Spassk, Penza Oblast

Spassk ( _ru. Спасск), is a town in Penza Oblast in Russia, and the administrative centre of the Spassk raion. As of 2005 the population is 7,300 people (est.).

History

In 1648, an uncultivated field was discovered in Shatsk Uezd and was given to a nearby monastery named after the Saviour ("Spas" in Russian). In 1663 a village was established there, called Bogdanovo. In 1779, the town is renamed Spassk and made the centre of an uezd by a decree of Catherine the Great. However, soon it became apparent that confusion would result since several other towns in Russia shared the name (notably Spassk-Ryazansky) and the town was officially renamed to Spassk-on-Studenets.

In 1925 a party conference in the uezd resolved that the town be renamed Bednodemyanovsk in honour of the poet Demyan Bedny. Bedny himself never visited the town, but was said to maintain a lively correspondence with its inhabitants. Later the cumbersome name became embarrassing for the local population, and this feeling was deepened by the fact that the name was popularly shortened to Bedny, that is, 'the Poor' (which was Demyan's pseudonym). In 2005, by a Federal law adopted by both houses of the Parliament and signed by Vladimir Putin, the town was renamed back to Spassk, and so was the raion.

References

* [http://www.spassk.ru/ http://www.spassk.ru/] ru icon