Zaraysk

Zaraysk (Russian Зарайск ) is a town with 24 645 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010 ) in Russia in the Moscow Oblast. It is located 162 km south-east of Moscow on Ossjotr, a tributary of the Oka.

History

Archaeological finds from the 2008, including bone tools and Venusfigurinen of ivory, suggest that the site of the present Zaraysk was already inhabited in the Palaeolithic period.

The place Zaraysk originated in the 12th century as a village called Krasnoje, making it one of the oldest cities in the Moscow Oblast. The current name of the city is derived from Saras, which meant a high river bank in Old Russian language, as the city is situated on a natural elevation on the banks of Ossjotr. 1237 the village was destroyed by the troops of Batu Khan. Re- Created in the 14th century under the name Nowogorodok, the place was in the early 16th century, a Kremlin, so for a typical old Russian cities, surrounded by walls with towers fortress. Thus it was for the Grand Duchy of Moscow as an important defense post against the advancing from the south Tatars. At that time the name was Zaraysk. By the end of the century it was six times invaded by the Tatars. Beginning of the 17th century, the troops of the False Dmitry II Zaraysk occupied and held it until the liberation in July 1609 under control.

From the end of the 17th century Zaraysk lost its importance as a fortress. Due to its proximity to a leading Moscow to Astrakhan trade trade lived on, however. In the 18th Century Zaraysk grew by numerous buildings of wood and brick. 1778 Zaraysk received the status of a city and belonged from 1796 to Ryazan Gouvernment. Even in the 19th century, the city lived mainly on trade in agricultural products. However, it lost its former meaning of the laying of a new trade route in 1847 and a railway line in 1864, both of which went far away from Zaraysk. Instead of trade, however, developed in the town in the late 19th century, the shoe and textile industries. 1870 a branch of six years earlier -built railway line Moscow - Ryazan was postponed after Zaraysk ( but it was closed down in the 20th century).

Since 1929 Zaraysk belongs to the Moscow Oblast.

Selected attractions

• Saraisker Kremlin (built 1528-1531 )
• Holy Trinity Church (1776-1788)
• Annunciation Church with bell tower (1777-1795)
• Prophet Elijah Church ( 1819), with bell tower (1835 )
• Water Tower (1914 )
• Dmitry Pozharsky

Economy and infrastructure

The current industry of the city consists of a textile and a shoe factory, farms and a factory for construction materials to which a specially built in the 1960s, electrified narrow-gauge railway line leads. With its own railway connection has not Zaraysk, the next station on the Moscow - Ryazan track is in Lukhovitsy. However, there are regular bus services from Zaraysk to Moscow, Ryazan, Kolomna and in other neighboring cities.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Anna Golubkina (1864-1927), sculptor
• Nikolai Meschtscherjakow (1865-1942), revolutionary and publicist
• Boris Ponomarev (1905-1995), politician