Staritsa (Russian: Старица) is a town and the administrative center of Staritsky District of Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River, 77 kilometers (48 mi) from Tver. Population: 8,610 (2010 Census preliminary results);[1] 9,125 (2002 Census);[2] 9,120 (1989 Census).[3]
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The town was established in 1297 under the name of Gorodok (Городо́к), lit. small town). In 1365, it was moved from the more elevated right to the lower left bank of the Volga River. The new settlement was called Novy Gorodok (Но́вый Городо́к, lit. new small town).
Since the 15th century, the town has been called Staritsa (lit. former river-bed). The name was misinterpreted by heraldists who represented on Staritsa's coat of arms an image of aged nun, which is another meaning of the Russian word "staritsa". In 1485, the town fell under the Muscovy rule with the rest of the Principality of Tver. The Golden Age of the town began.
In the 15th century, the local principality was ruled by Ivan III's son Andrey, and then by Andrey's son Vladimir. While Ivan the Terrible had no children, Vladimir was regarded by boyars as his only heir. As the Tsar suspected Staritsa's ruler of plotting against him, Vladimir and his children were forced to take poison. The opulence of Staritsa during Vladimir's reign can be seen in the Assumption abbey.
In 1775, Staritsa became a center of an uyezd. From October 1941 till January 1942 the town was occupied by the German army.
The town is split by the river into two parts: the bigger left (Town part) and right (Moscow part). There are a lot of old abandoned limestone quarries in the neighborhood, so there are a lot of old limestone buildings in the town.
In the right part of a town a site of an old settlement can be clearly traced, with huge mounds and ground walls. On the opposing left bank of a river stands the Assumption abbey, with a limestone cathedral from 1530 and a tented refectory from 1570. There are also several churches from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The city cathedral of Sts. Boris and Gleb is a ponderous Neoclassical edifice erected from 1805 to 1820. It replaced one of the miracles of old Russian architecture, a many-tented cathedral built in the 1560s by the same masters as worked on the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Actually, it was said that Moscow and Staritsa cathedrals were two sisters, just like the rulers of two towns, Ivan and Vladimir, were two brothers.
Main industries of Staritsa are clothes factory, flax-manufacturing factory, mechanical and vegetable food factories.
Staritsa is also noted among Moscow speleologists for its 18th–19th century quarries. The quarries were created by local people, without any general plan, so they are sometimes very tangled and can be used as a smaller model for horizontal caves labyrinths. The greatest quarries have a total length of passages of about three to five kilometers. The passages are clean and dry, which is unusual for Moscow region. It takes about three hours to reach the quarries from Moscow.
A campaign is ongoing to try to have the quarries recognized as a local heritage site. In the meantime, they are gradually degrading due to lack of supervision.
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