Uryupinsk is a city in Russia, the administrative center of the
Uryupinsky district of the Volgograd region (not part of the
district). The most western city of the region, located 340 km
northwest of Volgograd, on the left bank of the Khopra. The city has
a terminal railway station (dead-end) Uryupino. Population -
36 704 people (2020).
Uryupinsk is often called the “Capital
of the Russian province” in the press and literature.
Uryupinsk is called “the warm capital of Russia”, “the warmest city
in the country” thanks to the original folk craft - artistic
knitting of scarves, socks and other products made of goat down.
Uryupinsk is the ancient center of the Khopyor
Cossacks, with whom the Brodniks and Bradases, who probably
previously inhabited these areas, are associated - Chervlyoniy Yar.
The Commission List of the 1st Novgorod Chronicle (XIV century)
mentions the city of Uryupesk, “to the top of the Don”. I meant the
city of Uryupinsk (stanitsa Uryupinskaya) on Khopr. The town named
Uryupesk is also listed in the chronicle "List of Russian cities far
and near" as a border fortress of the Great Ryazan principality,
which for some time was part of the so-called Golden Horde. In the
middle of the XIV century, a dispute arose between the Sarai and
Ryazan bishops about who, in the church-administrative relation, the
Christians of Chervlyoniy Yar were subordinate. The author of the
"List of Russian Cities Far and Near" ranked "Uryupesk" among the
Ryazan cities.
Perhaps Uryupinsk was destroyed by someone
(during the Time of Troubles or even earlier) and re-founded in 1618
(there is no documentary evidence of this date). Since the 18th
century - the village of Uryupinskaya. The village of Uryupinskaya
was the center of the Khopyorsky district of the Don Cossack region.
According to the 1897 census, the population was 11,286 people, of
which: nobles - 569 people, Cossacks and nonresidents - 3928 people,
foreign subjects - 1 person.
According to the alphabetical
list of the inhabited places of the Don Cossack region in 1915, 5782
men and 6316 women lived in the village, the land allotment of the
village was 25354 dessiatines of land, the district chieftain's
office, the district zemstvo council, the district leader of the
nobility, the postal and telegraph office, the real school a
gymnasium, a city school, a four-grade women's school, two two-grade
schools, two parish schools, a military school, a district hospital,
a committee of the Russian Red Cross Society, a fire brigade, a
commercial and industrial society of mutual credit, Ust-Medveditsky
District Court, investigators three precincts, a notary, a prison
and other officials and institutions.
In 1921, the village
was included in the Tsaritsyn province. Since 1928 it has been the
administrative center of the Uryupinsky district of the Khopyorsky
district (abolished in 1930) of the Lower Volga region. By the
resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee dated
January 7, 1929 Protocol No. 90, the village of Uryupinskaya was
transformed into the city of Uryupinsk.
During the Great
Patriotic War, there was no hostilities either in the city or in the
vicinity, but the city was subjected to air raids. Many natives of
the city were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and / or
became prominent military leaders. The city is the birthplace
(birthplace) of Stalin's grandson, Yevgeny Yakovlevich Dzhugashvili,
as well as oil geologist Dmitry Golubyatnikov.
In 1954-1957
Uryupinsk was part of the Balashov region. Since 1954 it has been a
city of regional subordination.
There are
many popular versions of the origin of the name of this city. For
example, the name is associated with the Tatar prince Uryup, who,
allegedly, during a duel with Ermak, got stuck in a swamp in these
places and was captured. This version is anachronistic. According to
another version, the name is associated with the surname Uryupin or
with the word Uryupa, which means in Dahl's dictionary "slob, slob",
which in this context may refer not to a person, but to a wild,
swampy area. The name is also associated with the rub: “at the
ruba”, which means “at a steep cliff (river)”.
In modern
Russian usage, the oikonym Uryupinsk is actively used in the
metonymic function when there is an unwillingness or impossibility
to designate the name of a real, usually deeply provincial Russian
city. The name is quite often used as an exemplifier in the meaning
of "hinterland", a small town with simple-minded inhabitants. This
use of the word became widespread thanks to the film "The Fate of a
Man" based on the story of Sholokhov, which takes place in this
city. In 2005, a monument to the heroes of this book was opened in
the city, which is located near the former "Tea" in Dzerzhinsky
Lane.