Alexin

city Alexin Алексин flag coat of arms Federal district Central Russia Oblast Tula Rajon Alexin mayor Dmitri Valeryevich Magnitsky First mention 1236 City since 1777 surface 43  km² population 61,732 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 1436 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 160  m Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone code (+7) 48753 Post Code 301360-301379 License Plate 71 OKATO 70 202 501 Website aleksingrad.ru Geographical location Coordinates 54 ° 30 '  N , 37 ° 4'  E Coordinates: 54 ° 30 '0 "  N , 37 ° 4' 0"  E

Location in the western part of Russia

Location in Tula Oblast

List of cities in Russia

Alexin ( Russian Але́ксин ) is a Russian city in Tula Oblast in central Russia , around 130 km south of Moscow . It has 61,732 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010).

history

Alexin was founded in 1236 as a wooden fortress on the left bank of the Oka, probably by the inhabitants of the settlements of the Principality of Chernigov defeated by the Mongols . According to legend, the name Alexin was given in 1298 by the Moscow prince Daniel Alexandrovich after his son Alexander.

In 1348 the Mongols burned the city and returned with large booty for the Horde. The city was rebuilt, but on the right bank of the Oka, on the site of an old settlement.

From 1396 Alexin was on the border with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania .

In 1472 Alexin played an important role during the campaign of the Golden Horde under Khan Ahmat against Russia. The city was besieged and the residents offered fierce resistance for two days.

Chroniclers who described the battle for Alexin noted the heroism of the citizens:

"... citizens defended themselves valiantly and many Tatars died. Soon, however, there was nothing left to defend, there was neither an arrow nor a spear," writes the historian SM Soloviev .

On July 30, the city was burned by the Tatars, but the time spent capturing Alexin was used by the Russians to gather troops to defend Moscow. The Oka Line was occupied by the Russian regiments and the Khan did not risk a decisive battle. For the first time in the history of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the Khan returned to the Horde without daring to fight the Russian army - and Alexin had earned his permanent place in Russian history.

After the destruction, the city was moved to the peninsula two kilometers downstream, which is bordered by the steep banks of the Oka and its tributary Mordovka.

After the events of 1472, during the 15th and 16th centuries, Alexin remained an important outpost of a defensive system created along the Oka River from Kolomna to Kaluga to repel Mongol raids.

In 1566 Alexin passed into the personal possession of Ivan IV the Terrible , making it the only town on the right bank of the Oka to belong to the Oprichnina .

In 1606, Alexin was a scene of the Bolotnikov uprising .

After a great fire, Alexin was rebuilt in 1656–1658. At that time, Alexin only had about 450 residents.

In 1729 an ironworks was built not far from Alexin on the opposite bank of the Oka at the mouth of the Myschega River. This factory became known as a figure foundry in the first half of the 19th century; here, for example, the fencing and the gate of the Alexander Garden at the Moscow Kremlin and ornaments of the triumphal arch in Moscow were made.

As a result, Alexin became an important inland port and a supply store (e.g. for wood and grain) for Tula and the local arms factories.

In 1768 almost all of Alexin was destroyed by fire.

Since 1708 Alexin belonged to the Moscow Province, from 1719 to the Tula Province. In 1777 it received the status of a district town in the Tula Province (from 1796 Tula Governorate ).

In 1856 there were 5 churches, 274 houses and 45 shops in Alexin, as well as several small leather, tallow and brick factories.

The decline in river trade later caused the city to decline. Since the October Revolution , however, it has been an important industrial center with chemical, mechanical engineering and other industries. Agriculture is the main activity in the vicinity of the city .

In Alexin there was a POW camp 53 for German prisoners of war of the Second World War . It was later taken over by the warehouse administration 323 in Tula . There was also the prisoner-of-war hospital 5384 for seriously ill people.

On July 12, 1958, the villages of Myschega, Petrowski ( urban-type settlements since 1932) and Vysokoye (urban-type settlements since 1938) were incorporated, the latter being larger than the old city since the 1930s.

Population development

year	Residents	annotation
1897	3,465
1939	21,722	of which the city of Alexin 6,527, the settlements of Myschega 2,585, Petrowski 3,145 and Vysokoye 9,465
1959	46,313
1970	61,417
1979	67.219
1989	74,274
2002	68,156
2010	61,732

Note: census data

Attractions

The old town of Alexin was laid out in 1769 on the right bank of the Oka as a planned town with right-angled straight streets. With many buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries, it has retained the character of a Russian provincial town to this day. There are still a number of traditional one or two story houses decorated with wood carvings.

In the old town is the baroque St. Nicholas Church (built 1787–89) and next to it the classicist trading house of the Maslow family, built at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, which now houses the local history museum.

The ensemble of the Assumption Cathedrals is located on Sobornaya Hill, the site of the former fortress. The old cathedral was built as the first stone building in Alexin in 1688. In the course of time it became more and more dilapidated, so that in 1806 its bell tower had to be dismantled. The new cathedral was built from the stones of the tower in 1807–1813. It was donated by the merchant Ivan Maslow. At the beginning of the 21st century, both churches were completely renovated.

traffic

The next trunk road is the M2 running through the Tula Oblast from Moscow to Belgorod . Alexin also has a train station on a non-electrified branch line from Tula to Kaluga that is served by rail buses .

Town twinning

• Yelabuga , Russia
• Dzerzhinsky , Russia
• Veľký Krtíš , Slovakia
• Dimitrovgrad , Russia
• Malojaroslavets , Russia
• Sussaninsky rajon , Kostroma Oblast , Russia
• Chusovoy , Russia
• Salihorsk , Belarus
• Serpukhov , Russia
• Tivat , Montenegro

Personalities

• Marcel Pourbaix (1904–1998), Belgian chemist, born in Myschega (today to Alexin)
• Sergei Stetschkin (1920–1995), mathematician, grew up in Alexin
• Igor Stetschkin (1922–2001), weapons designer in Tula, born in Alexin
• Sergei Schelanow (* 1957), athlete, born in Alexin
• Pawel Gerasimow (* 1979), athlete; born in Alexin

Web links

Commons : Alexin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Rajons (Russian)
• Alexin on Mojgorod.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ↑ Maschke, Erich (ed.): On the history of the German prisoners of war of the Second World War. Verlag Ernst and Werner Gieseking, Bielefeld 1962–1977.