Zaraysk (russian: Зара́йск) 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
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...
of
Zaraysky District
Zaraysky District (russian: Зара́йский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #11/2013-OZ and municipalLaw #63/2005-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the oblast. The are ...
in
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
,
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 about southeast from
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. Population:
Geography
The town stands on the right bank of the
Osyotr River
The Osyotr (russian: Осётр) is a river in Tula and Moscow Oblasts in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka.Осётр
...
, which is a right confluent of the
Oka
Oka or OKA may refer to:
Cars
* Oka (automobile), a small car designed by AvtoVAZ and produced by ZMA and SeAZ
* OKA 4wd, a large 4-wheel-drive vehicle made in Western Australia by OKA
Military
* 2B1 Oka, Soviet 420 mm self-propelled mor ...
.
History
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, the town belonged to the Princes of
Ryazan
Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census ...
and was known as Krasnoye (13th century) and Novogorodok-upon-the-Osyotr (14th and 15th centuries). From 1528 onwards, the town was called "the town of Nikola Zarazsky" and only by the beginning of 17th century it received its present name of Zaraysk. Before the 20th century, the town was a part of
Ryazan Governorate
Ryazan Governorate (russian: link=no, Рязанская губерния, ''Ryazanskaya guberniya'', Government of Ryazan) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, wh ...
and its architecture and vernacular dialect seem closer to Ryazan than to Moscow.
In the
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...
, Zaraysk was one of the fortresses forming a part of the
Great Abatis Border, a fortified line of felled trees, barricades, fortresses, ditches, which were built by Russians as a protection against the hordes of the Crimean and Kazan
Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different . In 1531,
a stone kremlin was built in place of the former wooden citadel. The Tatars failed to take the fortress during their raids in 1533, 1541, and 1570. It was briefly captured by the
Lisowczycy
Lisowczyks or Lisowczycy (; also known as ''Straceńcy'' ('lost men' or ' forlorn hope') or (company of ); or in singular form: Lisowczyk or ) was the name of an early 17th-century irregular unit of the Polish–Lithuanian light cavalry. The Li ...
during the
Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles (russian: Смутное время, ), or Smuta (russian: Смута), was a period of political crisis during the Tsardom of Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Fyodor I (Fyodor Ivanovich, the last of the Rurik dy ...
.
The brick-and-limestone kremlin in Zaraysk still stands and is kept in a rather good condition. The citadel is very small and has a rectangular shape, with only six towers, two of which are pierced by the gates.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of administrative divisions, Zaraysk serves as 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
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...
of
Zaraysky District
Zaraysky District (russian: Зара́йский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #11/2013-OZ and municipalLaw #63/2005-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the oblast. The are ...
.
[Resolution #123-PG] As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Zaraysky District 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 Zaraysk.
As a
municipal division, the Town of Zaraysk is incorporated within Zaraysky Municipal District as Zaraysk Urban Settlement.
[Law #63/2005-OZ]
Economy
Zaraysk is an industrial center of the district, with printing, building materials, foodstuff, and footwear industries.
Sights
The main tourist attraction is a traditional Russian citadel known as the
Zaraysk Kremlin
The Zaraysk Kremlin is a rectangular fortified citadel, built at the behest of Vasili III of Moscow between 1528 and 1531. The town of Zaraysk is located between Moscow and Ryazan.
History
Novogorodok-upon-the-Osyotr (later renamed Zaraysk) be ...
. There are five churches in Zaraysk, the oldest of which is St. Nicholas Cathedral, consecrated in 1681. The downtown also has a traditional covered market, or
Gostiny Dvor.
Archaeology
Near the kremlin wall is an
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
site associated with the
Gravettian culture. It first attracted attention when a bison figurine dated 22000 BP was found there. By 2008, many other
artefacts were found, including:
# A mammoth's rib with drawings on them which are thought to be the images of three mammoths.
# A small bone having an ornament of 'X'-shaped patterns on it.
#
Two figurines of humans, presumably of women.
# A piece with a conical shape made of a mammoth's bone. The upper part of the cone has been cut, it has a hole in the centre and many patterns. The purpose of this object is not known.
Sister cities
*
Popovo,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
*
Arzamas
Arzamas (russian: Арзама́с) is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Tyosha River (a tributary of the Oka), east of Moscow. Population:
History
Arzamas was founded in 1578 by Ivan the Terrible in the lands pop ...
,
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 ...
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
Further reading
Зарайск. Материалы для истории города XVI-XVIII столетий(''Zaraysk. Materials for the History of the 16th-18th centuries (1888)''). Available at
Runivers.ru
Runivers ( rus, Руниверс) is a site devoted to Russian culture and history. Runivers targets Russian speaking readers and those interested in Russian culture and history.
Runivers is an online library aimed to provide free access to aut ...
in
DjVu
DjVu ( , like French "déjà vu") is a computer file format designed primarily to store scanned documents, especially those containing a combination of text, line drawings, indexed color images, and photographs. It uses technologies such as ima ...
and
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
formats.
External links
Unofficial website of Zaraysk*Small Towns of Russia
*Russia Beyond the Headlines
{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2013
Cities and towns in Moscow Oblast
Zaraysky Uyezd