Kuzma Minin (also Kozma Minin, Kozma Minich; born between 1560 and 1585 in Balakhna — died in 1616) was a Nizhny Novgorod posadsky chelovek (townsman), zemsky starosta (elected community elder), and the organizer and treasurer of the Second People's Militia, which liberated Moscow from its Polish–Lithuanian garrison in 1612.[1][2] Together with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, he has been remembered in Russian historical memory as a symbol of national unity; the events he set in motion form the basis of the national holiday observed on November 4.[3]

Origins

Minin was born in Balakhna, thirty kilometers downstream from Nizhny Novgorod, into the family of a local salt merchant, Mina Ankudinov; the exact year is unknown, and historians place his birth somewhere between 1560 and 1585.[2] "Minin" was originally a patronymic and only later became established as a family surname — such was the custom of the era.[2]

Minin left the family trade: he moved to Nizhny Novgorod, became a posadsky chelovek, and dealt in meat.[4] He had no noble or merchant roots, and no written documents from his early life have survived. According to the Nikon Chronicle, Minin's full name was Kozma Minich Sukhoruk — the nickname "Sukhoruk" appears in the chronicle text as his personal sobriquet.[5][1]

Minin's hometown found itself on the opposing side during the Time of Troubles: by order of the local voivode, Balakhna declared for False Dmitry II, and Balakhna's forces attempted to seize Nizhny Novgorod. In response, the Nizhny Novgorod Militia stormed Balakhna and compelled its inhabitants to swear an oath of allegiance to Vasily Shuisky; on the march to Moscow, funds for the new militia were levied from Balakhna's people, and the city, badly damaged during those years, was not rebuilt until the 1640s.[2]

Zemsky Starosta and the Mustering of the Militia

Minin was elected zemsky starosta (an elected communal administrator) of Nizhny Novgorod in 1611. Even before the militia was mustered, in 1608–1610, Minin had taken part in fighting against the supporters of False Dmitry II as a member of the local city militia.[5][4] The position was elective and public in nature: the starosta was responsible for communal lands and for the collection and distribution of state taxes.[1]

In September 1611, Minin called upon the Nizhny Novgorod residents to raise money and supplies for a new army; townspeople brought cash and valuables to the militia's treasury.[1] Minin invited Prince Dmitry Pozharsky to command the force: he himself, by virtue of his social rank, had no authority over the nobility.[1]

The March on Moscow

The militia set out from Nizhny Novgorod upriver along the Volga, stopped for a lengthy period in Yaroslavl — where a provisional government was established and new forces were assembled — and in the spring and summer of 1612 moved on Moscow.[1]

On 4 November 1612 (New Style; 22 October Old Style), the militia stormed Kitay-gorod and forced the Polish-Lithuanian garrison to abandon the capital. During the fighting near Moscow on 22–24 August (1–3 September) 1612, Minin displayed personal battlefield courage: leading three cavalry hundreds, he broke through into the rear of Hetman Khodkevich's army, throwing the enemy into confusion and turning the tide of the battle.[5][1] Within the militia, Minin oversaw logistics and the treasury — ensuring the army was supplied with everything it needed.

Final Years and Death

After Mikhail Romanov was elected tsar, Minin remained in state service and carried out government assignments. On 12 July 1613, the day after the coronation, Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov granted Minin the title of dumniy dvoryanin (a rank in the Boyar Duma) and an estate — the selo of Bogorodskoye (now the town of Bogorodsk) with the surrounding villages; from 1613 onward Minin took part in sessions of the Boyar Duma and in negotiations with foreign ambassadors.[5] In early 1616 he traveled to Kazan to investigate the causes of unrest in the Volga Region and died on the return journey before reaching Moscow; 21 May 1616 is traditionally given as the date of his death.[4]

Grave and the Fate of His Remains

Minin was buried in Nizhny Novgorod; his remains were later transferred to the cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.[4][6] The grave was forgotten for a long time: its location was rediscovered in 1765 by Lieutenant Colonel Svechin, and in 1794 the poet Ilyinsky drew attention to the neglected burial site.[6]

In 1929 a special commission exhumed the remains: they were described in detail and transferred for safekeeping to the regional history museum.[6] They remained there until 1962, when, on the 350th anniversary of the militia, they were ceremonially reinterred in the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in the Kremlin — where Minin's grave remains to this day.[6]

Monuments

Official commemoration of Minin did not begin until the nineteenth century, two hundred years after the events of the Time of Troubles.[6] The monument to Minin and Pozharsky, a work by Ivan Martos, was unveiled on Red Square in Moscow in 1818.[6] In 1834 the grave was visited by Nicholas II, and from that time paying homage to it became a ritual element of visits by the reigning imperial family to Nizhny Novgorod.[6]

The first Nizhny Novgorod monument dedicated to Minin himself was unveiled on Minin and Pozharsky Square on November 7, 1943: a ten-meter figure by sculptor Alexander Kolobov, cast in reinforced concrete and coated in bronze. Minin stands on a cliff, the wind tugging at the hem of his caftan, his right hand raised in a summoning gesture.[7]

This monument stood until the late 1980s. On June 1, 1989, a new monument by Oleg Komov was unveiled on the square — it stands there to this day, having been restored in 2020. Kolobov's original figure was transported to Balakhna in 1990, reconstructed from surviving fragments, and installed near the Dom Moskvy building.[7]

In 2005, for the first National Unity Day, Zurab Tsereteli produced a reduced replica of his Moscow monument to Minin and Pozharsky and came to Nizhny Novgorod for its installation: the replica stands beside the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, on Narodnogo Edinstva Square.[3]

"Minin's Appeal" by Konstantin Makovskiy

The most famous depiction of the Nizhny Novgorod episode of the Time of Troubles is Konstantin Makovskiy's canvas "Minin's Appeal," measuring 6.98 by 5.94 metres. In 1891, the artist came to Nizhny Novgorod to gather material and make studies from life; the painting was first shown to the public in 1896 at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition.[8]

In 1908 Nicholas II purchased the canvas and presented it to the city: on 12 May the painting arrived in Nizhny Novgorod, and on 17 June it was installed in the hall of the City Duma. After 1917, the building became the Palace of Labour, and the painting remained there until 1972.[8] Today it occupies a dedicated, climate-controlled hall in the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum, renovated for the city's 800th anniversary.[8]

Memory today

On 4 November 2005, Russia celebrated National Unity Day for the first time — a holiday proposed by Nizhny Novgorod residents, recalling the liberation of Moscow by the militia of 1612.[3]

In Balakhna, the country's only museum dedicated to Kuzma Minin is in operation; on 11 September 2023, a renewed exhibition opened there featuring three interactive zones — "The Path of the Militia," the salt well "Salt of the Earth," and a timeline of the city's history.[9]

Minin's name is firmly embedded in the city's toponymy: Minin and Pozharsky Square in the upper part of the city and Minin Street, which branches off from it, bear his name, while his grave lies in the Kremlin just steps from the square.[6]

The name of Kuzma Minin is borne by the Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University named after Kuzma Minin, known as the Mininsky. During the Great Patriotic War, the name of Kuzma Minin was given to an armored train built at the Sormovo Plant in Gorky in just 19 days in August 1941; the armored train took part in the defense of Moscow and in fighting on the Kalinin and Belarusian fronts, and its reconstruction is on display in an open-air exhibit at the Moscow Railway Station in Nizhny Novgorod.[10][11] Since September 12, 2023, a walking route called "The Road of Unity" has been operating along the sites associated with the militia — eight points from "Minin's Appeal" at the art museum to the monument to Minin and Pozharsky at Narodnogo Edinstva Square.[12]

Minin was originally buried at the parish Church of the Pokhvala; in 1672 his remains were transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, and in 1874, to a design by architect Lev Vladimirovich Dal, a tomb for Minin was erected in the new cathedral Church of the Transfiguration (built in 1838); in 1930, following the demolition of the cathedral, the remains were transferred to the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael.[5]

Links

  • Wikidata (archive) (Q469785 — entry in the free knowledge base)
  • VIAF (125074090 — integrated library catalogue)
  • ISNI (000000012376890X)
  • GND (119088347 — German National Library catalogue)

Sources

  1. kp.ru — How Nizhny Novgorod residents saved Russia during the Time of Troubles — KP Special Project — Komsomolskaya Pravda (archive)
  2. V gorode N — Balakhna in Nizhny Novgorod Region: history and archival photos of Minin's homeland — Balakhna: history and archival photos of the homeland of Kuzma Minin (archive)
  3. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — National Unity Day and the Chkalov anniversary: remembering how our Region lived in the early 2000s — National Unity Day and the Chkalov anniversary: how our Region lived in the early 2000s (archive)
  4. heroes.rostselmash.com — Minin Kuzma (archive)
  5. names52.ru — Minin Kuzma (according to the Nikon Chronicle — Kozma Minich Sukhoruk) — According to the Nikon Chronicle, Minin's full name was Kozma Minich Sukhoruk (archive)
  6. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — A heroic memory: why Russia repeatedly tried to forget the feat of Kuzma Minin (archive)
  7. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The Minin Call: how the famous monument to the militia hero came to be in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  8. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — "The Appeal of Minin": how Makovskiy's painting became a landmark of Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  9. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The updated exhibition of the Kuzma Minin Museum has opened in Balakhna (archive)
  10. kmv-tours.ru — The armored train "Kuzma Minin" in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  11. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Dzerzhinsk has signed an agreement with Minin University (archive)
  12. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The "Road of Unity" route tracing the people's militia will be launched in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)