Solvychegodsk
Description
Town in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia
Solvychegodsk is a town in Kotlassky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right-hand bank of the Vychegda River 25 km northeast of Kotlas, the administrative center of the district. Population: 2,460 (2010).
History
Solvychegodsk was founded in the 14th century on the shores of Lake Solyonoye. The town was known as Usolsk in the 15th century. Anikey Stroganov (1488–1570) began salt production in 1515, which later become a huge industry, and started the Stroganov family fortune. In the 16th–17th centuries, Solvychegodsk was a big commercial, handicraft, and cultural hub of Northern Russia. It was especially famous for its enamel industry. Solvychegodsk was captured and looted by Polish-Lithuanian vagabonds, the Lisowczycy, on January 22, 1613. In 1796, the town became a part of Vologda Governorate. It was also known as a place of political exile. In 1937, Solvychegodsk was transferred to the jurisdiction of Arkhangelsk Oblast.
Joseph Stalin was exiled here for seven months after being arrested by the Okhrana in April 1909 and for another seventeen months in 1911.
Culture and recreation
Nine objects of cultural heritage protected at the federal level and additionally thirty-three monuments of history and architecture of local importance are located in the town. The federal list of cultural heritage includes the following ensembles:
- former Presentation Monastery, including the Presentation Cathedral (1688—1712), one of the five surviving Stroganov baroque churches
- former Annunciation Cathedral (1560—1584) with the adjacent bell-tower
- Church of the Holy Mandylion (Spaso-Obydenskaya Church, 1691—1697)
- Pyankov House (19th century)
The town of Solvychegodsk is classified as a historical town by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, which implies certain restrictions on construction in the historical center.
The only state museum in the town, the Solvychegodsk Museum of Art and History, is housed in the former Annunciation Cathedral. There is also a small private museum devoted to the fictional author, Kozma Prutkov, who, according to his official biography, was born in Solvychegodsk.
The town is home to a number of balneological resorts, where mineral springs and silt mud from the Lake Solyanoye are used.