Bezhetsk

Beschezk (Russian Бежецк ) is a town in Tver Oblast (Russia) with 24 522 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010 ).

Geography

The city is located about 130 km northeast of the Oblasthauptstadt Tver at the mouth of the river Ostretschina in the Mologa, a left tributary of the Volga.

Beschezk is the administrative center of the homonymous Rajons.

The city lies on the opened on this section 1870 railway Yaroslavl - Rybinsk - Bologoje.

History

The instrument appointing the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav of a 1137 about 20 km north of the present town located Beschitschi settlement is mentioned. Around the beginning of the 13th century it became the center of the great Beschezki Verch said region on the upper reaches of the Mologa in the east of the Republic of Novgorod.

The settlement was destroyed in 1272 during clashes between the Russian principalities and the administration of the territory transferred to the fortress Gorodezk in place of the present-day city Beschezk. In the late 14th century Gorodezk fell to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and in 1433 was awarded with Dmitri Jurjewitsch Krasny, a grandson of Dmitri Donskoy, its own local princes.

In 1766 it was renamed the Beschezk and 1775, the awarding of municipal law as an administrative center of a Ujesds in the governorship of Tver ( Tver province since 1796 ).

Demographics

Note: Census data

Culture and sights

Although in the Soviet time, many churches in the city were destroyed, and a series obtained: the Exaltation of the Cross Church ( Крестовоздвиженская церковь / Krestowosdwischenskaja Tserkov ) of 1670, the Transfiguration ( Преображенская церковь / Preobraschenskaja Tserkov ) of 1772, the Kazan Church ( Казанская церковь / Kazanskaya Tserkov ) of 1775 and the bell tower of St. Mary's Church temple entrance ( Введенская церковь / Wwedenskaja Tserkov ) of 1682 (the only remnant of the former Mariä-Tempeleintritts-Klosters/Wwedenski monastyr ), also trading numbers from the early 19th century.

Beschezk has a local history museum.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Vasily Andreyev (1861-1918), composer and Balalaikavirtuose
• Veniamin Fleischmann (1913-1941), composer
• Vyacheslav Shishkov (1873-1945), writer
• Alexei Tyranow (1801-1859), painter

Economy

Most important companies in the city are the agricultural machinery factory Beschezkselmasch and a work vehicle for special equipment. There are also companies in the textile (linen) and food industry.

Five kilometers south of Beschezk lies the air base Dorochowo.