{{Unreferenced, date=March 2009 Irbit - Fur market

The Irbit fair ( Russian: Ирби́тская я́рмарка, ''irbitskaya yarmarka'') was the second largest fair in

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. T ...

after the

Makariev Fair Nizhny Novgorod Fair (''old name — Makaryev Fair'') (russian: Нижегородская ярмарка) was a fair in Nizhny Novgorod held annually every July near Makaryev Monastery on the left bank of the Volga River from the mid-16th cent ...

. It was held annually in winter, trading with tea and fur brought along the

Siberian trakt The Siberian Route (russian: Сибирский тракт; ''Sibirsky trakt''), also known as the Moscow Highway (, Московский тракт) and Great Highway (, Большой тракт), was a historic route that connected European Russ ...

from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. As

Thomas Wallace Knox Thomas Wallace Knox (June 26, 1835 - January 6, 1896) was a journalist, author, and world traveler, known primarily for his work as a ''New York Herald'' correspondent during the American Civil War. As an author, Knox wrote over 45 books, inc ...

(1835–96) writes in his book ''Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

Life'' (1870): :We met many sledges laden with goods en route to the fair which takes place every February at Irbit. This fair is of great importance to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

, and attracts merchants from all the region west of

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

. From forty to fifty million rubles worth of goods are exchanged there during the four weeks devoted to traffic. The commodities from Siberia are chiefly furs and tea, those from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

comprise a great many articles. Irbit is on the Asiatic side of the

Ural mountains 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 ...

, about two hundred

verst A verst (russian: верста, ) is an obsolete Russian unit of length defined as 500 sazhen. This makes a verst equal to . Plurals and variants In the English language, ''verst'' is singular with the normal plural ''versts''. In Russian, the no ...

s northeast of Ekaterineburg. It is a place of little consequence except during the time of the fair. The fair dominated the town and shaped its architecture and layout. Long, narrow dormitories are a feature of the old town with enormous wharf areas being found at the juncture of the Nitsa and Irbit rivers. With the interruptions to the fair following the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

and

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

and the effects of the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...

on trade, the fair ceased in 1929 and the town lost its importance as an agricultural and trade center. There have been recent attempts to revive the fair in August as a regional trade show. Irbit is now home to the annual Irbit Bike Show which takes place the last weekend of July.

Cultural references

* The Irbit fair is mentioned in the novel '' Doctor Zhivago'' by

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

as a place visited by Yuri Zhivago's father.

External links

* http://www.hkteafair.com Economic history of Russia History of Siberia Annual fairs Trade fairs in Russia Irbitsky Uyezd Culture of Sverdlovsk Oblast China–Russian Empire relations 1929 disestablishments in Russia History of Sverdlovsk Oblast