Serdobsk is a city, the administrative center of the Serdobsky district of the Penza region. Forms the municipal formation "city of Serdobsk" with the status of an urban settlement as the only settlement in its composition. Population 31,475.
Physical and geographical characteristics
The city is located
111 km south-west of Penza, on the river. Serdobe (Don basin), on
the western outskirts of the Volga Upland, on the border of the
steppe and forest-steppe zones. The railway station of the same name
on the South-Eastern Railway on the Rtishchevo-Penza line.
Geographically, Serdobsk is located exactly in the center of the third time zone (45 ° 00'00 ″ E) and is included in the time zone designated by the international standard as Moscow Time Zone (MSK). The offset from UTC is +3: 00.
The climate is moderately continental. Winter in Serdobsk is moderately cold and long, lasts from early November to late March, the coldest month is February with an average temperature of -9.1 ° C. Summers are warm, lasts from late May to early September, with an average July temperature of 20.4 ° C. The average annual temperature is 5.5 ° C. The climate is close to that of Moscow, but the continentality is higher, and there is less precipitation.
The city was founded in 1698 by the security guard
Lisitsin Alexander Alexandrovich of the Penza district as the
Serdobinskaya (Arkhangelsk) settlement for the watchmen of the
ship's forests, when, returning from the Azov campaign, Tsar Peter I
visited Saratov and “gave instructions to look at nice places in the
Penza side, and to establish guards there” ...
The census
book of 1717 reports: "There are 250 households in Serdobinskaya
Sloboda, in which 904 residents live, basically they are arable
soldiers, palace, landlord peasants, in a small number of monastic,
church and yasak peasants, as well as townspeople."
1774 -
arable soldiers led by retired sergeant B. Fedyshev supported
Pugachev, acting independently.
On November 7, 1780, by decree of
Catherine II, the settlement acquired the status of a district town
of Serdobsk as part of the Saratov governorate (since 1797 - Saratov
province). The description of 1805-1806 states that the city is
located on both banks of the river. Serdoby, its circumference is 6
versts 354 sazhens; there was a stone cathedral in the name of
Michael the Archangel and three wooden churches, a liquor store, two
drinking houses; the inhabitants were mainly engaged in arable
farming.
1865 a wooden cemetery church was built in the name of
Nicholas the Wonderworker, in 1857 - a stone Kazan Mountain Church,
in 1876 - a wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Cross (expanded
in 1897).
In 1869 a post office was founded, a water supply
system was put into operation, and in 1871 a telegraph communication
was opened. In 1894, the Rtishchevo-Penza railway line was laid
through Serdobsk, then the Serdobsk railway station appeared.
1896 the first wooden building of the Serdobsky railway station was
built, which stood until 1986. At the end of the 19th century, a
sleeper, a soap-making, a tar-making, a tar plant, a tallow plant,
an elevator with a steam engine operated in the city.
1900 a
printing house, 1907 a vocational school, and a cinematography
opened in 1910. In 1913 an iron foundry, 3 forest piers and other
enterprises, 15 shops and shops, a real school, a private women's
gymnasium, 2 cinemas; a dynamo was working, which provided electric
light for administrative buildings, a zemstvo assembly, a hospital,
and some private houses. The local drama team staged performances at
the summer theater.
On January 10, 1918, at the second congress
of Soviets in the city, Soviet power was proclaimed in Serdobsk. In
August, a committee of the RCP (b) was formed, and in September
1919, the Komsomol. Many lives of the people of heart were taken
away by the Civil War. In particular, during the suppression of the
uprising of kulaks and SRs in Bakura
1921 on the territory of the
district of the Red Army under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky,
G.I.Kotovsky, I.P. Uborevich inflicted a decisive defeat on the
detachments of A.S. Antonov. After the Civil War, the city began
extensive construction.
1922 the power plant was started up, the
telephone for 50 points was put into operation. In the same year,
the Sverdlov Park was opened, later renamed Ostrovsky Park. The
agricultural technical school opened its doors ... By the beginning
of the Patriotic War, 51 industrial enterprises were already
operating in the city.
The townspeople have collected over 17
million rubles for the defense fund. 11 819 Serdobians were drafted
into the army, more than 5 thousand were killed, 7240 received
orders and medals, 12 - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
On February 1, 1963, Serdobsk was classified as a city of
regional subordination.
On February 17, 2006 Serdobsk became part
of the Serdobsk region as an urban settlement.
Museum of local lore
The Serdobsk Museum of Local Lore was
founded in 1919 on the basis of the natural history cabinet of a
real school by Modest Mikhailovich Chermisinov (1888-1967). Its
first exhibits were botanical and zoological collections.
Since 1985, the museum has become full-profile. The exposition
presents the following departments: nature, the history of the
region of the pre-revolutionary period, the Soviet period and a hall
dedicated to the life and work of Serdobsky artist-illustrator N.V.
Kuzmin. Among the exhibits of the museum, the most interesting are
the collections of furniture, mechanical toys, paintings by A. V.
Freiman, and Sokol ceramics. The museum is located in the building
of the former parish school, built in the second half of the 19th
century at the Exaltation of the Cross Church. The building is an
architectural monument.
Archangel Michael Cathedral
The
Archangel Michael Cathedral was built from 1895 to 1905 according to
the project of the famous Saratov architect A.M.Salko. The
development of the city by the beginning of the new century expanded
its boundaries and increased the population. This was facilitated by
the growth of industrial production and the railway that passed in
1894. The cathedral church, built in 1796, could no longer
accommodate the many parishioners. There was a growing need for the
construction of a new church. The Saratov diocese, which was in
charge of the Serdobsk church, together with the local and city
councils, decided that the cathedral should have the best
architecture.
In the spring of 1895, the excavation of the
foundation pit for the building began.
The beginning of the
work was accompanied by the discovery at some depth of human
remains, probably originating from the graves of the priests of the
old temple.
The five-domed stone cathedral appeared in the
center of Serdobsk at the beginning of the 20th century. The main
throne in the name of the Archangel Michael was consecrated by the
Bishop of Saratov and Tsaritsyn Hermogenes on April 2, 1905. The
cathedral was under construction for 10 years, from 1895 to 1905,
according to the project of the Saratov architect A. M. Salko. The
interior of the church with paintings and ornaments was made in 1909
by Moscow artists of the school of P.P. Pashkov.
In 1937 the
cathedral was closed. The temple was saved from destruction by the
fact that a military warehouse was placed in it. At the request of
the parishioners, at the end of World War II, the cathedral was
allowed to open. In 1946 it was consecrated again. Restoration and
restoration work has been carried out in the cathedral.
In
1993, new bells were installed. There is a Sunday school at the
cathedral.