army. In honor of this event, two monuments were erected in the city. Particularly distinguished infantry Pernovsky regiment, the first to break into the city.

By the middle of the 19th century, Vyazma became a major trading center. In 1850, 8 gingerbread factories operated in Vyazma, of which the most famous were the factories owned by the merchants Echeistov, Kustarev and Sabelnikov. The best gingerbread, which earned world fame and made Vyazma famous, was the gingerbread baked at the Sabelnikov factory.

On August 30, 1869, the Alexander Men's Classical Gymnasium was opened in Vyazma, based on the funds of the Smolensk provincial zemstvo. It was the first zemstvo educational institution in the country and the second secondary educational institution in the Smolensk province.

In the summer of 1918, in the Holy Spirit Monastery, the communists arrested and, under the escort of the Red Guards, delivered to the local revolutionary committee Bishop Makarii (Gnevushev) of Vyazemsky, who had great authority among the locals. He was subjected to bullying and beatings; In the fall, the Chekists transported him to Smolensk, where they shot him.

In the autumn of 1941, during Operation Typhoon near Vyazma, many formations of the Red Army fell into the enemy encirclement: 37 divisions, 9 tank brigades, 31 artillery regiments of the RGK and field departments of four armies, with a total number of up to 600,000 people, including 10 divisions of volunteers -militias from Moscow aged 16 to 60 years. Of the 15 thousand militias of the capital's 7th Bauman division of the people's militia, about 14 thousand died near Vyazma. In total, in October 1941, about 400,000 Soviet citizens died in the battles near Vyazma. During the breakthrough, 85,000 of them left the encirclement, but about 688,000 Soviet soldiers and officers were captured.

On October 7, 1941, the city was occupied by German troops.

On March 12, 1943, the troops of the Western Front during the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation, the city was liberated by the forces of the 5th and 33rd armies. During the fighting, the city was almost completely destroyed, stone and brick buildings were blown up, and wooden ones were burned.

In 2009, the city was awarded the title of "City of Military Glory"

 

German death camps

In Vyazma, there were at least two German camps for prisoners of war and the civilian population of the USSR - Dulag No. 184 and Dulag No. 230.

The transit camp (Dulag No. 184) was established in October 1941 and existed until March 1943, when the city was liberated by Soviet troops. The camp contained captured Soviet soldiers. The prisoners were often not fed or given water. In the winter of 1941-1942, the death rate in the camp was up to 300 people a day. According to SMERSH, the lists of those who died from wounds in the camp included 5,500 people. There are 40 (according to other sources - 45) ditches on the territory, with an area equal to about four football fields, in which, according to various sources, from 70 to 80 thousand people are buried. As of 2009, gardens, garages of local residents, a machine-building enterprise and the Vyazemsky meat-packing plant, in the building of which the camp was located, are located on the graves.

In another transit prison in Vyazma (Dulag No. 230), in October 1941, during an inspection conducted by an Abwehr officer, 200 Jews and 50-60 political officers were found, a few days later another 40 Jews and 6-8 political officers were found there. All of them were shot. In December, 117 Jews were found and shot in a POW camp in Vyazma.

According to the memoirs of the future Soviet historian M. M. Sheinman, who was then in German captivity:

At the beginning of October 1941, near Vyazma, the unit in which I served was surrounded. We immediately found ourselves in the rear of the Germans. On October 12, during the attack, I was wounded in the leg. From November 1941 to February 12, 1942, I was in the Vyazemsky "hospital" for prisoners of war. People were placed in dilapidated buildings without roofs, windows and doors. Often many of those who went to bed did not wake up - they were freezing. In Vyazma, exhausted, ragged, barely trudging people - Soviet prisoners of war - were driven by the Germans to unbearably hard work. Few were admitted to the "hospital" - most died in the camp. In Vyazma, the hospital was located in dilapidated houses abandoned by the inhabitants, on the outskirts of the city and in the ruins of the oil plant buildings. The houses were always cold and dark. The wounded lay on the bare floor. There was not even straw for bedding. Only towards the end of my stay in Vyazma were bunk beds built in the houses, but even on them the patients lay without straw, on bare boards. There were no medicines. The lice in the hospital was unbelievable. Bath for three and a half months of my stay in Vyazma was never.

In addition, from October 1941 to mid-January 1942, the headquarters and a number of units of the German Einsatzkommando were located in occupied Vyazma, which, with the assistance of the Wehrmacht field units, was engaged in the continuous extermination of Jews, Soviet activists and other categories of civilians. In Vyazma itself, according to the reports of this team, it exterminated several hundred people every month, and trips to punitive actions generally covered the territories of several occupied regions.

In honor of the defenders of the Fatherland, a memorial complex was erected outside the city, on the Moscow-Minsk highway. In 2009, in the vicinity of Vyazma, where battles took place in 1941, the Bogoroditskoye Field memorial was opened. Burials, where tens of thousands of those killed in the death camp, on the territory of the operating meat processing plant, are buried, are marked with a chapel in memory of the dead prisoners of war.

 

Getting here

By plane
The nearest large civil airports are located in Moscow, the local airport was closed back in the 70s of the XX century.

By train
Almost all trains coming from Moscow in a western direction (to Smolensk, Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Vilnius, Kaliningrad, etc.) stop in Vyazma. From morning to night, trains depart quite regularly. Travel time, depending on the train, from 2.5 to 4 hours.

However, the fastest and most convenient way to get from Moscow to the city is Lastochki, which travel to Smolensk several times a day, stopping in Vyazma along the way. Such frequency and schedule allow you to visit Vyazma even in one day, with enough time for sightseeing. Travel time is about 2.5 hours, the cost is around 350 rubles one way.

Earlier, electric trains departed from Moscow in the direction of Vyazma, but due to exceeding the limit of 200 km for suburban trains, they were canceled in favor of connecting flights. The transfer is carried out at the Borodino station, to the direct trains Borodino-Vyazma (follow twice a day). Waiting on the Borodino platform with a well-chosen connection is about 20 minutes, and the entire route will take 4.5 hours.

The Torzhok-Bryansk railway line also passes through the Vyazma station.

Railway station, Privokzalnaya Square, 1 (Two km from the city center). ☎ +7 (48131) 3-56-34. There is a ticket office and a small waiting room. The first station was built in 1870, but was destroyed during the Second World War, the modern building was built after the war. On the station square you can see the rare steam locomotive Esh4290.
How to get there: there is a minibus stop at the station square next to the FixPrice store. A taxi is waiting nearby, the cost to the city center is 100 rubles.

By car
Vyazma, with its northern side, is adjacent to the M1 "Belarus" highway. The distance from Moscow is about 230 km, from Smolensk about 170 km.

By bus
Flights depart from Moscow every 3-4 hours. Direct flights depart from the Tyoply Stan bus station, travel time is about 4 hours, the cost is 400 rubles. You can also leave the Tushinskaya bus station by buses to Yartsevo and Kholm-Zhirkovsky. At the same time, in Vyazma, a bus can both enter the bus station and land on the highway (stop at the so-called Turn).

Bus station, pl. Privokzalnaya, 1 (opposite the railway station). ☎ +7 (48131) 3-57-33. 04:30 – 19:30.

 

Local transport

The city has about two dozen bus routes.

 

Shopping

Vyazemsky gingerbread has been known throughout Russia since at least the 17th century. Many Russian writers and poets mentioned them, for example, Pushkin wrote: "Moscow was famous for its brides, like Vyazma for gingerbread." In the 19th century, 8 gingerbread factories operated in the city, which ceased their activities immediately after the October Revolution. Currently, local gingerbread is produced at the Vyazma bakery. You can find both ordinary custard gingerbread and three types of broken gingerbread made by hand according to an old recipe - with almonds, peanuts and candied fruit. On gingerbread souvenir packages, views of the old pre-revolutionary Vyazma are reproduced.

 

Eat

1   Cafe Olsztyn  , st. Lenina, 5. ☎ +7 (48131) 42-950. The first is 70-150 rubles, the second is 80-230 rubles. Tasty, cheap, but everything spoils the gloomy interior and the same waiters. However, as for a place where you can eat well, in Vyazma it has no special competitors. Often closed for maintenance.
2  Pizza "Mario", Sovetskaya pl. Pretty mediocre fast food with a variety of food and of course pizza. We can say that it is cozy, but the dishes are plastic.
3 Restaurant "Versailles", st. October 25, 23. ☎ +7 (48131) 2-51-28. Small cafe on the second floor of the building. Bad reviews: long and tasteless.

Coffee houses
4  Teahouse  , st. Kirova, 2. 8:00-22:00, on weekends it works 2 hours longer. Cakes 80-150 rubles, coffee 50-120 rubles. A very worthy cafe, which would not be lost in a big city, interesting interior, there is a large summer terrace. An impressive selection of teas brewed in the right teapot and served in the right cups. From food - only desserts.

 

Hotels

1 Russian Pyramid Hotel, 25th October st., 34. ☎ +7 (48131) 5-45-92, +7 (964) 617-66-27. Single 1200 rubles, double with private facilities on the floor 1600 rubles, double standard 1900 rubles.
2 Hotel Vyazma, st. Kosmonavtov, 4 (next to the central square). ☎ +7 (48131) 41-465, 41-572. Double room 1900 rub. An old Soviet hotel that has undergone a thorough renovation both on the floors and in the rooms.
3 Hotel "Pokrovskoye", st. Pokrovsky, 12 (5-10 minutes walk from the central square, white one-story building). ☎ +7 (48131) 62-988. Double room: 1000 rubles, triple room: 1500 rubles (2008). A private hotel with a rather simple, but quite nice environment. Facilities and showers on the floor, there is free parking in a closed area.

In the country
4 "Balu" hotel, 225 km of Moscow-Minsk highway. ☎ +7-(903) 893-67-70, +7 (48131) 42-477. Double room 1600. There is a restaurant.
5 Volskiye Dachi park-hotel, 227 km of the Moscow-Minsk highway (from Moscow: turn right until the main exit to Vyazma at the traffic police post). ✉ ☎ +7 (905) 163-37-96. Double room from 1600 rubles. Cottages in the forest; Both individual rooms and entire houses are available for rent. There is a bathhouse, a sauna, a restaurant, the opportunity to fry a shish kebab.

 

Geology

The soil is dominated by boulder loams, platinum deposits, gravel sands, mantle loams, peat, and clays. There are deposits of rock salt, brown coal, phosphorites, limestones, dolomites, clay, peat in the region. There are also large sand and gravel deposits being developed near the city.

 

Economy

The enterprises of the Vyazma group of companies are located in the city, the largest of which is JSC Vyazma Machine-Building Plant. The range of the plant includes more than 160 items of washing, wringing, drying, ironing and auxiliary equipment.

The Vyazma Group of Companies also includes the Vyazemsky Bakery Plant. In addition, the city has:

Enterprise "Bankon" - production of metal packaging;
Vyazemsky crushed stone plant (subsidiary of National Nonmetallic Company JSC);
Vyazemsky leather production Lt;
Vyazemsky plant of synthetic products;
cosmetic shop "L'Avissal";
plant for the production of plastic products LLC "Plastic Republic";
a subsidiary of LLC Russian Mining and Chemical Society, a plant for processing natural mineral - brucite, LLC Vyazma-Brusit;
branch of JSC "BET" Vyazemsky plant of reinforced concrete sleepers;
Reinforced Concrete Plant - production of reinforced concrete products;
LLC "Lava" - a plant for the production of polymer films;
CJSC "Technographite" - production of structural products from graphite materials;
branch of PV OOO "Firma Technoavia" OOO "Vyazemskaya garment factory" - a manufacturer and supplier of overalls, safety shoes and protective equipment;
LLC "Vyazma-Les" - design, manufacture and turnkey installation (including internal networks) of houses from glued laminated timber;
Vyazemsky brick factory - production of solid brick grades M-100, M-125, M-150;
Vyazemsky Machine-Building Plant - manufacture of equipment for laundries and dry cleaners.
Vyazma is a major transport hub of the Smolensk region, both rail and road. The city has a locomotive depot, two convoys, and numerous railway and road transport maintenance enterprises. There are several dozen bus routes.

 

Culture

The city has a KVN team "Pineapple" (all from the Vyazemsky branch of Moscow State University of Technology named after K. G. Razumovsky), playing in the Highest League of KVN. In 2012, the team reached the 1/4 finals of the Major League of the International KVN Union.

 

Education

The city has universities, institutions of secondary specialized education, and schools. Among them:
SOGBPOU Vyazemsky Polytechnic College (formerly Vyazemsky Engineering College),
Vyazemsky branch of the Russian International Academy of Tourism (VF RMAT), closed in 2015,
Smolensk Cossack Institute of Industrial Technologies and Business (branch)
Vyazemsky branch of the Moscow State Industrial University (VF GOU MGIU), closed in 2014,
Vyazemsky branch of the Smolensk Humanitarian University, closed in 2014,
Vyazemsky railway technical school (former GPTU No. 5),
10 secondary schools,
1 evening school,
Vyazemskaya special (correctional) general education elementary school - kindergarten "Fairy Tale" IV type,
Vyazemsky Medical College named after E. O. Mukhin,
Children's School of Arts named after A. S. Dargomyzhsky.
Children's Art School named after A. G. Sergeev
The Vyazemsky flying club operates in the city, with which many pages of Soviet and Russian aviation are connected. Pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Svetlana Savitskaya underwent flight practice here. Today, the squadron "Rus" is based in the flying club.

 

Sport

Football club of the University of MGIU - FC "VF MGIU". In 2009, he successfully made his debut in the 1st football league of the Smolensk region. Champion of the city in football 2009. Bronze medalist of the regional mini-football championship 2009-2010. Winner of the tournament "Snowdrop" -2010. Champion of the Smolensk region in 2014.

The city's football club is FC Vyazma. Plays in the regional championships in football and mini-football.