«Silver Ring of the Vorotynsky Land» — a local-history route through historical, architectural, and natural landmarks of the Vorotynsky District region. The project was developed by the children's local-history excursion bureau «Rodnoy Kray» («Native Land») at Vorotynets Secondary School as its contribution to the internet project «Golden Ring of the Nizhny Novgorod Region» [1]. In 2009, a description of the route was published as a separate work by A. E. Astashin, N. I. Astashina, and Dyuzhakov Aleksandr Mikhaylovich in the collection «In the Vorotynsky Land».
Who Created the Route
The «Rodnoy Kray» bureau began operating in May 2007 at Vorotynets Secondary School, led by teacher Dyuzhakov Aleksandr Mikhaylovich. Its first completed excursion was «The Demidov Lilac» through Bykovka — its text grew out of an entry for the regional competition «Young Tour Guide». On 30 May 2007, the bureau was officially presented, and in October of the same year, by order of the district administration head, it was granted district status; Semyany, Vasilsursk, Pokrov-Maydan, and Ber-Maydan schools joined the Vorotynets schoolchildren [1].
The bureau's plans included excursions titled «Vorotynets: Its Past, Present, and Future», «The District Town of Vasilsursk», «The World of the Noble Estate», «To the Holy Spring», and «The Road to the Church». Field work was carried out at the landmarks themselves: at the bureau's initiative and with the support of the district administration, the chapel over the spring known as «Sytny Klyuch» (Nourishing Spring) in Bykovka was restored, and a commemorative cross was erected over the Demidov family graves with funds from benefactors [1].
Geography
The region is divided by the Volga and the Sura River into three parts, and the route's sites are spread across its entire area — from Vasilsursk in the east to Raznezhye in Zavolzhye. Dozens of sites here are under state protection: archaeological settlements and hillforts dating to the second millennium BC, rural churches of the 18th–19th centuries, noble estates, and peasant houses [3].
Some landmarks are under federal protection: the Vasilsursk and Khmelyovka hillforts, the Somovo settlement, the house of peasant P. I. Petrov in Nadezhino, and the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Shokino [3].
| Location | Site | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Khmelyovka | Church of the Kazan Icon — the main church of the Trinity Monastery until its abolition in 1764 | 1708–1709 [3] |
| Bykovka | ensemble: Church of the Nativity, winter Church of the Sign, enclosure wall with gates, retaining wall; Demidov family necropolis; volost administration building | 1818–1830, 1829, 19th century, 1884 [3] |
| Pokrov-Maydan | Demidov estate: main house, dining hall and service wing, storehouse, riding hall, cattle yard, Church of the Intercession, park | 19th century; church 1864 [3] |
| Krasnaya Gorka | Obolensky estate, main house | second half of the 19th century [3] |
| Nadezhino | house of prosperous peasant P. I. Petrov, a site of federal significance | 1884 [3] |
| Shokino | Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, a wooden church with a carved iconostasis, a site of federal significance | 1783 [3] |
| Semyany | Church of the Archangel Michael | 1912 [3] |
| Vorotynets | Church of the Savior | 1814 [3] |
Vasilsursk
The official founding date of the Vasilgorodskaya fortress is 1 September 1523; the settlement was classified as a town until 1925 [5][3]. Before the Russian fortress, this site was occupied by the fortified town of Tsepel — the residence of the Mari rulers; the surrounding area retains Mari hillforts and sacred groves, including the spring known as Suprotivny Klyuch [3][4].
Vasilsursk has long been known as a resort destination: Ivan Shishkin and Isaak Levitan came here to work, and Maxim Gorky also visited [3].
Vorotynets
Prince M. I. Vorotynsky received lands in the Zakudemsky stan of Nizhny Novgorod Uyezd in 1569 and became the first private landowner in the Prisursky region; around 1620 his son I. M. Vorotynsky founded a village here called «Vorotynesk», named in memory of the family's lost ancestral town [3]. The settlement contains the only monument in Russia to the princely Vorotynsky family [4].
For a long time the main trade of Vorotynets was potash production — it was packed into barrels and transported via Vologda to Arkhangelsk, and from there to England, where it was used in soap-making and leather-working. After the abolition of serfdom, the largest grain markets in the governorate sprang up here, giving rise to the saying «Vorotynets feeds everyone» [4].
The Church of the Savior of 1814 was closed in 1937 and converted into a warehouse; in the late 1950s its domes were removed and its bell tower demolished, and in 1967 a House of Culture was opened in the building. In the 1990s the church was returned to the faithful, and in 1995 it was reconsecrated [3].
The Demidov Estates
Bykovka is the ancestral seat of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Demidov family. A compact area brings together an estate park, two churches, a stone enclosure wall, a zemstvo administration building, a retaining wall, and the family necropolis [1][3]. The austere Neoclassical exterior of the Church of the Nativity is set off by an interior decorated with ornamental stucco [3].
The Bykovka park covers six hectares: a landscape park of the ornamental-fruit type, with a pond at the foot of a slope, a 350-metre semicircular linden-tree avenue eight metres wide, and an avenue of white poplars with trunk diameters of up to one and a half metres. It was placed under state protection as a natural monument on 14 February 1984 [2].
The settlement of Krasnaya Gorka was known as Gremyachy khutor until 1919 and served as a residence of the Nizhny Novgorod Demidovs; later an Obolensky estate appeared here, of which the main house survives [3]. Three estate parks in the southern part of the region — at Bykovka, Pokrov-Maydan, and Krasnaya Gorka — hold the status of state natural monuments [6].
A particular attraction is the lilac: in May, Bykovka is called the lilac capital of the region, and schoolchildren are taken there «to see the lilac» [1].
I brought a huge bouquet of lilac in my soul and will be sifting through it for a long time in search of a five-petalled «lucky flower». [1]
Churches and a Peasant House
The Church of the Kazan Icon in Khmelyovka is the oldest in the region: until the abolition of the Trinity Monastery in 1764, it served as its main church [3]. The village of Semyany has the Church of the Archangel Michael, built in 1912, with a spring nearby [3].
The house of P. I. Petrov in Nadezhino is a peasant house protected as a site of federal significance. The date of construction is carved in Old Church Slavonic letters directly on the frieze board: «7392» from the creation of the world — that is, 1884 [3].
Losses
Some points on the route survive only in photographs. The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Shokino — a wooden church of 1783, a site of federal significance with a multi-tiered carved iconostasis of the 18th century and paintings on the cupola — collapsed on 8 May 2012 during a squall [3]. The Church of the Vladimir Icon of 1853 in Akhpayevka, closed in 1978, also collapsed, and the village church in Somovka was lost in the mid-20th century [3].
The Raising the Cheboksary Reservoir Level is also taking its toll along the Volga bank: cracks have appeared in the walls of the Church of the Kazan Icon in Khmelyovka following roof repairs and foundation reinforcement.
Anthem of the Region
The Vorotynsky region has its own anthem-song — «Vorotynskaya Storonka» («The Vorotynsky Land»), with music by E. Istomina and lyrics by N. Timoshenko. It lists the same landmarks as the route: «From Vasilsursk to Raznezhye», «Our Vorotynets and the Maydans», Fokino and Semyany [7].
Sources
- urok.1sept.ru — Otkryty Urok (Open Lesson) — Dyuzhakov A. M. A Children's Excursion Bureau as a Form of Local-History Work. 12 May 2008
- zem-vorot.blogspot.com — Zemlya Vorotynskaya (The Vorotynsky Land) — Local-history blog of the Vorotynets Central Library. Through the Pages of the Vorotynsky Calendar, 18 March 2019 (archive)
- gttp.ru — Places of Memory — Vorotynsky District on the map of «places of memory» of Nizhny Novgorod Region (archive)
- nn-tourist.ru — Tourist Portal of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Vorotynets (archive)
- opentextnn.ru — Otkryty Tekst (Open Text) — Davydov A. I. Vasilsursk: The Space of a Historic Town. For the 500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vasilgorodskaya Fortress (archive)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — On the Volga Expanses
- somovkann.ru — The Village of Somovka, Nizhny Novgorod Region — Anthem-song of Vorotynsky District «Vorotynskaya Storonka», music by E. Istomina, lyrics by N. Timoshenko (archive)