Yelets is located in the Lipetsk region. The
second most populous city in the region. One of the oldest cities in
the Black Earth Region. It is located 74 km west of the regional
center on the Bystraya Sosna River.
Administrative center of
the Yeletsk district of the region. It has the status of “City of
Military Glory”.
The city of Yelets territorially belongs to
the Lipetsk region, located on both banks of the Bystraya Sosna
River (the right tributary of the Don) at the confluence of the
Elchika River, which have a length of 250 and 15 km, respectively,
latitude - 52º37´, longitude - 38º31´.
Landscape and climate
- belongs to the forest-steppe zone of the Central Russian Upland.
The flat terrain is combined with a developed ravine-beam network
and small forests. The climate of the area is temperate continental
with long warm summers and relatively cold winters.
The wind
direction is not the same for different seasons of the year. In
winter, southern winds predominate; in summer, northern and
southwestern winds.
99 thousand people live in the city. The
total area within the boundaries of the settlement is about 65 km².
The population density is 1696 people per km².
Yelets is
located 70 km from the regional center, at the intersection of the
Lipetsk-Orel, Moscow-Donbass railways. Yelets is a large railway
junction, passing trains in 5 directions. The city is crossed by
major highways: Moscow-Rostov, Orel-Lipetsk-Tambov. The
Moscow-Voronezh-Rostov-on-Don highway passes through the city.
1 Ascension Cathedral. 1889, architect K. Ton
2 Znamensky
Monastery.
3 Trinity Monastery.
4 Vvedenskaya Church.
5 Church of the Nativity - Spasovsky.
6 Church of the Yelets Icon
of the Mother of God.
7 Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of
God. XVIII century
8 Temple of the Transfiguration of the Lord, st.
Oktyabrskaya/Tolstoy. 1761
Bunin Museum, st. Kommunarov.
House-Museum of T. N. Khrennikov,
st. Mayakovsky, 16.
The city has 226 historical and cultural monuments, of which 90 are
of regional and federal significance. Up to a third of these monuments
have been destroyed, replaced with new buildings (for example, railway
warehouses built in 1894 demolished by the railway at Yelets-Tovarnaya
station) or sheathed with siding and rebuilt. Nevertheless, it is
believed that the main value in Yelets is not so much individual
monuments as the architectural and planning structure of the city as a
whole. In the central part of the city, modern street names are
duplicated with historical names (thanks to the persistence of Yelets
local historian V.A. Zausailov).
The cultural sphere of Yelets
unites 29 cultural institutions, including the Benefis drama theater, 3
club cultural institutions (MUK "City Palace of Culture", MUK "ICC
"Prozhektor"", MUK "House of Culture of Railway Workers". The
centralized library system includes 13 branches . There are 13 interest
clubs. Also working, MBUK "City Museum of Local Lore" (since 1918) has 5
branches: the art department, the house-museum of N. N. Zhukov, the
house-museum of I. A. Bunin, the house-museum of T N. Khrennikova, a
number of other cultural institutions.
Tourist events are held annually in Yelets:
Interregional event
tourism festival “Russian Sourdough” (end of May).
International
Music Festival named after T. N. Khrennikov (June 11-13).
Landscape
opera “The Legend of the City of Yelets” (beginning of June). The opera
is dedicated to the historical events of 1395 - Tamerlane's invasion of
Rus'. The opera was staged outdoors against the backdrop of natural
scenery and on the site of real historical events of the late 14th
century.
Interregional festival “Artist Fest” (end of June).
Interregional festival of historical reconstruction “Eletsky Alarm”
(July). The festival is dedicated to the heroic defense of Yelets in
1618. In natural settings, a reconstruction of the siege and battle of
the soldiers of the Yelets garrison with the troops of Hetman
Sagaidachny takes place.
Interregional event tourism festival
“Antonov Apples” (end of September).
Festival “Visiting the Nezhin
Hussars” (October). The festival is dedicated to the regimental holiday
of the 52nd Nezhin Dragoon Regiment.
Festival of military-historical
reconstruction “Battle for Yelets” (early December). Festival
participants will reconstruct an event of historical importance: the
successful offensive operation of the troops of the Southwestern Front
from December 6 to 16, 1941, which went down in the history of the Great
Patriotic War under the name “Eletskaya”.
Folk Art Festival “Play,
Accordion Yeletskaya!” named after A.I. Matyukhin (beginning of
September).
International youth festival of military-historical
reconstruction dedicated to the early Middle Ages of the 9th-11th
centuries “Rusborg”
By train
Yelets is located on the main line of the
South-Eastern Railway. Trains transit through the city to Moscow,
St. Petersburg, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Novorossiysk, Rostov-on-Don,
Adler and other settlements in the south of Russia and abroad.
Yelets railway station, Zadonskaya st. (bus stop “Vokzal” (buses
1, 17, 18, 411)). A large historical station with a 24-hour waiting
room, ticket offices and Soviet lockers with mechanical locks. In
the waiting room you can study paintings on a railway theme, as well
as learn about the history of the city through interactive stands.
There are about a dozen different establishments on the platform and
at the station: shops, souvenir shops and cafes, but the prices for
everything in them are prohibitive, in some places three times
higher than the national average.
By car
The federal
highway M4 “Don” passed through Yelets in transit, which now runs
not far from the city. The distance from Moscow is less than 400 km,
to Voronezh - 120 km.
By bus
There are two bus stations in
Yelets:
Bus station No. 1 (near the railway station, city buses
No. 1, 17, 18, 411). Serves mainly local flights. From it you can go
to Lipetsk, Voronezh, Zadonsk.
Bus station No. 2 (on the old
bypass road, city buses No. 1, 17, 19, 20, 7, 9, 14, 14a, 6a). Next
to the Line hypermarket and the Vkusno i tochka cafe. Interregional
flights: Lipetsk, Tula, Voronezh, Moscow, Orel.
There are about 20 bus routes in Yelets; information about them is hidden on the city administration website.
Yelets lace.
Products: Hypermarket "Line" (24 hours), Hypermarket
"Magnit"
Cheap
Fast food: fast food chain “Tasty and full stop”
The
buffet at the railway station sells set meals costing 100 rubles. (2011)
Average cost
Coffee shops: cafe “Jam”
Restaurants: cafe
“Caramel” (Elets, Kommunarov St., 22), cafe-bar “Sudar” (Elets,
Kommunarov St., 119A)
Average cost
Hotel “Elets”, Kommunarov st., 14. ☎
+7(47-467)222-35.
Expensive
Family hotel "Parnas", Lermontov
str., 13A. ☎ +7(920)242-6299, +7(960)145-5481.
In Yelets you can use all modern communication technologies. The cellular networks of the country's main GSM operators operate here: MTS, Beeline and Megafon and Tele2. Free Wi-Fi can be found in fast food restaurants: McDonald's and Jam cafe (ask the waiter for the password).
The first known settlements in the vicinity and territory of modern Yelets arose in the early Iron Age. They belong to the “Gorodets” archaeological culture. This topic is covered in most detail in the works of the Voronezh researcher Yu. D. Razuvaev. The famous Soviet historian B. A. Rybakov saw in the “Gorodets” culture the ancestors of modern Mordovians and the tribe called “Thessagetians” in Herodotus’ “History”. Archaeological research shows that in the same early Iron Age, the “Gorodets” population in the Yelets district was attacked by tribes of the Scythian culture neighboring them in the Voronezh region. At the “Gorodets” settlements in the vicinity of Yelets, archaeologists have noted traces of fires. As a result of the attacks of the Scythians, some of the local residents migrated to the territory of modern Mordovia, and a small part of them survived until the Slavs began to develop the territories of the Upper Don basin in the 8th-9th centuries. It is noteworthy that the word “Elets” refers to the names of small rivers in places where native speakers of the Finno-Ugric group of languages live, which includes the Mordovian language. The “Don” Slavs assimilated the local population and adopted some of its geographical names in the area. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the “Don” Slavs made up the bulk of the population in the Yelets and Voronezh regions. The migration of ancient Russian settlers from the Chernigov-Seversk land to this area began in the 11th century.
The earliest mention of the city of Yelets refers not to chronicles,
but to a pre-Mongol church legend. According to it, in 1060, during the
independent reign of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich (son of Grand Duke Yaroslav
Vladimirovich the Wise) in Chernigov, a previously unknown icon of the
Yelets Mother of God was found in Yelets. This shrine was probably
brought to Yelets by Byzantine missionaries, who taught the local
population Christianity from about the first third of the 9th century.
After its discovery, the image was taken to Chernigov, where a monastery
of the Yelets Icon of the Mother of God was founded in its honor.
According to legend, Saint Anthony of Pechersk took part in the solemn
meeting of the icon in Chernigov. For the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav
Yaroslavich, the act of transferring an Orthodox shrine to his own
capital could be a sign of asserting his power over the population of
the Upper Don. It is noteworthy that, according to archaeological data,
the Chernigov population began to spread in the Yelets district
precisely from the middle of the 11th century.
According to local
urban tradition, the first mention of the city of Yelets in chronicles
dates back to 1146. Namely, in the Nikon Chronicle, under the year 6653
from the creation of the world (that is, 1146), it is mentioned that
Svyatoslav Olgovich (at that time the Prince of Belgorod) passed through
Yelets. In fact, the chronicle article of the Nikon Chronicle covers the
events of not one year, but two years: 1146-1147. A careful reading of
this entire article shows that Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich could only get
to Yelets at the beginning of 1147. However, the power of tradition has
remained unbroken for almost three hundred years. Under the year 6654
(1147), the same Nikon chronicle reports that Andrei Rostislavich, the
grandson of Yaroslav Svyatoslavich of Murom, arrived in Chernigov from
Yelets. Historians Arseny Nikolaevich Nasonov and Boris Mikhailovich
Kloss, who studied the entry under 6654, consider it a late insertion by
the compiler of the Nikon Chronicle, a similar position is reflected in
the BRE. It is assumed that the city of Yelets in the 13th century could
have been part of the Chernigov principality, at the end of the 14th
century it was an independent state, and from 1415 it became dependent
on the Ryazan principality.
In 1156 (6664 from the creation of
the world), according to the Nikon Chronicle, the Polovtsians came to
Ryazan and plundered along Bystraya Sosna. On the way back, the
Polovtsians were caught up in pursuit. The Polovtsians were exterminated
and the prisoners were taken back. This entry shows places along the
Bystraya Sosna River under the rule of the Ryazan prince.
In
1389, the Yelets prince Yuri Ivanovich, at the request of the Grand Duke
of Ryazan Oleg Ivanovich, met the embassy of Metropolitan Pimen, heading
to Constantinople, at the confluence of the Voronezh River with the Don
(in the “Tale of the Mamaev Massacre” the Yelets prince Fedor is
mentioned, but the reliability of this mention is doubtful).
In
1395, Yelets (like such Golden Horde cities as Sarai, Bulgar, Madzhar)
was destroyed by the troops of Timur (Tamerlane), and the Yelets prince
(his name is not indicated in the chronicles) was captured. Next to the
Ascension Cathedral, on its northern side, there is a chapel, which,
according to tradition dating back to the 19th century, is considered a
monument over the mass grave of the residents of Yelka who died during
the invasion of Timur. The chapel was opened and consecrated in 1801.
In 1415, the Yelets lands were devastated by the Tatars; The Yelets
prince was killed, and some of the residents fled to Ryazan.
For
most of the 15th and 16th centuries, the city of Yelets was not
mentioned. In 1483, the Ryazan prince Ivan Vasilyevich, by agreement,
transferred control of the deserted Yelets lands to the Moscow Grand
Duke Ivan Vasilyevich III the Great. Since then, Yelets and its
districts have firmly become part of the Russian unified state.
At the end of 1591, by decree of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, under the
leadership of governor Ivan Myasny, the construction of a new fortress
Yelets began. Construction was carried out on uninhabited territory by
serving Cossacks, archers and boyar children, recruited and sent here
from Dankov, Epifani, Novosil, Liven, Chern, Tula and other southern
Russian cities.
Initially, the city was inhabited by service
people who performed military service. Together with the city, Yeletsk
district emerges. During the short reign of False Dmitry I, Yelets was
turned into a military base for the upcoming campaign against the
Crimean Khanate. In 1606, the residents of Yelk opposed Tsar Vasily
Shuisky on the side of Ivan Bolotnikov. The city was besieged by tsarist
troops, but Istoma Pashkov defeated them at the Battle of Yelets.
During the Polish-Lithuanian campaign of 1618, the city was burned
and plundered by the Zaporozhye Cossacks of Hetman Sagaidachny. In
addition to the city treasury, the property of the townspeople and
church utensils, the Cossacks captured the royal embassy of Stepan
Khrushchev in the city, which was bringing gifts to the Khan to Crimea:
a fur treasury worth 10,000 rubles and 9,000 rubles in silver. According
to available documents from the early 17th century, before the fall of
the fortress, Khrushchev destroyed the treasury inventory and hid all
the silver from the Cossacks, for which he was tortured, but he never
revealed the secret of the treasure.
In the 17th-18th centuries,
Yeletsk district was actively populated. The majority of the population
of the district were descendants of service people, called first
“children of boyar policemen” and then “landlords-single-yard owners”.
The minority of the population were Cossacks and serfs.
After Peter I, by his decree of December 18 (29), 1708, divided
Russia into 8 provinces, Yelets was assigned to the Azov province
(renamed April 22 (May 3), 1725 to Voronezh). The emperor's new decree
of May 29 (June 9), 1719 introduced the division of provinces into
provinces, and Yelets became the center of the Yelets province of the
Voronezh province (this province included the cities of Efremov, Livny,
Dankov, Lebedyan, Chernavsk). By decree of Catherine II of September 5
(16), 1778, the Oryol governorate was formed (in 1796 transformed into
the Oryol province), and Yelets became a county town - the center of the
Yelets district of this governorship.
The basis of the city's
economy is the bread trade. Fires were a terrible scourge of the city in
the 18th century. After this, the city was rebuilt according to a new
general plan; instead of a concentric layout around the fortress, a new
rectangular one was created, and the fortress itself disappeared.
In 1874, the Uzlovaya - Yelets section of the Syzran-Vyazemsk
railway was built. A station and a carriage depot of the same name
appear in Yelets. The building of the railway station, depot and several
barracks for road employees have survived to this day. In 1918 the line
was abolished and embroidered. In Soviet times, garages and warehouses
were built on the site of the Yelets station tracks.
In 1888, the
first elevator in Russia was built in Yelets.
On October 27
(November 9), 1917 in Yelets, at a citywide meeting held on Sennaya
Square (now Revolution Square), Soviet power was proclaimed. On November
11 (24), 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee (VRK) was created in
the city, which assumed power, and on December 30, 1917 (January 12,
1918), the 1st Congress of Councils of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants'
Deputies, held in Yelets , approved the actions of the Military
Revolutionary Committee and assumed all power in the city and district.
1919, August 31 - Yelets was taken by the cavalry of the 4th Don
Corps of Lieutenant General K.K. Mamontov, who, however, did not stay in
the city.
1919, 09-12 (October 22-25) - battles near Yelets of Markov
and Alekseevsky units of General A.I. Denikin with the Reds defending
the city.
1920 - Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin leaves Yelets forever.
1922 - new name of the tobacco factory: Yelets tobacco factory named
after the Fifth Red October.
1923, September 15 - the Yelets Pioneer
organization was created.
1925, January 24 - Galichya Mountain was
declared a state reserve and transferred to the jurisdiction of the
Yeletsk Museum of Local Lore.
1928, July 30 - Yeletsk district was
abolished. Yelets became the center of the newly formed Yeletsk district
as part of the Central Black Earth Region, as well as the Yeletsk
district of this region. At the same time, the city of Yelets was
classified as a city of district subordination of the Yelets district of
the Central Black Earth Region.
1928 - The Anti-Religious Museum was
created in the Church of the Holy Princes Michael of Tver and Alexander
Nevsky (Grand Duke's Church).
1928 - the first city clinic with
specialized rooms was opened.
1928 - a city radio center appeared.
1929-1931 - construction and start of operation of the tannery named
after. Lenin and lime plant named after. Kirov.
1930, July 23 -
abolition of the Yeletsk district.
1930, August 20 - transformation
of Yelets into a city of regional subordination.
1931 - a monument to
I.V. Stalin was erected.
1933 - the Moscow-Donbass railway passed
through Yelets.
1933 - The Karakum automobile bridge across the Sosna
River was opened.
1934, June 13 - disaggregation of the Central Black
Earth Region; Yelets, together with the district, became part of the
newly formed Voronezh region.
1934 - Universal compulsory primary
education introduced.
1934 - Galichya Mountain was transferred to
Voronezh State University.
1935 - Yelets population reached 55
thousand inhabitants.
1935 - a square was built in the center and a
monument to V.I. Lenin was erected.
1936 - the first stage of the
Searchlight Coals plant.
1937 - start of construction of the element
plant.
1937, September 27 - Yelets, together with the district, was
transferred to the newly formed Oryol region.
1937 - at the
international exhibition in Paris, Yelets lacemakers were awarded a
diploma and a large Gold medal.
1941, December 3 - Nazi troops reach
the outskirts of Yelets. After two days of street fighting, Soviet
troops left the city.
1941, December 9 - liberation of Yelets by
units of the 13th Army during the Yelets offensive operation of the
right wing of the Southwestern Front of Marshal S. K. Timoshenko. During
the occupation of Orel by Nazi troops, Yelets served as a regional
center.
1954, January 6 - Yelets, together with the district, was
transferred to the newly formed Lipetsk region.
1970 - construction
of a reinforced concrete bridge across Sosna began.
1972 - the
Rossiya cinema was built (today the Luch cinema).
1975 - The Elta
plant's cultural center was opened.
1977 - a new bridge across the
Sosna River was built. The Karakum Bridge becomes a pedestrian bridge.
The main square of Yelets is Lenin Square. Created according to the
design of V. Kh. Solomin, G. M. Alexandrov and A. A. Shashin. In 1988, a
new (third) monument to V.I. Lenin was erected on it (sk. G.M.
Aleksandrov, architect V.Kh. Solomin).
In 1995, a monument to
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin (architect A.V. Novoseltsev) was erected in a
park with a fountain on Sverdlov Street.
Monument to commemorate the
850th anniversary of Yelets. Installed in 1996 to mark the 850th
anniversary of the founding of the city of Yelets. Designed by architect
A. A. Shashin, sculptor N. A. Kravchenko.
On August 15, 2008, a
monument to the city-born composer Tikhon Nikolaevich Khrennikov was
unveiled in Yelets. It was made by sculptor A. M. Taratynov. Part of the
monument was a bust by Lev Efimovich Kerbel, which was in the composer’s
office for many years.
On September 12, 2008, a monument to the
artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Zhukov was unveiled in Yelets.
On August
26, 2011, the eastern bypass of Yelets was opened by the M-4 Don highway
with a length of 56 km.
In 2022, an oil extraction plant of the
Cherkizovo company was opened in Yelets.