- Rybinsk
Rybinsk ( _ru. Ры́бинск) is the second largest city of
Yaroslavl Oblast , Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Volga and Sheksna rivers. Population: 213,000 (2007 est.);Fact|date=March 2008 ru-census|p02=222653|p89=251442 It is served byRybinsk Staroselye airport.Early history
Rybinsk is one of the oldest Slavic settlements on the Volga River. The place was first noticed by chroniclers in 1071 as Ust-Sheksna, i.e. "the mouth of the Sheksna". For the next four centuries, the settlement was referred to alternatively as Ust-Sheksna or Rybansk. Since 1504, it was mentioned in documents as Rybnaya Sloboda (literally: "the fishing village"). The name is explained by the fact that the settlement supplied the Muscovite court with choice
sturgeon s andsterlet s.In the 17th century, when the
sloboda was capitalizing on the trade of theMuscovy Company with Western Europe, it was rich enough to build several stone churches, of which only one survives to the present. More old architecture may be found in the neighbourhood, including the very last of Muscovite three-tented church es (in the Alexandrov Hermitage) and the Ushakov family shrine (on theEpiphany Island ).Golden age
In the 18th century, the sloboda continued to thrive on the Volga trade. Catherine II granted Rybnaya Sloboda municipal rights and renamed it into the town of Rybinsk. It was a place where the cargo was reloaded from large Volga vessels to smaller boats capable of navigating in the shallow
Mariinsk Canal system , which connects the Russian hinterland with theBaltic Sea . With the population of 7,000, the town of Rybinsk daily accommodated up to 170,000 sailors and up to 2,000 river vessels. Consequently, the local river port became known as the "capital of barge-haulers".The town's most conspicuous landmark, the Neoclassical Saviour-Transfuguration Cathedral, was constructed on the Volga riverside from 1838 until 1851. It was built to a design that the President of the
Imperial Academy of Arts , Avraam Melnikov, had prepared forSaint Isaac's Cathedral inSt Petersburg . After Melnikov lost the contest for the best project of St Isaac's Cathedral toAuguste de Montferrand , he sold his grandiose design to the municipal authorities of Rybinsk.As a trade capital of the
Upper Volga , Rybinsk formerly attracted scores of foreigners, who built a Lutheran church and an imposingRoman Catholic cathedral, said to be the tallest on the Volga. There is also theNobel Family Museum , documenting the operations of that illustrious Swedish family inImperial Russia . Early film mogulsNicholas Schenck andJoseph Schenck were born in the town, and there is a grand 18th-century mansion of the Mikhalkov family, whose living members includeSergey Mikhalkov ,Nikita Mikhalkov , andAndron Konchalovsky .20th century
In the Soviet years, Rybinsk continued its impressive record of renamings, for it changed its name four times: to Shcherbakov (after
Aleksandr Shcherbakov ) in 1946, back to Rybinsk in 1957, to Andropov (afterYuri Andropov ) in 1984, and back to Rybinsk in 1989.The most important industries of modern Rybinsk are aircraft engine manufacturing and a hydroelectric power station. As the experts warn, the giant Rybinsk dam, which holds the
Rybinsk Reservoir (formerly touted as the largest man-made body of water on Earth) places the town in the imminent danger of the dam breaking and the reservoir flooding the city.References
External links
*http://www.rybinsk.ru (official city site).
*http://www.rybinsk.info/
*http://www.rybinsklife.ru/
*http://ryb.ru/
*http://www.rybinsk.ru/photoalbum/arch.htm
* [http://www.rybmuseum.org/ Rybinsk Museum-Preserve of History, Architecture and Art, founded in 1910, is one of the greatest museums of the Upper Volga]
* [http://www.virtualtravel.ru/user/3778/index.phtml?wid=3094&tips=12 Rybinsk in modern and old photos]Template group
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