Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Gorodez (Russian Городец ) is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (Russia) with 30 658 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010 ).
Geography
The city is located about 70 km northwest of the Oblasthauptstadt Nizhny Novgorod on the left bank of the Volga River, opposite the city Sawolschje. Immediately above the town is the 13-km stretch of the dam reservoir Gorkier.
Gorodez is the administrative center of the homonymous Rajons.
The nearest railway station is in Sawolschje with which Gorodez connects a road on the Volga dam.
History
The town was founded in the second half of the 12th century as a fortress, possibly in 1152 by Yuri Dolgoruky, according to other data only 1172nd The name means in Russian about small town. In various documents, it was later known as Gorodez -na- Wolge ( Gorodez on the Volga ) or Gorodez - Radilov because there were several towns of this name in ancient Russia.
At the beginning of the 14th century was Gorodez capital of a vassal principality, in 1341 it came to the principality of Nizhny Novgorod. In 1408 the city was destroyed by the troops of the Golden Horde under Edigü.
In the 17th century was not far from the remains of the old fortress settlement Verkhnyaya Sloboda, which has been called back later in reference to the ancient city name Gorodez. At the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, the village was the center of Old Believer orthodoxy; during the 19th century it developed into an important trade and craft center with grain trading, forging and casting craft, tanning, dyeing and gingerbread making.
1921 ( according to other sources 1922) the town charter was granted.
Demographics
Note: Census data ( rounded to 1926 )
Culture and sights
In Gorodez a part of the buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries is obtained, the Archangel Michael Church ( церковь Михаила Архангела / Tserkov Michaila Archangela ) of 1707 and the House of Dementjewa of 1864 with rich wood carving.
The city has a museum of local history.
In several villages of the Rajons are various architectural monuments, the Nikolai Church ( Никольская церковь / Nikolskaja Tserkov ) from 1760 to the early 19th century in St. Nicholas - Pogost or Korjaginhaus of 1894 in Savvino.
Economy
In the city are an engine plant, a plant for tractors and vehicles and their trailers, a river shipyard and a plant for textile machinery.
Since the 19th century Gorodez is famous for its painted and carved wooden objects known ( " Gorodezer painting " on spinning wheels, toys, furniture, etc. ), which are still produced today.
Personalities
- Alexander Nevsky (around 1220-1263 ), Rurik Prince, a Russian national hero and saint of the Orthodox Church, died at the old Gorodez