Khvalynsk

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Khvalynsk (Russian: Хвалы́нск) is a river port town by the Volga River in Saratov Oblast, Russia. It is located at 52°31′N 48°5′ECoordinates: 52°31′N 48°5′E. Population: 13,752 (2002 Census); 16,000 (1974).

The town of Khvalynsk was founded in 1556 as a Russian outpost on the Sosnovy Island on the Volga. In 1606, the whole settlement was relocated to the spot of today's Khvalynsk and came to be known as Sosnovy Ostrov (Сосновый Остров, lit. Pine Island). In 1780, the settlement was elevated to the status of an uyezd town of the Saratov guberniya and renamed Khvalynsk.

Its name (as well as the old name of the Caspian Sea, "Khvalyn Sea") is derived from the name "Khwalis" for the inhabitants of Xvārēzm. Khvalynsk culture is named after the town.

In the 18th–19th centuries, Khvalynsk was known as a local center for trading bread and agricultural produce. It was also one of the centers of the Old Believers. Some scholars believe that Khvalynsk was used by Nikolai Gogol as a setting for his play The Government Inspector.

Khvalynsk is the birthplace of the artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and his museum has been established there in 1995.

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