Bor is a city (literally: coniferous forests) (since 1938) in
Russia, the administrative center of the urban district, the city of
Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region. The city is located on the left bank of
the Volga, opposite the city of Nizhny Novgorod, with which it is
connected by a combined road and rail bridge (since 1965) and a
passenger cable car (since February 2012).
The city includes
urban-type settlements Bolshoye Pikino, Botalovo, Neklyudovo,
Oktyabrsky, the village of Letnevo and the Pichugino residential
area
The nearest cities: Nizhny Novgorod, Semyonov,
Gorodets, Dzerzhinsk,
Balakhna, Kstovo. The distance to Moscow is about 450
km.
Name
According to one version, the name "Bor" came
from the coniferous forests, which began north of Nizhny Novgorod
and were the southern tip of the southern taiga, starting in the
Nizhny Novgorod region.
Sergievskaya Sloboda
"Sergievskaya Sloboda" is a spiritual and
educational center in the town of Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region.
Opened in 2014 for the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius
of Radonezh on the basis of the Znamensky and Sergievsky (before the
revolution - Transfiguration) churches. The complex includes the
Orthodox Gymnasium named after Saint Blessed Prince Dimitri Donskoy,
the Museum of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the Orthodox kindergarten
named after St. Sergius of Radonezh, the Peresvet children's
playground and the monument to Sergius.
Nikolo-Znamensky
Church
The history of the city began with a temple in honor of
Nicholas the Wonderworker. The first mention of the church dates
back to 1533. At first it was a wooden and then a stone temple.
In 1778, construction began on a stone three-altar church, which
lasted 16 years. The main altar was consecrated in honor of the icon
of the Most Holy Theotokos "Sign", side-altars - in honor of the
Beheading of John the Baptist and St. Nicholas. The new temple was
still called Nikolsky.
There were also side-altars in a warm
church, attached on the right side - in honor of the Nativity of
Christ and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos: above the
porch, under the bell tower, three - in the name of the holy apostle
and evangelist John the Theologian, the venerable fathers Onuphrius
the Great, Peter the Athonite and the saint Evrodochnomuchii. The
last chapel, built in 1881, was dedicated to the memory of the
murdered Emperor Alexander II. The temple became unique in terms of
the number of side-altars. Only in the 2000s, eight chapels were
added to the Kazan Church of the Diveyevo Monastery.
The
temple was a huge two-story building fifty-two meters long, with a
refectory, porches and sprouts, consecrated at the end of 1794. The
bell tower with a huge bell was considered a special attraction; the
bell tongue weighed more than two hundred kilograms.
In 1931
the temple was closed, the bells were removed from it. The building
of the temple was partially destroyed and rebuilt into a bakery.
After the return of the temple of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese,
restoration work began. By 2007, the temple was cleaned out from the
inside and the factory outbuildings were broken. Construction waste
was removed from the adjacent territory.
In 2011, 5 bells
weighing from six kilograms to five tons were made for the restored
St. Nicholas Church of the Sign. By this time, work was underway on
the external decoration of the building, drums were being prepared
for the installation of domes, and the bell tower was being laid.
On July 13, 2013, Metropolitan George performed the rite of the
Great Consecration of the temple.
In 2014-2015, the museum of
St. Sergius of Radonezh was located on the second floor of the
restored church. On July 31, 2015, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of
Moscow and All Russia visited the Church of the Sign and donated an
icon of the Resurrection of Christ.
Sergievsky temple
The
construction of the church began in 1754. In 1757 the temple was
consecrated.
In 1935, the church was closed. First they
decided to convert it into a club, then a library was planned in it.
In 1960, the church was rebuilt into the House of Pioneers.
In 1991, the temple was returned to the believers. The service began
in 1995. In 2006, St. Sergius Church was closed for major repairs to
be recreated according to pre-revolutionary drawings.
On
September 9, 2014, the temple was consecrated by the Great Order by
the Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Georgy. The head of
the Nizhny Novgorod metropolitanate was co-served by Vicar Bishop
Ilia of Balakhna, Bishop of Vyksa and Pavlovsk Varnava, Bishop of
Kotlassky and Velsky Vasily, Bishop of Lyskovsky and Lukoyanovsky
Siluan, secretary of the diocesan administration of Archpriest
Sergiy Matveyevrite of Nizhny Novgorod, Archpriest Sergius Alexander
(Lukin), head of the department of education and catechesis of the
Nizhny Novgorod diocese, Archpriest Yevgeny Khudin, dean of the Bor
district, Archpriest Alexy Parfyonov and rector of the church,
Archpriest Vladimir Semyonov.
Historical materials indicate that in ancient times Finno-Ugric
tribes (in particular, Meschera) lived along the banks of the Volga
tributary - the Vezloma River. The ancestral homelands of Bor are
the settlements Vezlomskaya, Kopytovskaya and Nikolskaya. Formed at
the beginning of the Trans-Volga trade road by the inhabitants of
the Vezlomskaya and Kopytovskaya settlements, the
Nikolsko-Borovskaya (or simply Borovskaya) settlement was
transformed into a large village of Bor in the 14th century.
Residents of the suburbs and the village of Bor were actively
engaged in handicrafts (carpentry and joinery) and hunting. At all
times, the inhabitants of Bor were engaged in carriage. Bor ferry
served as the "main gate" of Nizhny Novgorod to the Volga region and
back.
Intensive settlement and development of Bor and the
territory of the future Bor region took place at the beginning of
the 17th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the
industrial development of Nizhny Novgorod did not pass by the
Borskaya Sloboda: the shipbuilding industry was strengthened, stone
houses and churches were being built, and pine forests downstream of
the Volga (Mokhovye Gory) became a popular holiday destination. In
1887, the population of Bor was over 1,400 inhabitants. There was
one school and a hospital in the village, several trade shops, a
mill and an iron-cutting plant operated. On the outskirts of the
village of Bor, there were about 20 forges. The market square was
located in the center. Trade was constantly conducted here and large
fairs were organized twice a year.
In Nizhny Novgorod in the
second half of the 19th century, the shipping company actively
developed, which, among other things, contributed to the development
of the transport industry in Bor. Bor at that time was a large
trading village, where felting and blacksmithing were also widely
represented.
With the coming to power of the Soviets, during
the first five-year plans a new powerful industrial base was created
in the Bor region, and the village became a workers' settlement. In
1923, the Krasnaya Ramen plant was founded, which was engaged in the
production of chains and later became one of the main suppliers of
its products for the whole country. In 1927, the N.
Novgorod-Kotelnich railway line was put into operation, connecting
the Nizhny Novgorod industrial region with the Urals and Siberia, as
well as the east and north of Russia. Other areas of industry also
developed - ship repairing, peat-forming, logging. In 1934 a
mechanized glass factory was launched for the needs of heavy
industry.
On November 27, 1938, the working village of Bor
was transformed into a city. On September 14, 1942 Bor received the
status of a city of regional subordination.
In the past, Bor
stood directly on the banks of the Volga. Now, after filling the
Cheboksary reservoir and changing the channel, it is about a
kilometer away from the river and adjoins a huge floodplain,
perfectly visible from the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin (from the high
bank of the Volga). In 2004-2005, the city included the surrounding
villages, the village of Letnevo and the Pichugino residential area.
In 2011-2015, Bor is actively developing cottage construction in
the Botalovo area, as part of the implementation of social programs
for the provision of housing.
The opening of the cable car in
2012 reflects the desire of the authorities in Nizhny Novgorod to
strengthen the connection with its satellite. At the end of 2013, it
became known that according to the plans for the development of the
satellite city by 2030, the city of Bor will become part of Nizhny
Novgorod. In 2017, the Second Borsky Bridge was opened, which
connects Nizhny Novgorod and Bor, the maximum load of the bridge is
105,000 cars per day, which made it possible to partially unload the
P-159 Nizhny Novgorod - Shakhunya - Kirov highway, but the problem
of traffic congestion on the section is completely Nizhny Novgorod -
Neklyudovo has not yet been resolved. In 2018, the 2018 FIFA World
Cup was held and Bor was selected as the base camp for the Uruguay
national team.
Transport
The P159 Nizhny Novgorod - Kirov highway passes
through the city. The main traffic flows are directed to the city of
Nizhny Novgorod through the Borsky bridge.
The city has
railway stations Tolokontsevo, Mokhovye Gory and Steklozavodets
(cargo) and passenger platforms Neklyudovo, Druzhba, Voenny Gorodok
and Sportivnaya.
On the route Mokhovye Gory - Moskovsky
Railway Station (Nizhny Novgorod), an electric train runs daily,
which is especially popular among the townspeople in the summer due
to numerous traffic jams on the Borsky Bridge. All electric trains
of the Vetluzhsky direction stop at Tolokontsevo station, with the
exception of electric trains going to Uren, Shakhunya and Kirov.
Until 2013, in summer, the passenger motor ship "OM" cruised
from the passenger pier to the river station in Nizhny Novgorod.
Since 2006, ferries have been operating from the pier to the
opposite shore.
Since 2008, there has been a regular
passenger river crossing Nizhny Novgorod - Bor. From one bank of the
Volga to another, passengers are transported by hovercraft of the
company Logoprom - Borskiy perevoz. Travel time across the river is
approximately 5 minutes. It gradually faded away with the start of
the cable car.
Bus passenger transportation is served by the
Borskoye Passenger Motor Transport Company (MUP "Borskoye PAP",
serves 13 routes) and private entrepreneurs (serves 8 routes).
Since 2012, the Nizhny Novgorod cable car has been operating,
providing passenger traffic between Bor and Nizhny Novgorod in
addition to the existing road and rail routes, as well as a river
crossing.
In 2017, a backup of the Borsky Bridge was opened.
Thus, now Nizhny Novgorod and Bor are connected by three bridges (a
railway, combined rail-road with two-lane traffic to Nizhny Novgorod
and a new road with two-lane traffic from Nizhny Novgorod).
In 2020, the Neklyudovo automobile bypass was opened.