Torzhok

Geographical position

Torzhok is located in the European part of Russia, in the foothills of the Valdai Upland , on both banks of the Tvertsa River - the left tributary of the Volga . The area of ​​the city is 58.8 km². The average height above sea level is 165 m ^[3] .

Tver ^[4] is located 64 kilometers southeast of Torzhok, and Moscow is located 239 kilometers ^[5] . Near the city passes the highway "Russia" , connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg . Railway station " Torzhok " - a junction of tracks to Rzhev , Likhoslavl and Soblago .

Torzhok forms an urban district and is the center of the Torzhok district .

The city is divided by the river Tvertsa into two parts that are connected by three bridges, one of which is pedestrian. Conventionally, the city is divided into areas:

• Leningradskoye highway
• Kalinin highway
• Center (right and left bank
• Mars
• South
• Mitino
• Chemist
• Lunacharka
• Volodarka

Climate

Torzhok is one of the oldest cities in Russia ^[6] . The date of its occurrence is not exactly known. Considered ^{[by whom? ]} that the city was founded by Novgorod merchants at the turn of the X-XI centuries. In favor of this, the results of archaeological excavations ^[7] . The first reliable written mention of Torzhok was found in the Novgorod Chronicle and dates back to 1139 ^[8] . It is dedicated to the capture of the city by Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky :

Name Origin

The name of the city comes from the word bargaining "place of trade, area, market." Starting from the 12th century, the names “New Bargaining” and “Torzhok” are found in the annals. The latter was fixed in the language and became the official name of the city. Despite this, in modern place names, along with the adjective “Torzhok” , the “Novotorzhsky” variant is also used, and the self-name of the city's residents is still “Novotory” ^[9] .

In the Novgorod Republic

From the time of its foundation until the second half of the 15th century, Torzhok was part of the Novgorod estates . In the XII century, the city was located on the southeastern border of the Novgorod Republic , heading the Novotorzhy volost. Princes and posadniks of the city ​​were appointed at the veche . On the river Tvertsa was a trade road from Novgorod to the southern principalities. The city was located at the intersection of land and waterways and was a major trading destination.

During the frequent feuds of the specific princes and clashes between the Novgorodians and their neighbors, Torzhok, being a border city, primarily took upon itself the attacks of enemies. In 1139, Torzhok was taken by the army of Suzdal Prince Yuri Dolgoruky , annoyed by the refusal of the Novgorodians to help him in the fight against Prince Vsevolod Olgovich , who took the throne in Kiev . Suffering incessant ruin of this kind, caused by the internecine wars of the princes, the city also experienced invasions of foreign enemies. In 1238, during the campaign of Batu to Russia, Torzhok for two weeks - from February 21 to March 5 - restrained the siege of the Mongol-Tatar troops. The city was taken, but its resistance prevented the Mongols from marching to Novgorod . Torzhok was repeatedly exposed to attacks by Lithuanian troops ^[6] . By the 15th century , prone to sieges and ruins from different directions, it was surrounded by wooden walls with stone towers ^[10] , protected by an earthen rampart and ditches and turned into a fortress . In 1333 and 1334, Torzhok was twice ruined by the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Kalitoy during the invasion of Novgorod for the refusal to pay with silver, which was obtained by the Novgorodians trading with Siberia . The city suffered tremendously and in 1372 from a raid led by the Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich . In particular, during the defense of Torzhok, the well-known Novgorod governor, the leader of the ushkunikov, Alexander Abakunovich, the brother of the stronghold of Staraya Russa, died ^[11] . Many disasters of Torzhok, resulting from the enmity of Novgorod with the princes, ceased only with the fall of the republic ^[6] .

At the beginning of the 15th century, the city minted its own silver coin - “Novotorzha money” ^[12] .

In the Russian state and the Russian Empire

In 1478, Torzhok, like all Novgorod land , was annexed by the army of Prince Ivan III to the Moscow Principality . In the Russian state, the city was headed by Novotorzhsky Uyezd .

In 1565, after Tsar Ivan the Terrible divided the Russian state into oprichnina and zemstvo , the city became part of the latter ^{[13] [14]} .

At the beginning of the XVII century the city was not spared by the Time of Troubles . In 1609, in the battle of Torzhok, detachments of the Russian-Swedish army of Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and Jacob Delagardi defeated the Polish-Lithuanian invaders who supported False Dmitry II . Despite the victory, the city was devastated, churches and monasteries were robbed, and many residents were killed ^[6] . The ancient Vvedensky church of the Borisoglebsky monastery burned down with people ^[15] .

In 1625, by decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich , a scribe book of Torzhok was compiled. The book contains a detailed description of urban economy and life. According to her, in the XVII century, each of the two parts of the city, separated by a river, was divided into “ends”, named after the churches in them. On the right side there were twelve ends: Voznesensky, Voskresensky, Pyatnitsky, Epiphany, Egorievsky, Znamensky, Uspensky, Kozmodemyansky, Klimentovsky, Mironositsky, Ivanovsky and Ipatsky, where Plotnitskaya settlement was located. There were five ends on the less populated left side: Ilyinsky, Vozdvizhensky, Vlasyevsky, Nikolsky and Dmitrovsky, where the Pishchalnaya Sloboda was located. In addition to the above, in the city there were settlements belonging to six monasteries: Rozhdestvensky, Voskresensky , Novodevichy, Pustynny, Vasilyevsky and Borisoglebsky ^[6] .

In 1661 and 1674, Torzhok was visited by Austrian diplomat Augustine Meyerberg and the Swedish engineer Palmquist , who was heading with the embassy in Moscow, who left notes on his journey. After the construction of St. Petersburg in 1703, the city became a major point on the way between the two capitals.

In 1708, Novotorzhsky district was assigned to the Ingermanland province , in 1719 to the Tver province of the St. Petersburg province , and in 1727 to the Novgorod province . In 1775, Torzhok became the county town of Tver governorship , renamed in the province in 1796. In 1742, the remains of the wooden walls of the fortress burned, and the earthen rampart was torn down.

In 1780, the city emblem was approved by Empress Catherine II : three gold and three silver flying doves on a blue field. The coat of arms was created by the companion of the heraldmeister Count Franz Matveevich Santi .

In 1897, there were about 13,000 inhabitants in Torzhok. The city had 21 factories and a factory; of greatest importance were a steam mill (Torzhok led a significant trade in bread) and eight tanneries. Handicrafts were developed: lace and the so-called “Novotorzh sewing” (gold, silver and silk on morocco and velvet). The city had 29 churches, a zemstvo hospital, 10 schools of various levels.

In Soviet times

On October 27 ( November 9 ), 1917 , the Novotorzhsky Council of Workers' Deputies created the Military Revolutionary Committee and established Soviet power in Torzhok, which was established by the end of November ^[16] .

In 1929, county division was abolished. Since July 12, 1929, the territory of Novotorzhsky Uyezd became part of the Tver District (abolished on July 30, 1930 ) in the Moscow Region , and Torzhok became the center of the newly formed Novotorzhsky District (in February 1963 it was renamed into Torzhoksky District). January 29, 1935 the city ​​and the region became part of the Kalinin region (in July 1990 it was renamed the Tver region ).

On October 14, 1941, the formations of the German 3rd Panzer Group, immediately after the capture of Kalinin (now Tver), attempted to develop an offensive on Torzhok and enter the rear of the troops of the North-Western Front, but were rebuffed by the task force of the North-Western Front N. F. Vatutina .

Finds of birch bark letters

According to 2016 data, 19 birch bark letters were found in Torzhok ^[17] . By the number of these finds, the city ranks third after Novgorod and Staraya Russa .

According to the data for 2018, the city population is 45 641 ^[1] people.

As of January 1, 2019, in terms of population, the city was on the 347th place out of 1,115 ^[36] cities of the Russian Federation ^[37] . and on the 4th place among the cities of the Tver region.

Industry

A large enterprise in the electronics industry is the Mars Plant. ” In Torzhok, there is a branch of the design bureau of the main locomotive department of Russian Railways .

In September 2009, the city opened a factory for the production of chimney and ventilation systems of the German company "Shidel" ^[38] .

In October 2012, a $ 100 million ^{[39] [40]} lubricant plant was opened at the Royal Dutch Shell international concern. The plant is designed to produce up to 200 million liters of lubricants per year and is one of the largest Royal Dutch Shell lubricants plants in the world ^[41] .

In the city, the construction of the 2nd stage of the largest woodworking plant in Talion Terra ^{[42] is} continuing.

Light industry enterprises are represented by the “Leather Accessories Factory”, “Torzhok Shoe Factory”, the company “Torzhok Gold Seamstresses”, and “Torzhok Garment Factory”. Food industry enterprises produce dairy, meat and sausage, bakery, confectionery and pasta.

The volume of shipped goods of our own production, performed works and services on our own by the type of economic activity “Manufacturing” from large and medium-sized enterprises of the city in 2016 amounted to 19.7 million rubles, which is the first place per capita among all municipalities in the Tver region.

Since 1931, Torzhok has been the scientific center of flax growing in Russia: the All-Russian Flax Research Institute is located in the city.

In mid-December 2018, a new owner appeared at the Torzhok Carriage Works. The main specialization of the Torzhok Wagon Plant is the development and production of electric trains, as well as freight and specialized locomotive-hauled wagons. Since 2016, the plant was in a state of bankruptcy. The new owner plans to resume the operation of the enterprise during 2019 and start the production of high-speed electric trains "Oriole" ^{[43] [44]} .

• Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Et4a.jpg

  ET4A manufactured by TorVZ

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  Foaming system MRU GVT-150 produced by the plant Pozhtehnika

Communication

Fixed telephony services are provided by the Tver branch of Rostelecom and Eurasia-Telecom-Ru.

Mobile phone services are provided by MTS , Beeline , MegaFon and Tele2 mobile operators.

Transport

Bus

The city has a shuttle and regular taxi. Since 2012, autoexpress trains and intercity minibuses run along the route Torzhok - Tver - Torzhok. Bus communication is available with almost all areas of the Tver region, as well as with Moscow, St. Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod.

Shuttle taxis presented by PAZ and Ford minibuses also operate in the city. Routes 4, 4a, 5, 6, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 32, 32a, 34, 34a, 35, 319, 324, 328, 329, 330 , 373.

The city has several large taxi services that use very affordable pricing - therefore, this type of transport successfully competes with buses and minibuses. The price of a trip within the city is from 80 to 120 rubles.

Railway transport

Two long-distance trains pass through the Torzhok railway station : Ostashkov - Moscow and Smolensk - Rzhev - St. Petersburg . Suburban trains Torzhok - Rzhev and Torzhok - Ostashkov ply. Three times a day, the Torzhok - Tver electric train runs. From December 9, 2018, four times a day, the movement of high-speed electric trains swallow was organized along the route Torzhok - Tver. The movement of conventional electric trains along this route is also preserved ^[45] .

Pipelines

Important pipelines transport routes pass through the city: the Surgut - Novopolotsk pipeline and the Serpukhov -Saint Petersburg, Ukhta - Minsk - Ivatsevichi , and Yamal-Europe gas pipelines. In 2016, the construction of the Torzhok-Ukhta 2 gas pipeline was launched. The gas pipeline is scheduled for commissioning in 2020, its construction is determined by the needs of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

On the territory of Torzhok, there is the 344th Center for combat training and retraining of the flight personnel of army aviation . It includes the 696th instructor test helicopter regiment. On the base of the center there is an aerobatic team on combat helicopters - "Golden Eagles" , which constantly take part and show their flying skills at various air shows, including international ones, participate in the celebration of Victory Day on Red Square in Moscow. The regiment is testing all modern models and modifications of Russian military helicopter equipment. For training and combat use, the regiment has helicopters Ka-52 , Ka-50 , Mi-28N , Mi-26 , Mi-24 , Mi-8 .

A helicopter museum is located on the territory of the Center. Tours are organized by prior agreement with the leadership of the military unit.

Every year, the Center hosts an “Open Day” for residents and visitors of the city.

In Torzhok there are several secondary specialized educational institutions, including the Polytechnic College of the Federal Agency for State Reserves, the Torzhok State Industrial and Humanitarian College, and the Torzhok Pedagogical College named after Badulina , a branch of the Tver Engineering College, a branch of the Tver Medical School. The city has branches of higher educational institutions (TvSTU, SSU).

There is a vocational education institution PU-56 (gold embroidery), and recently it became part of the Torzhok Pedagogical College in the form of a department.

The city has nine comprehensive schools and one nine-year-old, as well as a children's art school. In 2019, it is planned to build a school in the Mars area. In the field of preschool education, there are two dozen kindergartens; two new ones are under construction.

Several newspapers are published in the city (Novotorzhsky Vestnik, Torzhokskaya Nedelya, InfoTorg, Vesti s Studentskaya). Local television operates, which is represented by the Berkut television center (part of the Association of Television and Radio Companies of the Tver Region). There are several radio stations.

A number of museums are located in Torzhok, including the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum (VIEM), the Museum of A. S. Pushkin , the Museum of Gold Embroidery at the Torzhok Zolotoye Svyazi Factory, the Belt House Museum (from the Torzhok Zolotoye Sewing ), a roadside complex The Birds of Happiness tower at 255 km of the M-10 highway (from the Torzhok Zolotoshvy - museum, shop, pancake house), helicopter museum, puppet museum, VIEM exhibition hall, museum of Russian life (VIEM branch), Potter’s House, exhibition “House of Russia”, museum exposition “Borisoglebsky Monastery”. The open-air museum of wooden architecture "Vasilevo" operates, in which the annual festival of folklore, which has already become an inter-regional one, takes place annually.

Since 1968, Torzhok is a collective member of the International Association "Related Cities" (IAPG). Over the years, agreements and agreements have been signed with the cities of Savonlinna (Finland), Melle (Germany), with the government of Moscow, Valdai (Novgorod region) and Slonim (Republic of Belarus). For many years, the novices have been patronizing the Sagittarius search and patrol ship of the Red Banner Border Guards, based in the village of Kuvshinovskaya Salma, Murmansk Region.

Torzhok is the “richest” city in the Tver region in terms of the number of historical and architectural monuments. In the city there are about 400 .

Torzhok has the status of a historical settlement of federal significance .

The city has preserved numerous architectural monuments of the 17th-19th centuries, including:

• Ascension Wooden Church ( Old Ascension , XVII century)
• The complex of the Borisoglebsky monastery , which includes the cathedral (1785-1796, architect N.A. Lvov ), the bell tower (1804, architect Ananyin) - classicism; abbot building (1714), churches of the 17th — 18th centuries
• Resurrection Monastery
• Transfiguration Cathedral (1822)
• Travel Palace (end of the 18th century)
• Elias Church , now the courtyard of the Nilov Desert Monastery
• Church of St. George the Victorious (between 1692 and 1805 ^[46] ).
• numerous classicist style apartment buildings

Since 2010, an interactive complex of the Novotorzhsky Kremlin has opened in the city on the city rampart, in the territory of which mass celebrations, festivals, holidays are held, reconstruction of historical events is arranged. In the city there are monuments to V.I. Lenin, S.M. Kirov, A.S. Pushkin, N.A. Lvov, Efrem Novotorzhsky, a monument to the monument in honor of the liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, complexes in honor of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, located on the Alley of Memory and the Ivano-Theological Cemetery. .

In the vicinity of Torzhok there are several landowners' estates, which are in varying degrees of preservation:

• Vasilevo (5 km from Torzhok) - a monument of park construction at the end of the XVIII century (architect N. A. Lvov), the museum of wooden architecture "Vasilevo", "Devils" bridge .
• Mitino (7 km from Torzhok) - the former estate of the Lions. Monument to manor and park construction of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries (architect N. A. Lvov).
• Znamenskoye-Rayok - the former estate of F.I. Glebov-Streshnev.
• Pryamukhino is the former Bakunin estate, in which the famous Russian thinker, revolutionary, anarchist, pan-Slavist and one of the ideologists of Narodism, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin , was born and lived.
• Selikhovo - the former estate of Zagryazhsky.

In the village of Prutnya , six kilometers from Torzhok, Anna Kern , the beloved of A. S. Pushkin , was buried to whom he devoted his famous lines “I remember a wonderful moment ...”. The exact burial place is unknown, therefore the grave is symbolic.

Torzhok and Prutnya are included in the tourist route “ Pushkin Ring of the Upper Volga Region ”.

Since Torzhok was the southernmost city of the Novgorod land, the isogloss of Torzhok-Yurevets historically passes through it, separating the North Russian dialect and Central Russian dialects of the Russian language.

In 2018, the city of Torzhok was supposed to receive 2 billion rubles for the implementation of a project to restore the historical part of the city and tourist attractiveness.

The funds for the reconstruction will be allocated by the new BRICS Development Bank ^[47] - in the amount of 1.5 billion rubles. Total investments will amount to about 2 billion rubles. The money will be allocated for the implementation of the “big investment” project for the integrated development of the territory and infrastructure of small historical settlements in the city. It is planned to complete the project by 2025. Implementation will go with the participation of the government of the Tver region and the local administration, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Fund for Investment Construction Projects of St. Petersburg.

Due to these investments, it is planned to restore the complex of the Travel Palace, the building of public places, the house of the mayor's and treasurer, a residential building of the 19th century, as well as the improvement of the old Gorodskoy Boulevard square, Revolution Square, Tveretskaya Embankment and Square on Studentnaya Street. The Pozharsky Hotel, renovated last year at the expense of federal funds, will also be included in the future tourist complex.

• Moscow ^[48]
• Slonim ^[48]
• Savonlinna ^[48]
• Melle ^[48]
• Kuvshinskaya Salma ^[48]
• Valdai ^[48]

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  Gorbatov K. Torzhok. 1915

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  Yuon K. Torzhok. 1914

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  Yuon K. Torzhok. Tver province. 1914

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  Oleari A. Torzhok. Mid 17th century

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  Torzhok, wooden Church of the Ascension ( Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God )

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  Pedestrian bridge over Tvertsa

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  Church of the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem (left) and Transfiguration Cathedral

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  The symbolic grave of Anna Kern in the village of Prutnya

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  Gate Spasskaya Church of Borisoglebsky Monastery

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  View of the St. Michael the Archangel Church from the bell tower of the Gate Church of the Savior

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  Vasilevo , Znamenskaya Chapel

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  Travel Palace in old photography

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  Church of St. George

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  Pedestrian bridge panorama

• In Torzhok, many scenes of the Soviet film Roland Bykov "Scarecrow" were shot ^[49] .
• According to the plot of the “ Interns ” series , one of the interns of the new composition, Alexei Denisovich Maltsev (played by Alexander Lyapin ) is from Torzhok and loves to tell everyone about this.
• In the summer of 2018, the comedy film Sober Driver with Victor Khorinyak and Andrei Burkovsky was filmed in Torzhok. The filming showed a pedestrian bridge (on which the main character drove by car), an area on January 9, as well as a house number 1, overlooking the river Tvertsa.

• Suslov A. A. City of Torzhok and Novotorzhsky District (historical and economic essay). - Kalinin: Kalinin Book Publishing House, 1958. - 126 p.
• Suslov A.A. Torzhok and its surroundings. - M .: Moscow Worker , 1970 .-- 160 p. - 35,000 copies.
• Suslov A.A., Fomin A.A. Torzhok and its surroundings. 2nd ed. - M .: Moscow worker . Kalinin. Otdel, 1983.- 192 p.
• Malygin P.D. Ancient Torzhok. Historical and archaeological essays. - Torzhok: VOOPIK , Kalinin region. Otdel, 1983.- 56 p.
• Kashkova V.F. Pushkin guidebook: Moscow - Tver - St. Petersburg. - Tver: Souvenir, 1994 .-- 271 p. - ISBN 5-85754-063-21.
• Kashkova V.F. At Pozharsky in Torzhok. - Tver: Lilia LTD, 1996. - 32 p. - ISBN 5-89417-005-2 .
• Kashkova V.F. I am flying back to you .... - Tver: Tver region Prince Journal Publishing House, 1997 .-- 207 p. - ISBN 5-85457-094-7 .
• Pisigin V.F.Echo of the Pushkin line. Essay on the celebration of the 198th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin in the city of Torzhok . - M .: Epicenter, 1998 .-- 204 p. - ISBN 5-89069-006-X .
• Torzhok in travel notes and memoirs / Compiled by I. A. Bochkarev. - Torzhok: Vseros. source ethnogr. Museum, 2002. - 182 p. - ISBN 5-87049-310-2 .
• Kashkova V.F. Voices from a disturbing childhood. Frontline Torzhok 1941-1945 - Tver: Tver region Prince Journal Publishing House, 2003 .-- 207 p. - ISBN 5-85457-207-9 .
• Kashkova V.F. Near and far. Prince 1. Stories about the past and experienced. - Torzhok, 2006 .-- 287 p.
• Salimov A.M. To the question of dating of stone defensive structures of Torzhok // Ancient Russia. Questions of Medieval Studies . - 2010. - No. 1 (39) . - S. 36-39 .

• Official website of the administration of Torzhok
• Official Tourism Portal of the city of Torzhok.
• Website about Torzhok
• City site "Life in Torzhok"
• Torzhok (chapter from the book: Pisigin V.F. Travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg . - M .: Epicenter, 1997. - 208 p. - ISBN 5-89069-005-1 . )
• List of monuments of cultural heritage of Torzhok in Wikigid
• Map sheet O-36-XXIX Torzhok . Scale: 1: 200 000. Status of the terrain for 1982. 1986 edition