Zvenigorod

This article covers the location in Russia. For the Ukrainian place and municipality see Swenyhorod .

city Zvenigorod Звенигород flag coat of arms Federal district Central Russia Oblast Moscow Urban district Zvenigorod mayor Leonid Stawitski First mention 1339 City since 1781 surface 47  km² population 16,395 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 349 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 150  m Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone code (+7) 49632 Post Code 143180, 143185 License Plate 50, 90, 150, 190, 750 OKATO 46 430 Website www.zvenigorod.ru Geographical location Coordinates 55 ° 44 '  N , 36 ° 51'  E Coordinates: 55 ° 44 '0 "  N , 36 ° 51' 0"  E

Location in the western part of Russia

Location in Moscow Oblast

List of cities in Russia

Zvenigorod ( Russian Звени́город ; pronunciation ^{? / I} ) is a small Russian town in Moscow Oblast , around 50 km west of Moscow . The city with 16,395 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) is located on the Smolensk Heights on the upper reaches of the Moskva and is one of the oldest places in the Moscow area.

history

The exact founding date of the city Zvenigorod is no longer handed down, but first written mentions of the village date back to 1339. The fact that the city must have originated considerably earlier, comes from many in the area found burial mounds dating from between the 11th and 13 Century. It is believed that Zvenigorod was built as a fortress in the middle of the 12th century by Yuri Dolgoruki , the founder of Moscow. Presumably the city was named by settlers from the Kiev principality after one of the localities there, which were also called Zvenigorod - "the ringing city". Alluding to this, the city's coat of arms still contains a picture of a bell , even if Moscow Zvenigorod itself is not or was not known either through the manufacture or ringing of bells.

The Moskva River in Zvenigorod

Since its foundation, the city has been a fortress city, which was also favored by its altitude on the river bank. The result was a Kremlin typical of old Russian cities , i.e. a fortress surrounded by a wooden protective wall with watchtowers, which the city residents also called Gorodok - "little town". Since the 12th century, the city also had the task of protecting a nearby trade route. About 1.5 kilometers from the fortress, the monk and Sergius von Radonezh student Sawwa Storoschewski founded a monastery in 1398 with the support of Zvenigorod prince Juri, a son of Dmitri Donskoy , which is still preserved today. This period at the end of the 14th century is considered to be the heyday of the city, even though Zvenigorod was attacked and devastated by Tatars in 1382 and 1408 . Due to its favorable location on the trade route, Zvenigorod was considered relatively wealthy even in the years of invasion. The Uspensky Cathedral on Gorodok also dates from the end of the 14th century and is therefore the oldest church building in the Moscow area that has survived to this day. The icons in Zvenigorod's churches that were built at that time were created by Andrei Rublev , an icon painter who was still quite unknown at the time.

From the 15th to the 16th century Zvenigorod gradually lost its importance after several power struggles in the Moscow principality; the Sawwa monastery presented an increasingly neglected picture. At the beginning of the 17th century the city was devastated by the troops of Pseudodimitri I on the way to Moscow. At the end of the 17th century a boom began again after Tsar Alexei had the Sawwa monastery made into one of his residences. The monastery was expanded, new church buildings and fortifications were built there. In the 17th century, industry flourished in Zvenigorod for the first time after Boyar Boris Morozov founded an iron processing factory there. However, it was not until 1781 that Zvenigorod was officially granted city status by decree of Catherine the Great .

The Sawwa Monastery was last devastated in 1812, after the city was occupied by the French following the Battle of Borodino . A few days later, however, Cossack troops were able to liberate the city again. However, Zvenigorod could not regain its once high economic importance; the Morosow factories had long since ceased to exist, and agriculture dominated life in and around the city . Of course, this also had its nice side: Due to the almost lack of industry paired with an attractive landscape location on the Moskva River, Zvenigorod and the surrounding area became a popular resort, which also inspired numerous landscape painters, including Isaak Levitan ; the area was even called a "Russian Switzerland".

After the October Revolution of 1917, the Sawwa Monastery was expropriated by the Bolsheviks and converted into a museum. In 1919 the city received a railway connection . In the decades that followed, Zvenigorod continued to expand into an important recreational area: During the Soviet era , numerous sanatoriums and recreational facilities were built that still characterize the city today. The repurposed Sawwa Monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the early 1990s and has been used as a monastery again since 1995.

Population development

year	Residents
1926	3,100
1939	6,272
1959	8,842
1970	10,533
1979	12.303
1989	15,805
2002	12,155
2010	16,395

Note: census data (1926 rounded)

Selected sights in Zvenigorod

The Zvenigorod Dormition Cathedral

• Sawwa monastery
• Assumption Cathedral (originally built at the end of the 18th century, rebuilt until 2007)
• Uspensky Cathedral in Gorodok
• Alexander Nevsky Church
• Church of the Nativity of Christ (right bank of the Moscow River)

Town twinning

• Mahiljou , Belarus, since 2006
• Tropea , Italy, since 2013
• Lahr , Germany, since 2018

Sons and Daughters of the City

• Lyubov Petrovna Orlowa (1902–1975), film and theater actress

Economy and Infrastructure

The recreation and spa operations as well as tourism are decisive for Zvenigorod's economy to this day. Industry only exists on a smaller scale, including the furniture, toy and textile industries. Since the early 2000s, the city has also seen a noticeable increase in the residential construction sector.

At the train station in Zvenigorod is a terminal station at the end point of a branch of the railway between Moscow and Smolensk - Minsk . Local trains run between the Belarusian railway station in Moscow and Zvenigorod every one to two hours. However, Zvenigorod train station is around three kilometers from the city center. In between there is regular bus service.

Telescope of the observatory

The city has an observatory with a Super Schmidt satellite camera (VAU) with a 65 cm aperture, a 60 cm reflector telescope and a 50 cm Hamilton telescope .

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)

Web links

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

• Zvenigorod at mojgorod.ru (Russian)
• A photo gallery of Zvenigorod churches (Russian)