Alapayevsk (russian: Алапа́евск) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg, formerly known as S ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the

Neyva The Neyva (russian: Нейва) is a river in the Sverdlovsk Oblast of Russia, which flows out of Lake Tavatuy along the slopes of the Ural Mountains through the urban-type settlement Verkh-Neyvinsky and the towns of Nevyansk and Alapaevsk ...

and Alapaikha rivers. Population: 44,263 ( 2002 census); 50,060 ( 1989 census); 49,000 (1968).

History

Alapayevsk is one of the oldest centers of

ferrous metallurgy Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

with the first

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

built in 1704. The town proper was founded in 1781.

Murder of Russian Imperial family members

On July 18, 1918, the day after the shooting at

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

of the last tsar, Nicholas II and

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, other members of the extended Russian royal family, the

Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to t ...

, including a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

, and their servants, met a brutal death there being thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk by the local

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s on the orders of the Ural Soviet. All except Grand Duke Sergey Mikhaylovich (who was the first one to die; he was shot before they could throw him in) survived the fall, hand-grenades were thrown down after them killing Grand Duke Sergey's secretary, Fyodor Remez. Other victims died a slow death including the

Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia Prince John Constantinovich of Russia (russian: Иоанн Константинович; 5 July 1886 – 18 July 1918), sometimes also known as Prince Ivan or Prince Johan, was the eldest son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia by ...

Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia Prince Constantine Constantinovich of Russia (''Константин Константинович''; 1 January 1891 – 18 July 1918), nicknamed Kostya by the family, was the third son and fourth child of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovic ...

Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia Prince Igor Constantinovich of Russia (''Игорь Константинович''; 10 June 1894 – 18 July 1918) was the sixth child of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich of Russia by his wife Elisaveta Mavrikievna née Princess Elisabeth ...

and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, and

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

(born Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine), a granddaughter of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was the sister of Empress Alexandra; when her husband, the Tsar's uncle, was murdered in 1905, she gave all her wealth to the poor and became a nun, but she was shown no mercy."Death at Ekaterinburg"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. April 22, 1935. Archived fro
the original
June 4, 2008. Killed with her was a nun who had accompanied her -

Varvara Yakovleva Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva (russian: Варвара Алексеевна Яковлева; c. 1880 - July 18, 1918), called Nun Barbara (russian: Инокиня Варвара), was a Russian Orthodox nun in the convent of Grand Duchess Eliza ...

. The bodies were recovered from the mine by the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

in September 1918. The bodies were placed in coffins and despite the struggles between the Whites and the opposing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

, they were moved to the far east. Grand Duchess Elizabeth's remains were ultimately taken to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, where they were laid to rest in the

Church of Maria Magdalene The Church of Mary Magdalene ( he, כנסיית מריה מגדלנה, ar, كنيسة القديسة مريم المجدلية, russian: Церковь Святой Марии Магдалины) is an Orthodox Christian church located on th ...

, while the coffins of the others were interred in a former Russian Mission in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, now beneath a parking area. In 1981, Grand Duchess Elizabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and in 1992 by the

Moscow Patriarchate , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. Alapayevsk is a place of pilgrimage to the memory of Grand Duchess Elizabeth.Life Orphomed Russia
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Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of the administrative divisions, it is, together with nine rural localities, incorporated as the

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Alapayevsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

.Law #30-OZ As a municipal division, the Town of Alapayevsk is incorporated as Alapayevsk Urban Okrug.Law #85-OZ

Transport

The Alapayevsk narrow-gauge railway serves the communities around Alapayevsk

Miscellaneous

Local orphanage (Alapaevsk Family-Type Orphanage) proclaims itself as the largest in the Urals.

Notable people

The composer

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

spent a part of his childhood in Alapayevsk.

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Alapayevsk

Directory of organizations in Alapayevsk
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Sverdlovsk Oblast Verkhotursky Uyezd