Kashin is a city (since 1238) in Russia, the administrative
center of the Kashinsky district (urban district) of the Tver
region. One of the oldest cities in the Tver region. Population -
13,757 people. (2020).
The city is located on the banks of
the Kashinka River (left tributary of the Volga), in the southeast
of the region, 150 km from Tver, 180 km from Moscow, not far from
the border with the Yaroslavl region.
The railway station on
the Savyolovo - Sonkovo branch, the Kashin - Kalyazin, Kashin -
Kushalino - Tver, Kashin - Kesova Gora - Bezhetsk highways.
Kashin is the only resort town in the Tver region. The sanatorium
near the springs of medicinal and table mineral water, located right
in the city, was opened at the end of the 19th century. There are
several mineral water bottling enterprises in the city.
Kashin is called “the city of the Russian heart” because the
Kashinka river, meandering through the city (in total, it makes six
bends within it), forms an exact silhouette of the heart.
The ensemble of the Kashin Kremlin with the remains of a rampart and
posads, surrounded by the Kashinka River. On the territory of the
peninsula there are shopping arcades, merchant houses, a central square
with monuments.
Kashin resort with a picturesque valley of the
Kashinka tributary of the Maslyatka river, a beautiful pump room. In
total, the sanatorium has eight sources of a wide variety of mineral
water. A pump room with three types of water (No. 12, No. 18 and No. 21)
is open to everyone.
Embankment of the Kashinka River with wooden
pedestrian bridges.
Kashinsky Museum of Local Lore. Located in the
building of the Church of the Entry into Jerusalem.
Monasteries
and temples
Klobukov (founded in the middle of the 14th century,
active).
Dmitrovsky (mentioned in 1521, in ruins).
Sretensky
(founded at the beginning of the 15th century, in ruins).
Churches:
As of 2022, the following temples have been preserved in
Kashin:
Resurrection Cathedral. In 2009 it was transferred to the
Russian Orthodox Church. Before that, it housed the House of Culture.
Services are held in the Nikolo-Vasilievsky chapel (bell tower). The
rest of the temple is undergoing restoration. In 2009, a monument to
Anna Kashinskaya was unveiled in front of the cathedral. With a high
76-meter bell tower, decorated with a clock (1867).
Ascension
Cathedral - recently restored, in 1993 the relics of St. Anna
Kashinskaya. Currently it is a cathedral.
Ilyinsko-Preobrazhenskaya
(1778) is an elegant church on a high, steep bank of the river.
Restored, but without a bell tower.
Nativity of Christ on the
mountain (1786) - located next to Ilyinsko-Preobrazhenskaya. Operating,
restored without a bell tower.
Church of the Cross (1784) - located
next to the sanatorium, on the other side of the Maslyatka valley. A
functioning temple.
Church of Peter and Paul (1782).
Church of
Florus and Laurus (1751). Closed during the Khrushchev campaign.
Recovering.
Sretensky Church of the former Sretensky Convent. Near
the temple in 1998, the grave of St., revered by local residents, was
found and restored. schema-nun Dorothea.
Trinity Cathedral of
Klobukov St. Nicholas Monastery (with the chapel of St. Nicholas).
Beheaded, but preserved quite well. As of 2022, it is being restored.
Church of the Intercession of the Klobukov Monastery. The first of the
restored churches of the city in the era of modern Russia (1995, it was
again restored (and almost completely) in 2007).
Church of Alexy,
Metropolitan of the Moscow Klobukov Monastery. The current one has been
restored.
The Church of Peter and Paul is used as a courtyard of the
Klobukov Monastery. The church never closed. Its most spectacular view
opens from Komsomolskaya Street. Known for its inclined spire.
Dmitrov Passion Cathedral of the former Dmitrov Monastery. Beheaded, not
restored. An approximate copy of this cathedral can be seen in Nizhny
Novgorod (Alexandro-Nevsky New Fair Cathedral on Strelka).
Church
of Elijah the Prophet in Kashin
Spasskaya Church. The church has been
beheaded and is being restored.
Church of the Entrance to Jerusalem
(1789). Does not work. The building houses a local history museum.
Kazan (Vlasyevskaya) church with a 2-tier bell tower. The upper tier was
dismantled in 1967. The rest of the temple was dismantled and converted
into a fire station.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on
Chistye Prudy. The bell and dome were destroyed during Soviet times. It
was used as a shoe-felling workshop. In 2012-2013 it was converted into
a mini-hotel and cinema hall.
Makaryevskaya Chapel. A functioning
chapel, erected on the site of the cell of St. Macarius of Kalyazin.
The wooden church of Saints Joachim and Anna (mid-17th century), which
was one of the pearls of the city, burned down in March 1995 as a result
of “unintentional arson.”
By train
From Moscow: from the Belorussky railway station by train
No. 602Ya Moscow - Rybinsk.
From St. Petersburg: by train No. 607A
St. Petersburg - Uglich.
By car
Highways connect Kashin with
Kalyazin, Tver and Bezhetsk. Moscow - Sergiev Posad - Kalyazin - Kashin
- the optimal route to Kashin by car.
By bus
From Moscow from
Savelovsky station on the right side of the entrance at 8:00, 11:30,
14:00, 18:00.
Table mineral waters “Kashinskaya” and “Anna Kashinskaya”.
Products of the Kashin distillery "Veresk" - vodka, liqueurs, balsam.
The products of Era OJSC are confectionery and pastille products, as
well as souvenir gingerbread cookies.
Cheap
As for nutrition, the best option is to buy simple food in
stores. Of course, there are cafes, restaurants, etc. in the city, but
since there are few visitors, these establishments do not focus on them.
Those who settled in the Kashin sanatorium do not need to think about
food - a boarding house.
Cheap
Hotel "Rus", Karl Marx Street, building 16 (a large 5-storey
building in the style of the 70s of the 20th century. When entering from
Moscow, it is impossible to drive past (on the right, in front of the
bridge over Kashinka). Rooms are of acceptable quality, with amenities .
Average cost
There are 2-3 more small hotels for 2013.
Information about them is awaited. You can try using the Kashin
sanatorium as a hotel. By agreement with the administration and
availability of available places, short-term accommodation is possible,
even for a day. The positive aspects are the boarding house, cleanliness
and order, location almost in the city center. Prices are moderate.
Terrible roads in the city and surrounding areas. Be prepared, especially after a fairly bearable journey from Moscow. A considerable number of one-way streets. It is recommended to keep a distance in front of the car in front! On weekends, the market (central) square is closed to traffic. The population of the city is mostly friendly, there are no or only a small number of migrants from the south.
Cellular communications from all operators in the city are stable.
The name Kashin was formed from the personal name
Kasha, which was repeatedly attested in Old Russian anthroponymy, or
directly from the word porridge “a special treat associated with a
wedding ceremony; a feast at the newlyweds' house after the wedding.
There is an assumption that the name of the city, like the river
Kashinka, is of Finno-Ugric origin. The exact date of the foundation
of the city is unknown. The first mention of the city dates back to
1238: in the Nikon Chronicle, Kashin is mentioned among the cities
devastated by the Mongols. The second mention refers to 1287, when
the Grand Duke of Vladimir Dmitry Alexandrovich and his allies in a
campaign against Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy besieged Kashin for
nine days.
A number of historians, following D.A.Korsakov
(who, in turn, relied on the research of contemporary Yaroslavl
ethnographers) believed that in the 13th century Kashin was part of
the Uglitsky principality, but this opinion is erroneous.
In
reality, the Kashin lands (including Ksnyatin) in 1212-1238 were
part of the Pereyaslavl-Zalessky principality, and then - after the
Pereyaslavl-Zalessky principality Yaroslav Vsevolodovich received
the Vladimir grand reign (1238) - went to the Grand Duchy of
Vladimir. When the Tver principality was formed in 1247, Kashin and
the lands stretching to it became part of it.
During the
period of proprietary indivisibility of the Tver principality,
Kashin was the main city of the northeastern lands of the Tver
"country" - with its "husbands" (serving nobility) and its
"regiment" (military militia). The city was strongly fortified, and
the position of the city contributed to its inaccessibility:
Kashinka skirted it from all sides, and it stood as if on a
peninsula. Access to the city was only from the side of a narrow
isthmus between the bends of the river, through which a deep ditch
was dug, fortified by a rampart with a tynom and a palisade.
Specific period
The center of the appanage principality of Kashin
became in 1319, when, in accordance with the spiritual charter of
the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich, who was killed in 1318 in the
Horde by order of the Khan Uzbek, the territory of the Tver
principality was divided between his sons: Tver with the adjacent
volosts was allocated to the eldest son Dmitry , southwestern
regions with the center in Zubtsov - Alexandru, southern regions
(Klin with volosts) - Konstantin; and the northeastern regions
(Kashin with volosts) received the youngest of the sons - Vasily
Mikhailovich. Vasily, who at one time (in 1349-1365) also occupied
the Tver grand-ducal table, founded the Assumption Monastery in the
city in honor of his mother, later canonized Anna Kashinskaya.
In the XIV century, the city was more than once embroiled in
strife between the Tver and Moscow princedoms, although the local
princes tried to defend their independent position. In 1321 and
1328, the city was captured by the Moscow and Tatar detachments, who
united in the fight against Tver. In 1375, after the defeat of Tver
in the struggle with Moscow, Prince Vasily Mikhailovich II achieved
the recognition of the Kashin principality as independent,
independent from Tver. However, in 1382, Vasily died without leaving
an heir, and Kashin again became the inheritance of the Tver Grand
Duchy, and the Kashin table was successively occupied by the sons of
the Tver Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich: Alexander Ordynets, Boris
and Vasily (aka Vasily Mikhailovich III).
In 1400, the
spiritual charter of Mikhail Alexandrovich, who died in 1399,
assigned Kashin to Vasily Mikhailovich III. However, his relations
with his brother, the Grand Duke of Tver Ivan Mikhailovich, were
very tense, and he more than once expelled Vasily from Kashin
(finally, in June 1412, when the Kashin prince was arrested, but
managed to escape the convoy and flee to Moscow). After Vasily's
death in 1426, the Kashinsky inheritance legally ceases to exist,
and its lands are included in the number of Tver grand ducal
possessions.
Despite the dependence on Tver, the city minted
its own coin (pool), carried out chronicle work. The city gradually
turned into a large trade center; Kashin merchants traded with near
and far lands. The craft developed, especially the production of
white paints. They also formed the basis of the original coat of
arms of the city: in the upper part of it was depicted the Tver
crown, and in the lower part - three white mortars (mortars were
called small cones of dry lead white, the form in which this paint
went on sale).
As part of the Russian state
In 1485,
together with the entire Tver Grand Duchy, Kashin was annexed to
Moscow, which caused a long extinction of Kashin as a commercial and
industrial center.
In 1504, Kashin, among other lands, was allocated to the son of
Ivan III, Yuri Ivanovich Dmitrovsky, and from that time was part of
the Dmitrovsky appanage principality. Under Yuri Ivanovich, the
first stone cathedral was erected in Kashin - the Resurrection (on
the site of the modern cathedral), and in the Kalyazin Trinity
Monastery, territorially related to Kashin, the stone Trinity
Cathedral and the refectory chamber were erected. However, in 1534,
Yuri Ivanovich was thrown into prison by the order of the ruler
Elena Glinskaya (where he died two years later), and the Dmitrov
estate was liquidated.
In 1565, after Tsar Ivan the Terrible
divided the Russian state into oprichnina and zemstvo, the city
became part of the latter. In the 17th century, the city experienced
a series of disasters, in 1609 it was taken and plundered by the
Poles, in 1654 an epidemic of plague hit the city, in 1676 Kashin
burned down almost to the ground. However, the city quickly
recovered its potential. Along with the production of some of the
best paints in Russia, the city was famous for blacksmiths, potters
and icon painters, as well as fairs.
New and modern times
The development of the city was greatly facilitated by the founding
of St. Petersburg, the commissioning of the Vyshnevolotsk water
system and the general development of the northern lands under Peter
I. Kashin merchants extended their influence to the new capital:
some of them received contracts to provide the Peter's army with
weapons and provisions. The growing prosperity of merchants and
artisans was reflected in the appearance of the city. By the end of
the 18th century, there were already many stone houses and churches
in the city.
In 1775, Kashin received - in connection with
the establishment of the Kashin district - the status of a district
town. During the Patriotic War of 1812, merchants fully provided the
city's militia with weapons and food. At the same time, flax growing
began to develop rapidly in Kashin and the region, bringing new
profits to the city.
In 1867 the Resurrection Cathedral was
built; with the money of the merchant Terlikov, a majestic bell
tower was added to it, which is still the largest in the diocese.
The merchant N.P. Cherenin founded a public library in Kashin, the
merchants Manukhina - the first hospital, the merchant I. Ya. Kunkin
- the local history museum. In 1898, a railway was opened,
connecting Kashin with the capital - St. Petersburg. At the same
time, stone trading rows were built (still performing their
function), a resort was founded and the Alekseevsky real school was
opened.
Kashin merchants were also known throughout the
country for their piety and willingly donated money for the
construction of churches. By the beginning of the 20th century,
there were 21 churches in Kashin (2 of which were cemeteries) and 3
monasteries. The ecclesiastical importance of the city is emphasized
by the fact that the Orthodox bishop of Tver historically bears
(except for 1934-1941: Tver and Smolensk and 1941-1956: Tver and
Velikoluksky) the title "Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky."
By the end of the 19th century, Kashin experienced an economic
recession: the vodka factory of the merchants Zyzykin (which had
previously produced artificial grape "Kashin" wines) ceased to
exist, and in 1892 only two small factories remained in the city -
felt-felting and candle - with 22 workers. The population was 6952
in 1893; there were 1,120 houses in the city (mostly wooden).
On January 4 (17), 1918, Soviet power was established in Kashin.
Over the next three decades, irreparable damage was caused to the
historical heritage of Kashin. The city, which stood out on the Tver
land with an abundance of churches of the 17th-18th centuries, soon
turned into a faceless Soviet province. In particular, the
communists demolished the Assumption Cathedral in 1664-72, the
Church of the Annunciation (1688), the Nativity of the Virgin
(1690), the Korsun Mother of God (1768), the Introduction (1781),
the Intercession (1790s), St. Sergius of Radonezh (1803).
A
wooden church of Joachim and Anna stood near the Dmitrov monastery
above Kashinka from the middle of the 17th century. This is one of
the oldest log buildings that have survived in central Russia. In
1968-71. the temple was restored, but on the night of March 20,
1995, it caught fire (perhaps it was deliberately set on fire) and
died in the flames.
From 2005 to 2018, within the framework
of the municipal district "Kashinsky district", the city of Kashin
constituted in it the municipality of the same name with the status
of an urban settlement as the only settlement in its composition. In
April 2018, all rural and urban settlements that were part of the
abolished Kashin district were transformed by uniting them into one
single municipal entity - the Kashin urban district, the center of
which is the city of Kashin.