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Verkhoturye is a city in Russia, the administrative center of the Verkhotursky urban district of the Sverdlovsk region. Railway station on the Goroblagodatskaya - Serov - Ob region line.
It was founded in 1598 by the state expedition of Vasily Golovin
and Ivan Voeikov as a prison on the site of the former Mansi
settlement of Neromkar to protect one of the main waterways to
Siberia: up the Kama to Solikamsk, then dry land, and then down the
Tura to the Ob. Verkhoturye became the main fortress on the way to
Siberia. In 1600, customs was established, and all Siberian goods
were transported through the city.
Since the 17th century,
the state pit service was established on the Babinovskaya road. The
construction of other roads was prohibited. By the decree of Peter I
of 1708, the state was divided into 8 provinces, the city of
Verkhoturye became part of the Siberian province. In 1710, 84
captured Swedes arrived in Verkhoturye (including 5 pastors).
The city suffered greatly from the fires of 1674 and 1738, and
its development slowed down in the middle of the 18th century due to
the abolition of customs and the closure of the Verkhoturye tract in
1763.
When provinces were established, it was a county town
in the Siberian province. It was the largest district in Russia - it
included almost the entire part of the Urals inhabited by Russians
by that time, from Pechora in the north to Ufa in the south, from
Vishera and Chusovaya in the west to the tributaries of the Irtysh
in the east. In 1783 the city was transferred to the Perm
governorship.
In the 19th century, the routes of
communication with Siberia shifted far to the south, and Verkhoturye
also lost its commercial significance.
In 1906, traffic on
the Theological Railway opened, the station of which was built 8 km
from the city.
After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks
seized power in the city. From September 1918 to July 1919,
Verkhoturye was under the control of the Russian army. In 1926,
Verkhoturye lost the status of a city, which was returned to it only
in 1947, in connection with the 350th anniversary of its foundation
(in 1938-1947, Verkhoturye had the status of a working village).
Verkhoturye is both the oldest and the smallest city in the
Sverdlovsk region.
On February 1, 1963, the city of
Verkhoturye was included in the Verkhoturye rural area.
Verkhoturye State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve;
Orthodox Museum;
Cinema "Mayak" in the leisure center and square;
House of folk arts and crafts.
House with a tea shop
House of
Guests of Honor
Women's gymnasium
Zemsky hospital
Public
meeting building
Nikolaevsky monastery
Founded in 1604.
The Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross (1905-1913, architect
Alexander Turchevich) is the third largest church in Russia, second
only to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and St. Isaac's
Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Church of the Transfiguration (1821)
in the style of classicism with a bell tower, destroyed in the 1930s
and rebuilt in 1998.
Simeon-Anninskaya gate church (1856) in the
tradition of ancient Russian architecture.
Pokrovsky
monastery
Founded in 1621 by Archbishop Cyprian of Siberia, it is
the first nunnery beyond the Urals. The churches of the Intercession
of the Virgin (1744-1753) and the Nativity of John the Baptist
(1768) were built at the expense of Maxim Pokhodyashin.
Abolished
in 1782.
Renewed in 1896. Due to the fact that the temples that
previously belonged to the monastery were by that time parish, in
1898-1902 the New Intercession Church was built.
Closed in 1926.
Returned to believers in 1991.
Kremlin. Trinity Cathedral
Trinity Cathedral. Built in 1703-1709. In 1777, a clock was
installed on the bell tower.
The Verkhoturye Kremlin in stone was
built from 1699 to 1712. This is the only Kremlin in the Middle
Urals, the youngest and smallest Kremlin in Russia.
Parish
churches
50 km from Verkhoturye in the village of Merkushino, the
holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye of all Siberia, the miracle
worker - the patron saint of fishermen, asceticised. The relics of
the saint rest in the Holy Cross Cathedral. The life of Saints
Cosmas and Arefa of Verkhoturye is also connected with Verkhoturye.
The city houses the Verkhoturye historical and architectural
museum-reserve, an Orthodox museum. The civil (stone and wooden)
buildings of the city are also of interest.
There is a stable
legend (not confirmed, however, by any historical document) that the
first bicycle with pedals and a steering wheel was built in
Verkhoturye by the serf blacksmith Efim Artamonov. According to this
legend, on September 15, 1801, thousands of people gathered at the
Khodynskoye field in Moscow watched with amazement the amazing
two-wheeled cart. According to legend, it was added to the royal
collection of rarities. The model of this bicycle (actually copied
at the end of the 19th century from the English bicycles of that
time) is kept in the local history museum of Nizhny Tagil.