Semyonov () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,119,115 as of the 2021 Ru ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, notable for being a major center for traditional handcrafts such as

Khokhloma Khokhloma (also Hohloma, Russian: хохлома; Russian pronunciation: əxɫɐˈma or Khokhloma painting (хохломская роспись, ''hohlomskaya rospis'') is a style of Russian art traditionally painted on wooden household items. ...

wood painting and

matryoshka doll Matryoshka dolls (), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The name ''Matryoshka'' is a diminutive form of ''Matryosha'' (), i ...

s. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 24,473.

Geography

The town is situated in an area of lowland bogs and forests, about northeast of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, the

administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

. The Kerzhenets River flows through the town. The surrounding area includes most of the Kerzhenets Nature Reserve, a federal-level strict ecological reserve, established for the protection and scientific study of the local ecology of the region.

History

Rachmaninov may have been born there. Poles are buried there because of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

of 1940. Nazi Germany was there from late 1941 to early 1944. Semyonov St

It was established in the beginning of the 17th century as a settlement of

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...

. According to an Old Believer legend, the Old Believer settlement in the area was spurred by the existence of the ancient Olenevsky

Skete A skete () is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, alo ...

(today, the village of Bolshoye Olenevo, some southeast from Semyonov), which had supposedly been founded in the 15th century by some of Venerable Macarius's monks to commemorate their leader's Miracle of the Moose that took place at that site, and later joined the '' Raskol''.Оленевский скит
(Olenevsky Skete) The first documented mention of Semyonov was in 1644; it was referred to as Semyonov's hamlet, later as Semyonovo village, and from 1779 as the uyezd town of Semyonov. From the beginning of the 19th to the early 20th century, it was a center for Old Believers movement and the only place to produce Old Believers' religious items such as lestovka prayer beads.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with 1 work settlement and 190 rural localities, incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Semyonov—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 ...

.Law #184-Z As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Semyonov is incorporated as Semyonov Urban Okrug.Law #211-Z

Economy and crafts

Since 1918 Khokhloma wood painting became a major craft in Semyonov. In 1960, Semyonov was organized as a factory named ''Khokhlomskaya rospis'' ("", Russian for "Khokhloma painting"). This factory specialized in the production of hand-painted wooden items (ranging from tableware to toys and furniture) with unique style, and also

s, marketed as souvenir items.The hardworking women behind the matryoshkas hope for an Olympic boost
. July 18, 2011, Natalya Radulova, '' Ogonyok'' The factory offers tours around the various stages of production and visitors can see craftspeople making and painting the items in traditional Russian styles.

Transportation

Semyonov is located on the

- Kotelnich railway, which is part of one of the main routes used by trains traveling from Moscow to the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. The town is served by electric commuter trains, connecting it to Nizhny Novgorod in just over an hour.

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Semyonovsky Urban Okrug
*Mojgorod.ru
Entry on Semyonov
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Semyonov Urban Okrug Semyonovsky Uyezd