Small Towns of Russia® The text below was prepared by Samuel Haskins, an intern with the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce®. Perhaps the only commonality shared by the towns and small cities of Krasnoarmeisk, Myshkin, Putchezh, Kholui, Urupinsk, Mariinsky Posad, Kirillov, Suzdal and Gus-Krustalnyi is that they are each unique. While many fall in the Golden Ring of Russia, an area near Moscow in which the Eastern European Muscovite state began, characterized by fertile ground, each town listed below has a long and singular history that has brought about unique characteristics and personalities, of which the citizens are quite proud. As a center for scientific research, Krasnoarmeisk has profited from its proximity to Moscow. The small city's specialization is in the defense industry, with numerous facilities conducting research on chemical and explosive materials and experimenting with old military equipment and ammunition. There are other high-tech industries, including pharmacology, production of technical spirits and denaturants, emergency rescue and repair equipment, and heavy industry and construction materials. Information on this small city is difficult to come by, as the defense industry is by necessity a secretive business, particularly during the Cold War. Krasnoarmeisk is located just to the northeast of Moscow in the Moscow Oblast. The region's gross product was 47,607,700 million rubles (7,201,200 per capita) in 1995. The nation's military-industrial complex is important to the Oblast, with industrial output in 1995 amounting to 29,896 million rubles. There were 110 joint enterprises in operation in the Oblast in 1997, and 78 of those had foreign partners, mostly from Germany, Italy and the Unites States. Centuries ago, a prince traveling through what is now the Yaroslavl Oblast stopped in the woods to spend the night. While sleeping, a venomous snake approached him. The snake startled a mouse, which, in order to escape, ran across the prince's face, waking him. The lucky prince was able to escape certain death, and thus was grateful to the mouse. In gratitude to the rodent, he founded a chapel on the spot, naming the area Myshkin, derived from the Russian word for mouse. Although the above is only a legend, the citizens of Myshkin are very proud of their heritage. It is a town of about six thousand people, found in the midst of pine forests of the Yaroslavl region of Russia. It lies on the western bank of the Volga River, directly to the north of Krasnoarmeisk and Moscow. At the end of the 18th century, Catherine II granted Myshkin town status, and by the end of the 19th century it was one of the wealthiest towns along the Volga River. Today, the town boasts many places of interest. There is a beautiful cathedral, an art gallery, a library that now serves as a cultural center of the town, three folk theaters, and numerous museums: a "mouse museum" which claims to be the only one of its kind in existence, a museum of local lore, history and economy, and the Museum of Russian Vodka, founded in honor of the Smirnovs, former residents of the town. Other than a baked goods factory and the production of oil and gas pipelines, lead by the "Severgazprom" Company, the town relies on the tourist industry for income. There is no industrial zone in Myshkin, a fact of which the citizens are proud. The city's wager on the tourist industry appears to have been a profitable one: tourism in the town is booming, recently growing 1.5 - 2 times per year. Myshkin is located in the Yaroslavl Oblast, which lies to the northeast of the Moscow Oblast. The principality of Yaroslavl has existed since 1218, and maintained independence for nearly two and a half centuries. In 1463, it was finally absorbed into the Muscovite state by Grand Prince Ivan III after being virtually surrounded by territories. The region's key industries are mechanical engineering, with the country's largest manufacturer of aircraft engines located in Rybinsk, petroleum refining, light manufacturing, peat production, and agricultural and forestry processing. Foreign investment in 1996 amounted to $395 thousand. The city of Putchezh, located in the Ivanovo Oblast to the southeast of the town of Myshkin, is one with a unique and curious history. A port on the west side of the Volga, it is 117 kilometers southeast of Kineshma and 175 east of Ivanovo City, the capital of the Oblast. Originally named Putchecskaya, it was settled in the 16th century. In the 19th century it became a center for the grain industry and the flax trade. In 1862, a major thread-producing plant was founded. Nearby is Ivanovo City, capital of the Oblast, which became knows as the "fiancée's city": A large number of female workers would immigrate to the town to work in the weaving industry (which fed off of Putchezh's flax trade), and legend has it that single men would come here in search of wives. In 1952 Gorkovsky Reservoir (named after the famous Russian author Gorky Maxim) flooded, putting the town in danger. For the next three years, the town slowly uprooted itself, was carried to a higher location, and was rebuilt. Today, Putchezh still maintains a flax enterprise and a sewing factory. With a population of 11,800, the city's industries have expanded, and it now includes a plant producing reinforced concrete works, a woodworking industry, and their cultural pride: an "Istoki" factory. Istoki is an artistic trade that involves making works of traditional embroidery, both by hand and by machine, to make patterns influenced by the ancient art from the Volga region. The linens produced here are incomparable to any others in the world. The area surrounding the town contains dairy farms, a healthy fishing industry, and forests that create a perfect atmosphere for ecological tourism and many kinds of outdoor recreation, such as fishing, hunting and camping. A short ways southwest of Putchezh lies Kholui. Kholui is another village located in the Ivanovo Oblast, about 71 kilometers away from the Shuya railway station on the Ivanovo-Novki line. It is quite a small town, with a population of only 1,200. For centuries it has been a place of affection to the Russians, known for its proximity to more than 80 beautiful lakes. Kholui is located on the banks of the River Teza, a tributary of the Klyazma River. Its economy is based on textile production, sewing, forestry and woodworking, baked goods, agriculture and, like Putchezh, artistic handicrafts. Kholui's area of specialty in the artistic sphere revolves around the painting of lacquered boxes, made from papier mache. Russian legend claims that the city was a home to icon-painters even before the Mongol invasions. At least since the 17th century, Kholui has been a producer of lacquer boxes, plates, and other painted items that this region of Russia is famous for. After the Bolshevik Revolution, icon painting became unpopular and even dangerous. However, Kholui painters kept painting, at this time in secrecy, giving the area a kind of legitimacy in the cultural/artistic world. The style of icon painting in Kholui is particular to this town, and distinctly different from the more widely-known Palekh style of painting. The icon-painters in Kholui use a large amount of green hues, as opposed to the style of using mostly red colors, as is traditional in Palekh. The Ivanovo Oblast is home to the cities of Putchezh and Kholui. It is found in the center of the Eastern European Plain, and is part of the Central Economic Area of Russia. It borders four other Oblasts: Kostrama to the north, Nizhnii Novgorod to the east, Vladimir to the south and Yaroslavl to the west. The major river in the Oblast is the Volga. The region as a whole is home to 1,316,000 people, and has a total area of 21,500 square kilometers (9,230 square miles), which gives it a population density of 63.3 people per square kilometer. About half of the region's area is forested. The capital of the region (Ivanovo City, founded in 1871) as well as the outlying area has experienced numerous strikes throughout history, perhaps the most significant of which lasted from May 12, 1905 until July 23 of the same year, and during its peak involved about 70,000 men in the textile region of Russia. The action was repeated in 1915, with numerous dissenting voices speaking out against the Tsar. This time, the strikes in Ivanovo led to sympathy strikes in other major cities, such as St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tula and Khar'kov, and began the revolutionary action during this period. In 1998, investment in the region increased by 22 percent from the previous year. The region received $65,447 in foreign investment in 1998, and the businesses in the Oblast trade with more than 60 countries and share joint ventures with companies in Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Between the Ivanovo and Moscow Oblasts lies the Volgograd Oblast. The city of Urupinsk is located here, about 340 kilometers northwest of Volgograd City, the capital of the Oblast. Urupinsk was founded around the turn of the 14th century on the Ryazan principality's frontier as a fortress to protect a trade route. From 1704 it was known as a Cossack village, and in 1857 is was called the "Pokrovskaya Fair," a center for trade on the southeast side of the Eastern European Plane. Situated on the Khoper, a tributary of the Don River, Urupinsk is a port with a population of 42,400. It is a developed industrial center with a concentration in heavy industries such as agricultural machinery (harvesting machines) and loading equipment (a large crane-making plant is located here). The city also contains factories of light industry production (such as knitted fabric, shoe fabric and furniture fabric), paper production, and a packing plant (Khoperskaya Upakovka, famous to the Russians, is located in the area). Although there are numerous heavy and light industry production plants in Urupinsk, the city is ecologically clean. Another major industry involving the outlying areas of the town is goat farming and goat leather production. Because of its mild southern climate, the region is a good area for agriculture, and there are many agricultural processing factories in the region, specializing mainly in beef, oil and butter production. Mariinskiy Posad is located in the Republic of Chuvashia. The region surrounding the city is rich in wildlife, both flora and fauna, and there are numerous rare animals, birds and plants in national parks and reservations nearby. Naturally, a large amount of ecological tourists visit this area. At the beginning of the 17th century, village Sundir was established, named after Sundirka, a local river and tributary of the Volga. In 1856, the village reached township status, and was renamed Mariinskiy Posad (named Mariinskiy after Empress Marya Alexandrovna, 1824-1880). It is located in Kazansky provinces Cheboksarsky district. Mariinskiy Posad is a port city with a population of 11,100 on the shore of the Volga, where the great river meets its Sundirka tributary. It has eleven processing, mechanical engineering and construction materials factories. Some of the other industries of employment in the city are a plant of cable works, a large automobile-repairing industry, a distillery, and a cooking oil-producing plant. The tourists that visit the town for ecological tourism purposes often leave with a product of local craftsmanship. Kirillov is an agricultural center also found in the Vologogradskaya Oblast in Russia. The beautiful natural scenery and landscapes are nice for the ecological tourist, and old Russian-style architecture and national museums are perfect for the historical tourist. Handicraft making, along with woodworking, is a thriving industry. Although the town is small, with a population of 8,800, Russian President Vladimir Putin included a publicized stop there on May 4th of last year. He was not the first Russian head of state to visit the town, however: Peter the Great visited Kirillov over 300 years ago, and Ivan the Terrible visited the town's monastery, now a favorite of tourists, with his parents during the 16th century. Suzdal is located to the east of Moscow and Krasnoarmeisk and to the west of Kholui and Mariinskiy Posad, in the Vladimirskaya Oblast. With a rich history and central location, Suzdal has benefited from a strong tourism industry. Relatively close to Moscow (130 miles east of the national capital) as well as the Oblast capitals of Vladimir and Ivanovo, Suzdal was one of the major cities in Russian history. The Vladimir Gate, built in the late 18th century, lies at the entrance of this town, its obelisks welcoming visitors to a fascinating historical center with over 100 monuments from different eras. The Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal was the largest of its kind that existed between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries. The majority of this territory was controlled by the Merians, a Finno-Ugraian tribe, until the tenth century, when the area was colonized by Slavs from Novgorod. In the eleventh century, colonization became much more intensive, leading to the Russification of the Merians in the area and the eventual conception of the Great Russian nationality in the region. During the tenth and the eleventh centuries, a number of towns were created, such as Rostov, Belozersk, Yaroslavl, Murom and Suzdal. Late in the eleventh century, when Suzdal was established, the region came under the control of Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh, who installed his sons, first Yaropolk and second Yurii, as princes of the region. At this time, the royal historians moved from Rostov to Suzdal, also. The principality was waging a civil war against Prince Oleg Sviatoslavich, who was attempting to control the northern towns in Prince Vladimir's area of sovereignty. To defend the region at this time, Vladimir Monomakh established a fortress town on the Klyazma River, today the location of Vladimir city, capital of the region. This rich history, along with the unique styles of architecture in the area, make the small city of Suzdal perfect for tourism. In fact, to maintain its historic setting, after its near destruction by the Mongols in 1238 the government has preserved it as an "oversized village" with a population of 12,000. It is considered by Russians to be a "museum town," linking the past with the present. The monasteries nearby are one part of this link. One monastery has been converted into a hotel, and another still uses bells to communicate with the community, as the local monks have done for centuries. Another magnet for tourists is the great number of wooden buildings, designed beautifully, using the woods natural colors and built without the use of nails. A convent nearby historically was used to room exiled wives of royalty (Ivan the Terrible sent his cast-off wife here). Now it has been converted into a hotel, with the guests still using the same quarters the exiled wives had in the past. The handicrafts industry has profited greatly from the tourist trade, with numerous shops set up along 19th century "Merchants' Row" selling souvenirs. The pride of the town, however, is Suzdal's Kremlin, with the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, dating back to 1225, and numerous other historical buildings. Lying to the south of Suzdal in the Vladimirskaya Oblast, the town of Gus-Khrustalny has a legend that has transcended generations: There was once a glass blower that had a little daughter. This daughter was terminally ill, and the glass blower had given up hope in her recovery. Thus, he decided to make a bouquet of flowers for her. Into the creation of these glass flowers, he poured every ounce of spirituality he had: his talent, his love and his faith. Although it was the dead of winter, the flowers looked so lifelike that the daughter was convinced they were real. The flowers then did become real, and the daughter's sickness subsided. To Russians, the art of glass blowing is associated with the town of Gus-Khrustalnyi like wine is with France and designer clothing is with Milan. The Gus Crystal factory was founded in 1756. About a century later, the factory received national acclaim because of its beautiful production of glassware. From 1892-1903, the Cathedral of Saint George was built in the town. Recently, the Museum of Artistic Glass (a branch of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum of History, Architecture and Art) has been opened there. Today, the glass crystal trade, both artistic and mass-production, is still quite profitable. The Russian-American Glass Company (RASCO) is turning out about a million bottles per day. The current capacity of the Anopino glass factory is about four times higher than those of other glass factories in Vladimir. In addition, the enterprise recently signed a new contract with Kristall Vodka of Moscow, the main buyer of the business' glass bottles. There are nine glass factories in all in this industrial center, producing all sorts of glass products, from works of art to windows, from high-end plates to high-tech materials. Other sectors of industry in the city include chemical, construction, textile and heavy industries. In addition, the natural landscape and ecology of region attract thousands of tourists each year, many to "Meshera" National Park. Vladimir Oblast is 29,000 square kilometers (11,200 square miles) and is make up of 19 administrative units and 22 cities. The population is 1,648,000, making the population density 56.8 people per square kilometer. The major cities in the region are Vladimir city (the Oblast's capital city), Kovrov, Suzdal, Aleksandrov, Gus-Khrustalnyi, and Murom. The main water source is the river Klazma, tributary to the Oka river. More than half of the region is densely forested, and more than 80% of the population lives in urban areas. Vladimir can be found in the Central Economic Area of Russia. It is bordered by five other Oblasts: Ivanovo to the north, Ninhnii Novgorod to the east, Ryazan to the south, the Moscow Oblast to the west, and Yaroslavl on the northwest corner. Vladimir city is one of the oldest cities in Russia, founded by Prince Vladimir Monomakh in 1108 as a frontier fortress, defending himself from Prince Oleg Sviatoslavich from the north who had attacked Suzdal city in 1096. Before that time it had been occupied by the large Finno-Ugraian tribes knows as the Merians. It was colonized by the Slavs at the end of the tenth century and more intensely in the eleventh century. It became the central city in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality during this time. This principality was the largest state formation from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. In the 14th century, however, it came to be ruled by Moscow, and declined in importance in the 15th century. The Oblast taking its name from Vladimir city was formed on August 14, 1944. With a highly urbanized population, it is obvious that agriculture is not a major industry in the region. The 8.5% of the workforce that is employed in the agricultural sphere is mainly concentrated in the animal husbandry, vegetable production and horticultural sectors. In the natural resources area, the Oblast is rich in peat deposits and timber reserves. However, it still imports nearly 70% of its energy supplies. Strong industries in the region include mechanical engineering, manufacture of building materials, metal working, light manufacturing, chemicals, glass-making and handcrafts.r The Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization acting to promote American business interests in the Russian marketplace. The Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® Last Updated: August 16, 2001. Copyright the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® 1995-2003. All rights reserved.