Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod (English) Нижний Новгород (Russian)
—  City[1]  — City of oblast significance[1]
View of Nizhny Novgorod
Location of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia
Location of Nizhny Novgorod in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Coordinates:
Coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod	Flag of Nizhny Novgorod
City Day	Second Sunday of September[2]
Administrative status (as of July 2009)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Nizhny Novgorod Oblast[1]
Administrative center of	Nizhny Novgorod Oblast[1]
Municipal status (as of September 2009)
Urban okrug	Nizhny Novgorod Urban Okrug[3]
Head[4]	Vadim Bulavinov[5]
Representative body	City Duma[6]
Statistics
Area	410.68 km2 (158.56 sq mi)[7]
Population (2002 Census)	1,311,252 inhabitants[8]
- Rank	4th
- Density	3,193 /km2 (8,270 /sq mi)[9]
Population (2009)	1,280,355 inhabitants[7]
Time zone	MSK/MSD (UTC+3/+4)
Founded	1221[10]
City status since	1221[7]
Previous names	Nizhny Novgorod (until September 1932),[10] Gorky (until October 22, 1990)[11]
Postal code(s)	in the 603000–603998 range[12]
Dialing code(s)	+7 831[7]
Official website

Nizhny Novgorod (Russian: Ни́жний Но́вгород), colloquially shortened as Nizhny, is the fourth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk. Population: 1,311,252 (Russian Census (2002));^[8] 1,438,133 (1989 Census).^[13] It is the economic and cultural center of the vast Volga-Vyatka economic region, and also the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Volga Federal District.

From 1932 to 1990, the city was known as Gorky (Го́рький),^[11] after the writer Maxim Gorky who was born there.

The city is an important economic, transport and cultural center of the Russian Federation.

History

Seat of medieval princes

After the destruction of the Mordvin Inäzor Obram administrative centre and hillfort named Obran Osh (Ashli) at the site of future stone Kremlin in 1220, a small Russian wooden hillfort was founded by Grand Duke Yuri II of Russia in 1221. Located at the confluence of two most important rivers of his principality, the Volga (Mordvin "Rav" or "Rava"), and the Oka, and Obran Osh was renamed Nizhny Novgorod. Its name literally means Lower Newtown, to distinguish it from the older Veliky Novgorod. Its independent existence was threatened by the continuous Mordvin attacks against it. The major attempt made by Inäzor Purgaz from Arzamas in January 1229 was repulsed, but after the death of Yuri II on March 4, 1238 at the Battle of Sit River the Mongols occupied the fortress and the remnants of small Nizhny Novgorod settlement which surrendered without any resistance in order to preserve what had been developed since Purgaz's attack eight years earlier. Later a major stronghold for border protection, Nizhny Novgorod fortress took advantage of a natural moat formed by the two rivers.

Along with Moscow and Tver, Nizhny Novgorod was among several newly-founded towns that escaped Mongol devastation on account of their insignificance, but grew into (great) centers in vassalic Russian political life during the period of the Tatar Yoke. With the agreement of the Mongol Khan, Nizhny Novgorod was incorporated into the Vladimir - Suzdal Principality in 1264. After 86 years its importance further increased when the seat of the powerful Suzdal Principality was moved here from Gorodets in 1350. Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich (1323–1383) sought to make his capital a rival worthy of Moscow; he built a stone citadel and several churches and was a patron of historians. The earliest extant manuscript of the Russian Primary Chronicle, the Laurentian Codex, was written for him by the local monk Laurentius in 1377.

Strongest fortress of Muscovy

Kuzma Minin appeals to the people of Nizhny Novgorod to raise a volunteer army against the Poles.

Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, built by the Stroganovs

Minin Square

After the city's incorporation into Muscovy (1392), the local princes took the name Shuisky and settled in Moscow, where they were prominent at the court and briefly ascended the throne in the person of Vasili IV. After being burnt by the powerful Crimean Tatar chief Edigu in 1408, Nizhny Novgorod was restored and regarded by the Muscovites primarily as a great stronghold in their wars against the Tatars of Kazan. The enormous red-brick kremlin, one of the strongest and earliest preserved citadels in Russia, was built in 1508–1511 under the supervision of Peter the Italian. The fortress was strong enough to withstand Tatar sieges in 1520 and 1536.

In 1612, the so-called national militia, gathered by a local merchant, Kuzma Minin, and commanded by Knyaz Dmitry Pozharsky expelled the Polish troops from Moscow, thus putting an end to the "Time of Troubles" and establishing the rule of the Romanov dynasty. The main square before the kremlin is named after Minin and Pozharsky, although it is locally known simply as "Minin Square." Minin's remains are buried in the citadel. (In commemoration of these events, on October 21, 2005, an exact copy of the Red Square statue of Minin and Pozharsky was placed in front of St John the Baptist Church, which is believed to be the place from where the call to the people had been proclaimed.)

In the course of the following century, the city prospered commercially and was chosen by the Stroganovs (the wealthiest merchant family of Russia) as a base for their operations. A particular style of architecture and icon painting, known as the Stroganov style, developed there at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The historical coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod in 1981 was: A red deer with black horns and hooves on a white field. The modern coat of arms circa 1992 is the same, but the shield can be adorned with golden oak leaves tied with a ribbon with colours of the Russian national flag.

Great trade centre

This building formerly housed the Great Russian Fair

Shukhov towers built in Nizhny Novgorod suburbs near Dzerzhinsk in 1927–1929

In 1817, the Makaryev Fair, one of the liveliest in the world, was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod, which thereupon started to attract millions of visitors annually. By the mid-19th century, the city on the Volga was firmly established as the trade capital of the Russian Empire. The world's first radio receiver of engineer Alexander Popov and the world's first hyperboloid tower and lattice shells-coverings of engineer Vladimir Shukhov were demonstrated at the All-Russia industrial and art exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896. According to official Imperial Russian statistics the population of Nizhny Novgorod as of 14 January 1913 was 97.000 (rounded to the nearest thousand).

The largest industrial enterprise was the Sormovo Iron Works which was connected by the company´s own railway to Moscow station in the upper part of Nizhny Novgorod. The private Moscow — Kazan Railway Company´s station served the lower part of the town. Other industries gradually developed, and by the dawn of the 20th century it was a first-rank industrial hub as well. Henry Ford helped build a large truck and tractor plant (GAZ) in the late 1920s, sending along engineers and mechanics, including future labour leader Walter Reuther.

Soviet era

There were no bridges over the Volga or Oka before the October Revolution in 1917. The first bridge over the Volga was started by the Moscow-Kazan Railway Company in 1914, but only finished in the Soviet Era when the railway to Kotelnich was opened for service in 1927.

Maxim Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1868 as Alexei Maximovich Peshkov. In his novels he described the dismal life of the city proletariat.

Even during his lifetime, the city was renamed Gorky following his return to the Soviet Union in 1932 on invitation of Joseph Stalin. The city bore Gorky's name until 1991. His childhood home is preserved as a museum, known as the Kashirin House (Russian: Домик Каширина), after Alexei's grandfather who owned the place.

During much of the Soviet era, the city was closed to foreigners to safeguard the security of Soviet military research and production facilities, even though it was a popular stopping point for Soviet tourists traveling up and down the Volga in tourist boats. Unusually for a Soviet city of that size, even the street maps were not available for sale until the mid-1970s. Mátyás Rákosi, communist leader of Hungary died here in 1971.

The physicist and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov was exiled there during 1980-1986 to limit his contacts with foreigners.

An end to the "closed" status of the city has accompanied the reinstatement of the city's original name in 1990.^[11]

Economy

Information technology

Nizhny Novgorod is one of the centers of the IT Industry in Russia. It ranks among the leading Russian cities in terms of the quantity of software R&D providers. In Nizhny Novgorod there are number of offshore outsourcing software developers, including Tecom, Devetel Ltd., MERA Networks, RealEast Networks, Auriga, and Teleca, that specialize in delivering services to telecommunication vendors. Also Intel has opened a software R&D center with more than 500 engineers in the city.

There are 25 scientific R&D institutions focusing on telecommunications, radio technology, theoretical and applied physics, and 33 higher educational institutions, among them are Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy, Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod Technical University, as well as Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Information Technologies (former MERA Networks training center), that focuses on information technologies, software development, system administration, telecommunications, cellular networks, Internet technologies, and IT management.

Nizhny Novgorod has also been chosen as one of four sites for building an IT-oriented technology park—a special zone that has an established infrastructure and enjoys a favorable tax and customs policy.

Engineering industry

The engineering industry is the leading industry of Nizhny Novgorod economy. It is mainly oriented towards transportation, i.e., the auto industry, shipbuilding, diesel engines, aircraft manufacture, and machine tools, with the auto industry being the leading sector (50%). Largest plants are:

• JSC "Gorky Automobile Plant" - personal cars, trucks, armored personnel carriers, and other autos;
• JSC "Krasnoye Sormovo" - river and sea ships, submarines;
• JSC "Sokol" - airplanes, jets;
• JSC "Nitel" - TV sets;
• JSC "RUMO" - diesel generators;
• JSC "Krasnyy yakor" - anchor chains;

Transportation

Construction of metro bridge, April 2008

One of the three bridges spanning the Oka

Riverside terminal

Railway transport

Russian Railways department - Gorkovskaya Railroad (Горьковская железная дорога), which operates some 5,700 km of rail lines throughout the Middle Volga region (of which some 1,200 are in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast), is headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod. Overnight trains provide access to Nizhny Novgorod from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Yaroslavl and others. Since December 2002, a fast train transports passengers between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow in less than five hours. One can continue from Nizhny Novgorod eastward along the Trans-Siberian Railway, with direct trains to major cities in the Urals and Siberia, as well as to Beijing, Pyongyang and Ulan-Bator.

The first high-speed rail Sapsan train to Moscow (Kursky Rail Terminal) and Saint Petersburg (Moskovsky Rail Terminal) is going to be launched on July 30, 2010.^[14]

Suburban commuter trains (elektrichka) connect Nizhny Novgorod with Vladimir, Dzerzhinsk, Murom, Kirov, Arzamas, Zavolzhye, Balakhna and others.

Airport

Nizhny Novgorod Strigino Airport has direct flights to major Russian cities, as well as to Frankfurt (three flights a week by Lufthansa). The air base Sormovo was an important military airlift facility, and Pravdinsk air base was an interceptor aircraft base during the Cold War. S7 Airlines goes to Moscow Domodedovo airport daily.

Water ways

Nizhny Novgorod is an important center of Volga cargo and passenger shipping. In the summer, cruise vessels operate between Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Astrakhan. In 2006 a small number of Meteor-class hydrofoils resumed operations on the Volga river.

Highway

The city is served by Russian highway M-7 (Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan – Ufa), and is a hub of the regional highway network.

Public transport

Public transport within the city is provided by a small subway system (Nizhny Novgorod Metro), tramways, marshrutkas or minibuses, buses and trolleybuses. Electric and diesel commuter trains run to suburbs in several directions.

Free shuttle buses run from several points in the city to the MEGA shopping complex, which opened in October 2006 in Fedyakovo, a few kilometers to the east of the Nizhny Novgorod city line.^[15]

City layout

Nizhny Novgorod is divided by the Oka River into two distinct parts. The Upper City (Russian: Нагорная часть, Nagornaya Chast) is located on the hilly eastern (right) bank of the Oka. It includes three of the eight city districts into which the city is administratively divided:

Historic center of Nizhny Novgorod, including Church of the Nativity and Kremlin walls on the hill

• Nizhegorodsky (the historical and administrative center of the city);
• Prioksky;
• Sovetsky.

The Lower City (Russian: Заречная часть, Zarechnaya Chast) occupies the low (western) side of the Oka, and includes five city districts:

• Kanavinsky (the site of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and the location of the main train station);
• Moskovsky (home of the Sokol Aircraft Plant and its airfield);
• Sormovsky (where Krasnoye Sormovo and the Volga Shipyard are located);
• Avtozavodsky (built around the GAZ automotive plants);
• Leninsky.

All of the today's lower city was annexed to Nizhny Novgorod in 1929–1931.

The city has many industrial suburbs, such as Kstovo, Dzerzhinsk, and Bor. The town of Semyonov, to the north of Nizhny Novgorod, is known as a craft center for Khokhloma wood painting. Another suburb, Balakhna, is noted for its medieval architecture.

Main sights

Much of the city downtown is built in the Russian Revival and Stalin Empire styles. The dominating feature of the city skyline is the grand Kremlin (1500–1511), with its red-brick towers. After Bolshevik devastation, the only ancient edifice left within the kremlin walls is the tent-like Archangel Cathedral (1624–31), first built in stone in the 13th century.

Cultural features

Planetarium and circus

There are more than six hundred unique historic, architectural, and cultural monuments in the city; that gave grounds to UNESCO to include Nizhny Novgorod in the list of 100 cities of the world which are of great historical and cultural value.

There are about two hundred municipal and regional art and cultural institutions within Nizhny Novgorod. Among these institutions there are eight theaters, five concert halls, ninety-seven libraries (with branches), seventeen movie theaters (including five movie theaters for children), twenty-five institutions of children optional education, eight museums (sixteen including branches), and seven parks.

Nizhny Novgorod art gallery

The art gallery in Nizhny Novgorod is a large and important art gallery and museums of human history and culture.

Nizhny Novgorod has a great and extraordinary art gallery with more than 12,000 exhibits, an enormous collection of works by Russian artists such as Viktor Vasnetsov, Karl Briullov, Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Kramskoi, Ilya Yefimovich Repin, Isaak Iljitsch Lewitan, Vasily Surikov, Ivan Aivazovsky, there are also greater collections of works by Boris Kustodiev and Nicholas Roerich, not only Russian art is part of the exhibition it include also a vast accumulation of Western European art like works by David Teniers the Younger, Bernardo Bellotto, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter de Grebber, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and lot more.

Finally what makes this gallery extremely important is the amazing collection Russian avant-garde with works by Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and so on. There is also collection of East Asian art.

Churches

Pechersky Ascension Monastery

New Fair Cathedral (Alexander Nevsky Cathedral)

Saviour (Old Fair) Cathedral

Other notable landmarks are the two great medieval abbeys. The Pechersky Ascension Monastery features the austere five-domed cathedral (1632) and two rare churches surmounted by tent roofs, dating from the 1640s. The Annunciation monastery, likewise surrounded by strong walls, has another five-domed cathedral (1649) and the Assumption church (1678). The only private house preserved from that epoch formerly belonged to the merchant Pushnikov.

There can be little doubt that the most original and delightful churches in the city were built by the Stroganovs in the nascent Baroque style. Of these, the Virgin's Nativity Church (1719) graces one of the central streets, whereas the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk (1694–97) survives in the former village of Gordeevka (now, part of the city's Kanavinsky District), where the Stroganov palace once stood.

Other notable churches include:

• the Saviour Cathedral, also known as the Old Fair Cathedral, a huge domed edifice built at the site of the great fair to an Empire style design by Agustín de Betancourt and Auguste de Montferrand in 1822;
• the so-called New Fair Cathedral, designed in the Russian Revival style and constructed between 1856 and 1880 at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga;
• the recently reconstructed church of the Nativity of John the Precursor (1676–83), standing just below the Kremlin walls; it was used during the Soviet period as an apartment house;
• the parish churches of the Holy Wives (1649) and of Saint Elijah (1656);
• the Assumption Church on St Elijah's Hill (1672), with five green-tiled domes arranged unorthodoxly on the lofty cross-shaped barrel roof;
• the shrine of the Old Believers at the Bugrovskoe cemetery, erected in the 1910s to a critically acclaimed design by Vladimir Pokrovsky;
• the wooden chapel of the Intercession (1660), transported to Nizhny Novgorod from a rural area.

There is also a mosque in Sennaya Square, where the Muslim populations of the city go for Friday prayers, Islamic activities and activities which are organized by the mosque. There is also a small shop to buy halal meats. Most of the Muslims in this city are Tatars.

The centrally located Nizhny Novgorod Synagogue was built in 1881-1883; disused during the Soviet era, it was renovated and reopened ca. 1991.

Other

A singular monument of industrial architecture is a 128-meter-high open-work hyperboloid tower built on the bank of the Oka near Dzerzhinsk as part of a powerline river crossing by the eminent engineer and scientist Vladimir Shukhov in 1929.

A staircase connecting the Kremlin with the Volga river offers a panoramic view of the surroundings. The staircase itself was constructed in the late 1940s by German prisoners of war forced to labor around Gorky.

Education

Nizhny Novgorod is home to the following educational facilities:

• N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod
• R.Y. Alekseev Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University^[16]
• Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering
• Nizhny Novgorod State University of Linguistics
• Nizhny Novgorod Commercial Institute
• Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University
• Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy
• Nizhny Novgorod State Agricultural Academy

There are also twenty research institutes located in the city.

Sports

The city ice hockey team Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod play in the KHL. The city is represented at football by FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod who play in the Russian First Division. The other footbal team from Nizhny Novgorod, FC Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod who had played in the Russian Premier League and Intertoto Cup became defunct in 2006. The city field hockey team are HC Start. The city bandy team Start plays in the highest division of the Russian Bandy League.^[17] In 2002 they reached the final against Vodnik. Both matches were played in Arkhangelsk due to warm weather. After that an artificial ice was built.

Notable people

Demographics

• Population (Jan 2009): 1,272,599 ^[18]
• Births (2008): 12,969
• Deaths (2008): 20,757

International relations

Volga riverside view

Twin towns — Sister cities

Nizhny Novgorod is twinned with:

Climate

The climate in the region is continental, and it is similar to the climate in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November until late March with a permanent snow cover.

References

Bibliography

• Munro-Butler-Johnstone, Henry Alexander, A trip up the Volga to the fair of Nijni-Novgorod, Oxford: J. Parker and co., 1876.
• Fitzpatrick, Anne Lincoln, The Great Russian Fair: Nizhnii Novgorod, 1840-90, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan, in association with St. Antony’s College, Oxford, 1990. ISBN 0-333-42437-9

Sources

• Городская Дума города Нижнего Новгорода. №91 23 ноября 2005 г. «Устав города Нижнего Новгорода», в ред. №54 от 27 мая 2009 г. Вступил в силу с 1 января 2006 г., но не ранее официального опубликования после государственной регистрации, за исключением подпункта 13 пункта 10 статьи 43, вступающего в силу в сроки, установленные федеральным законом, определяющим порядок организации и деятельности муниципальной милиции. Опубликован: "Нижегородский рабочий", №234/15894, 30 декабря 2005 г. (City Duma of the City of Nizhny Novgorod. #91 November 23, 2005 Charter of the City of Nizhny Novgorod, as amended by the #54 of May 27, 2009. Effective as of January 1, 2006, but not earlier than the official publication date following the state registration, and with the exception of subitem 13 of item 10 of Article 43, which takes effect during the timeframe to be set by a federal law legislating the organization and functioning of the municipal militsiya).
• Государственно-правовой департамент Нижегородской области. Приказ №1-од от 25 января 2010 г. «Об утверждении реестра административно-территориальных образований, городских и сельских населённых пунктов Нижегородской области», в ред. Приказа №3-од от 9 апреля 2010 г «О внесении изменений в реестр административно-территориальных образований, городских и сельских населённых пунктов Нижегородской области». Опубликован: "Нижегородская правда", №№26(25202), 27(25203), 29(25205), 30(25206), 32(25208), 33(25209), 35(25211), 13 марта – 3 апреля 2010 г. (State Legal Department of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Order #1-od of January 25, 2010 On the Adoption of the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations, Urban and Rural Localities of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, as amended by the Order #3-od of April 9, 2010 On Amending the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations, Urban and Rural Localities of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. ).
• Правительство Нижегородской области. Постановление №670 от 11 сентября 2009 г. «О перечне муниципальных образований Нижегородской области». Опубликован: "Нижегородские новости", №177(4309), 1 октября 2009 г. (Government of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Resolution #670 of September 11, 2009 On the Registry of the Municipal Formations of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. ).
• Президиум Верховного Совета РСФСР. Указ от 22 октября 1990 г. «О переименовании города Горького в город Нижний Новгород и Горьковской области в Нижегородскую области». (Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. Decree of October 22, 1990 On Changing the Name of the City of Gorky to the City of Nizhny Novgorod and the Name of Gorky Oblast to Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. ).

Notes

External links

• Nizhny Novgorod City Government website (English)
• Nizhny Novgorod City Guide Travel and business guide to Nizhny Novgorod (English)
• Nizhny Novgorod Welcoming Center website (English)
• Sights of the city (English)
• About the city (English)
• www.hist.nnov.ru/architect/ (Russian)
• Official website of Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum (Russian)
• Art Museum of Nizhny Novgorod (English)
• http://www.nne.ru The Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Archdiocese (Russian)
• Asociacion de amigos de Gorki - (in Spanish) - "Association of friends of Gorki", a UNESCO recognised organisation, was the first tourist group in the city after cancellation of closed status.
• VisitNizhny.com Information about tourism and entertainment in Nizhny Novgorod (English)
• Nizhny Novgorod Video Created by José Antonio Lozano Rodriguez.
• Nizhny Novgorod Video 2 Created by José Antonio Lozano Rodriguez.
• Nizhny Novgorod Online (Russian)
• Heather DeHaan. "Nizhnii Novgorod: History in the Landscape" (English)
• Photographic community in Nizhny Novgorod "Photo Gorky" (Russian)
• Entertainment portal in Nizhny Novgorod (Russian)
• Reviews, articles, town legends "The Nizhny Novgorod Cronicles" (English)
• Jewish Community of Nizhny Novgorod" (English)

Web-cameras

• 100+ webcams on the Nizhny Novgorod (Russian)
• Web-camera, Gorkogo sq. (Russian)
• Web-camera, Lyadova sq. You could see Okskiy s'ezd, Gagarina prospect, Timiryazeva str. (Russian)
• Web-camera, Gorkogo sq. You could see Novaya str., B.Pokrovskaya str. (Russian)
• Web-camera, Kovalihinskaya and Proviantskaya streets crossing (Russian)

Cities and towns in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Administrative center: Nizhny Novgorod Arzamas · Balakhna · Bogorodsk · Bor · Chkalovsk · Dzerzhinsk · Gorbatov · Gorodets · Knyaginino · Kstovo · Kulebaki · Lukoyanov · Lyskovo · Navashino · Pavlovo · Perevoz · Pervomaysk · Sarov · Semyonov · Sergach · Shakhunya · Uren · Vetluga · Volodarsk · Vorsma · Vyksa · Zavolzhye