Lebedyan (russian: Лебедя́нь) 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 ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Lebedyansky District in

Lipetsk Oblast Lipetsk Oblast (russian: Липецкая область, Lipetskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Lipetsk. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,173,513. Geography Lipe ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located on the upper

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

, northwest of

Lipetsk Lipetsk ( rus, links=no, Липецк, p=ˈlʲipʲɪtsk), also romanized as Lipeck, is a city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh River in the Don basin, southeast of Moscow. Populat ...

, the administrative center of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

. Population:

History

It was founded in 1613 largely to guard the holdings of I. N. Romanov, the

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

's uncle, and served as a border outpost protecting South Russia from the

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

' incursions. The Trinity Monastery was established in 1621 and several churches were built by the end of the century; they are all now reduced to ruins. Chartered in 1779, Lebedyan developed in the 19th century as a center of horse racing and horse breeding. The locals claim that the first racetrack in Russia was opened here in 1826. The Agricultural Society of Lebedyan, founded in 1847, was influential in preparing the emancipation reform of 1861. In 1984 construction of an underground metro began as hobby tunneling. However this was abandoned in 2010 without having opened.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Lebedyan serves as the

of Lebedyansky District.Law #382-OZ As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Lebedyansky District as Lebedyan Town Under District Jurisdiction. As a municipal division, Lebedyan Town Under District Jurisdiction is incorporated within Lebedyansky Municipal District as Lebedyan Urban Settlement.Law #126-OZ

Economy

The town is the location of the largest fruit juice manufacturer in Eastern Europe, '' Lebedyansky''.

Architecture

Lebedyan has two cathedrals, both dedicated to the icon of the '' Theotokos of Kazan''. The old and neglected cathedral goes back to the 18th century, while the larger cathedral on the market square was designed in the

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...

and consecrated in 1839.

Notable people

Lebedyan is the birthplace of

Yevgeny Zamyatin Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...

. Other residents of the town include Mikhail Bulgakov and

Andrey Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андр� ...

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

incorporated a story titled ''Lebedyan'' in his collection ''

A Sportsman's Sketches ''A Sportsman's Sketches'' (russian: Записки охотника, Zapiski ohotnika; also known as ''A Sportman's Notebook'', ''The Hunting Sketches'' and ''Sketches from a Hunter's Album'') is an 1852 cycle of short stories by Ivan Turgenev. ...

''. It was also the home of Leonid Mulyarchik, who attempted to singlehandedly build a subway system in the town. (He eventually gave up on the project.)

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Lipetsk Oblast Lebedyansky Uyezd Populated places established in 1613 1613 establishments in Russia