Yuryevets is located in the Ivanovo region, 170 km northeast of
Ivanovo on the right bank of the Volga. Yuryevets is one of the oldest
cities in Russia and the oldest city in the Ivanovo region, founded in
1225 by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri (George) II Vsevolodovich. The
city was named Yuryev-Povolsky, i.e. Povolzhsky. In the 17th-18th
centuries, the city became one of the barge hauler centers on the Volga;
traditional rites of initiation into barge haulers were held here.
During the construction of the Gorky Reservoir in the 1950s, part of
Yuryevets was flooded, but the historical center of the city was
protected by a dam. At normal water levels, the city center is at a
height of minus one meter.
Now Yuryevets and the surrounding area
are the center of sport fishing: the All-Russian fishing festival
“Fisherman of a Fisherman” and the spinning fishing competition “Volga
XX Century” were held here.
Architectural ensemble of the shopping area (Sovetskaya St., 43)
Cathedral of the Entrance to Jerusalem (winter) (1733-1806).
Assumption Cathedral (summer) (1825-1833).
Church of the Nativity
(1815). Built in 1815 by French prisoners
Church of the Epiphany
(1619-20), trans. Tarkovsky, 10.
Sretenskaya Church (1757), st. Red
Star, 3.
Urban development on the street. Soviet. Shopping arcades,
former drinking house, former Zemstvo government, former City government
Historical and Art Museum, st. Tarkovsky, 2. 11:00-17:30, except Mondays
and the fourth Thursday of the month. The museum is located in a
building built in 1903 for the mayor A.L. Flyagina
Andrei Tarkovsky
Museum and Cultural Center, st. Tarkovsky, 8. In 1941-43, Andrei
Tarkovsky lived here in evacuation
Museum-theater of Russian rag
dolls “Istoki”, st. Titova, 4.
By plane
In the summer, local flights operate twice a week from
Kostroma to Yuryevets and back, with an intermediate stop in Kineshma.
The Yuryevets airfield is a field adapted for aircraft landing and is
used mainly for helicopter flights between Yuryevets and nearby
populated areas.
By train
There is no railway in Yuryevets.
The nearest station is Kineshma, 65 km to the west.
By car
Yuryevets is located on the regional highway P81
Kineshma-Yuryevets-Purekh, which then turns into P152 to Nizhny
Novgorod. From Nizhny Novgorod you should go north through Katunki,
Zavolzhye, Puchezh, Obzherikha. From Kineshma - east through Reshma,
Yolnat.
By bus
From Ivanovo - 4 buses per day, from Kineshma -
6 buses per day, from Nizhny Novgorod - 2 buses per day, as well as
minibuses without a schedule.
On the ship
The city has a port;
regular flights along the Volga have been restored since 2022. The port
includes a river station and a landing stage located on the embankment
closer to the bus station. The river station receives flights of
hydrofoil ships "Valdai", in directions to Nizhny Novgorod and
Sokolskoye. Tourist ships dock at the landing stage.
City transport is represented by a single bus route number (the number of which, obviously for the sake of importance, is changed from time to time), as well as a completely duplicating minibus. The route describes a trajectory around the city like the letter S, from the fish factory on Glazovaya Mountain, through the center and Pushkarikha, to the agricultural college.
There are three supermarket chains, "Magnit", "Vyshaya Liga" and
"Pyaterochka", "Magnit" is cheaper.
The Magnit chain is
represented by two stores:
"Fork": st. October 25th, fork at the
entrance to the city.
"New": st. Furmanova, 66.
The Major
League chain is also represented by two stores.
Former cinema: on the
city square, near the bus station.
Near the bathhouse: Proletarsky
lane, 2
The Pyaterochka chain is represented by one store located
on the city square, on the first floor of shopping arcades.
In
addition, there are a large number of small private shops scattered
throughout the town.
Dining room No. 1, st. International, 5.
Cafe-bar “U Ivanycha”,
lane. Proletarsky, 4.
Thank God, practically absent. With some stretch, one can consider
what happens in the evenings in the city garden with benches and the
nearby drinking establishment "Ermak".
Tavern "Ermak", lane.
Bolnichny, 2 (Near the city garden, on the Volga embankment).
"Pavlikov House", st. Sovetskaya, 149. ☎ +7-915-836-97-77.
Guest
house "Victoria" (rooms in "Ermak"), lane. Sick leave, 2.
Hotel MUP
"Yurievets Travel Agency", st. Sovetskaya, 22. ☎ +7-49337-21371.
The criminal situation in the city is generally calm, but there is
drug trafficking and a number of drug addicts who commit thefts.
In the numerous ravines that cross the city, you can stumble upon
thickets of poisonous Sosnowski's hogweed. Do not try to go down into
ravines where hogweed grows, you may get chemical burns.
The long-distance telephone code is 49337.
From the 16th century to 1796 it was officially called Yuryevets-Povolsky. Option: Yuryev-Povolzhsky (as opposed to the cities of Yuryev-Polskaya and Yuryev-Livonsky - now Tartu, Estonia). Already from the middle of the 16th century, the name Yuryevets became widespread, where the difference is achieved not by definition, but with the help of the suffix -ets, widespread in Russian toponymy (cf. Pereyaslavl - Pereyaslavets, Rostov - Rostovets, etc.).
According to the Russian historian of the 18th century V.N.
Tatishchev, Yuryevets Povolsky was founded by the Rostov-Suzdal prince
Yuri Dolgoruky - in 1150, and not by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri II
Vsevolodovich - in 1225, as is currently considered by historical
science. Tatishchev’s version about the connection between the founding
of the city and Yuri Dolgoruky has no confirmation.
The generally
accepted version is that Yuryevets was founded in the first half of the
13th century as a fortification to protect the eastern borders of
North-Eastern Rus' by the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri II Vsevolodovich
on the site of the appearance of the icon of the Great Martyr George the
Victorious to him and was named after this saint - Yuryev-Povolsky. The
first Yuryevets Kremlin is being built on Mount St. George. In 1897, the
famous archaeologist A. A. Spitsyn discovered traces of an ancient
settlement on Mount Pushkarikhe.
According to historian K.E.
Baldin, the oldest cities in the Ivanovo region are Plyos and Yuryevets.
The city was first mentioned in the “List of Russian cities near and
far” (1380-1390).
In 2013, during archaeological excavations on
the Turgenev Plateau, a medallion icon depicting the Mother of God
Oranta was discovered, which became additional evidence of the early
date of the founding of the city of Yuryevets.
In 1237, the city was destroyed by the troops of the Mongol Khan
Batu, who invaded Rus'. Was part of the Gorodets principality. In 1380,
Yuryevets warriors took part in the Battle of Kulikovo. In 1593-1594,
the “Hundred Charter of 1593/94 for the settlement of Yuryevets
Povolsky” was compiled, the first census is a unique document on the
history of the 16th century. In 1552, by decree of Ivan the Terrible,
Yuryevets was transferred to the Astrakhan prince Kaibula. In 1556, Ivan
the Terrible sent Yuryevets to the oprichnina.
In January 1609,
in Yuryevets, a local militia led by the charmer Fyodor the Red came out
against the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. In the same 1609, the city was
burned by the Polish-Lithuanian detachment of the nobleman Alexander
Lisovsky. In 1614, it was plundered by Ataman I.M. Zarutsky. A new fort
was built on Mount Predtechenskaya. The length of its walls was 700 m,
there were two gates. In 1619-1620, in honor of the victory over the
Polish-Lithuanian invaders, the Church of the Epiphany was erected by
order of the townspeople (the current building was built around 1720).
In the 17th century, Yuryev-Povolsky became an important trading
city. The future famous figure of the Old Believers, Archpriest Avvakum
Petrov, served in the city. In 1652, after a second escape from the
village of Lopatitsy, where he served as a priest and was persecuted due
to the requirement of strict piety, Avvakum was appointed archpriest in
Yuryev-Povolsky. Here he condemned any deviation from piety and
collected taxes for the patriarchal treasury, which turned the clergy
and flock against himself. In May - June of the same year, Avvakum was
severely beaten by a crowd, and he fled to Kostroma, and then to Moscow.
In 1655, a plague epidemic claimed the lives of three quarters of
the population of Yuryevets.
In 1661, on Resurrection Hill, by
decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a large stone Kremlin was founded -
the “White City”. According to the census of 1676, there were 407
townspeople and 175 non-tax households. Trade was active in the city
square, blacksmithing, leatherworking, pottery and other crafts were
developed. However, due to other priorities of the new Tsar Peter I, the
construction of the Kremlin was not completed. Since 1780 it was
dismantled into bricks. Currently, a reminder of the fortress remains an
earthen rampart with a moat and a lake; local residents call this area
the “White City”.
In 1708-1714 and 1717-1719, Yuryevets had the
status of a district city of the Kazan province, in 1714-1717 and
1719-1778 - a district city of the Nizhny Novgorod province, from 1719 -
the Nizhny Novgorod province as part of this province, in 1778-1796 -
Kostroma governorship, in 1796-1918 - Kostroma province. In 1700, the
Annunciation Church was built. In 1746, the Transfiguration Church was
built and consecrated. The highest body of city government was the
magistrate. It consisted of two burgomasters and four ratmans. Since
1785, in addition to the magistrate, a city duma headed by the mayor was
introduced. During the reform of Catherine II in 1775, the position of
mayor was introduced in Yuryevets. To maintain order, a disabled team
was created, and tens were recruited. In 1778, Yuryevets received city
status. On March 29, 1779, Empress Catherine II “for the city’s services
to the state granted Yuryevets a personalized coat of arms.” In
accordance with the general plan of 1795, a regular layout was carried
out in the city. The land surveyors were P. Shubnikov and I. Gove. In
1798, the Deanery Office was opened. At the end of the 18th century, a
postal route with a postal station was opened in Yuryevets. By 1800
there were already 10 pairs of post horses. In 1806, a special house for
a post office was built. According to census data at the end of the 18th
century, there were about 500 houses in Yuryevets. Most of the
population consisted of burghers. Merchants, clergy, officials, and
retired soldiers also lived. In total, about 1,500 revision souls were
registered in the city.
In 1800, a stone Church of the Baptist
with a bell tower was built. In 1815 - the Church of the Nativity. In
1816, on the initiative of the head of the district internal guard, a
hospital was opened in Yuryevets for the treatment of disabled soldiers
and prisoners. This was the first medical institution in the city. In
1820, a parish church school was opened. By the 1820s, there were about
140 private shops in Yuryevets, united in shopping arcades for the goods
sold. Since the middle of the 19th century, a large cargo and passenger
pier was formed. In 1871, the Yuryevets flax spinning factory was built
and the first meteorological observations began in Yuryevets. In 1838, a
special public house for the hotel was built. In 1876, the Yuryevets
regional library was founded. F. S. Gribunina. In 1878, an almshouse was
opened in the Yuryevets city home for the elderly and crippled persons
of both sexes. In 1880, M.I. Krasilnikov founded a brewery in Yuryevets.
On April 23, 1889, the Yuryevets almshouse for poor citizens opened. In
1895, the Moscow company Brandt and Co. acquired a plot of land from the
Krivozersky Monastery and began construction of the largest sawmill in
the Volga region on the left bank of the Volga, opposite the city of
Yuryevets. As a result, housing for workers was quickly built around the
plant, forming the village of Novaya Slobodka. At the end of the 19th -
beginning of the 20th century, with the assistance of the city mayor
Vasily Eremeevich Litsov, a women's gymnasium and a vocational school
were opened in the city, and the streets were paved. In 1904, the first
zemstvo hospital was opened. In 1906, a starch factory was built. On
July 18 (old style), 1914, the 323rd Yuryevets Infantry Regiment was
formed and transferred to the defense of the Ivangorod fortress.
On December 22, 1917 (January 4, 1918), Soviet power was established in Yuryevets. On May 10-12, 1918, the first district congress of Soviets took place in the hall of the zemstvo government. In 1918-1929, Yuryevets had the status of a district town of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk province, in 1929-1930 - the regional center of the Kineshma district of the Ivanovo Industrial Region, in 1930-1936 - the center of the Yuryevets district of the Ivanovo Industrial Region, from March 11, 1936 to 1963 and since 1965 - the center of the Yuryevets district of the Ivanovo region. On May 17, 1921, by resolution of the Plenum of the Yuryevets Executive Committee, the Yuryevets City Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies was organized. On April 1, 1923, the Yuryevets State Shipping Company Department was organized, and the Yuryevets Archive was established. On April 10, 1939, by decree of the Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee, an air mail and passenger line was organized along the northeastern route, covering regional centers. In 1954-1957, during the construction of the Gorky Reservoir, a protective dam with a length of 3.2 km was erected, however, despite these measures, part of the historical buildings were lost in the northern and southern parts of the city. In the Yuryevets district, work on resettling the flood zone began in 1950, although there was no management system until February 1952. The Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee decided to seize 39,621 hectares of land, including 26,687 hectares of collective farms (51 collective farms) and 13,004 hectares of other land users, for the foundation pit of the reservoir. This affected a total of 22 village councils and 81 settlements. There were 384 government institutions in the flood zone, some of which were moved to the Ivanovo region, and some to the neighboring Kostroma region. The Krasny Profintern timber mill and the rural hospital were moved to Glazovaya Gora, and the wooden two-story high school was moved to Seletskoye Field. The bakery was moved from the village of Novaya Slobodka to Yuryevets, residential buildings of private individuals were dismantled and moved to different places in the city. By Resolution of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated July 31, 1970 No. 36, Yuryevets was included in the number of historical cities with valuable urban ensembles and complexes, natural landscapes and an ancient cultural layer. In 1983, traffic was opened on the Puchezh-Yuryevets highway, connecting the Big Ivanovo Ring.
Almost all of the city-forming enterprises (except for the
woodworking plant, partially) are closed, the production buildings of
the flax spinning and carding factory, cannery, fish factory, brewery,
bakery, inter-farm mobile mechanized column (MPMC), brick factory, and
dairy factory were destroyed. The Yuryevets river port is not
functioning.
In 2000, reconstruction of the bank protection dam
began. In 2003, the oldest enterprise in the city, the Yuryevets Flax
Factory, closed.
From at least 1967 to 2021, the city's
population has been continuously declining, decreasing by almost 2.7
times, from 21,000 to 7,899 people.
Initially, the fortress city stood on the so-called Georgievskaya Mountain, which was demolished and used in the construction of the bank protection dam of the Gorky Reservoir. Located on the right bank of the Volga (Gorky Reservoir) and opposite the mouth of the Unzha and Nemda rivers, 159 km northeast of the regional center - the city of Ivanovo, 58 km from the Kineshma railway station. The city covers an area of 8 km². The height of the city center is 130 m above sea level. The height of the level of the “Yuryevets Sea” - the Gorky Reservoir - is 84 m. The width of the reservoir opposite the city is up to 15 km.
Yuryevets, like the entire Ivanovo region, is located in a time zone designated by the international standard as Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). The offset relative to UTC is +3:00 (MSD).
The city's moderate continental climate is favorable for recreation. The average temperature in July is +21.3 °C (at 13:00), maximum up to 36 °C, in January - −11.8 °C (minimum - up to −40 °C). On average, 260 days a year (72%) are favorable in terms of weather conditions for recreation, 56 days (15%) are limitedly favorable.
Yuryevets is one of the most environmentally friendly areas of central Russia; it is believed that the Yuryevets area is the territory with the least radioactive background. The city is adjacent to a coniferous forest consisting of spruce and pine trees. There is an urban forest - “Nagornaya Dacha”. 3 km from the city in the Gorky Reservoir there is the Asafov Mountains archipelago, a specially protected natural area. It was formed after the creation of the Gorky Reservoir on the site of the hill of the same name on the left bank of the Volga.