Vachsky District is located in the southwestern part of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The district borders Pavlovsky, Sosnovskiy, and Navashinskiy Districts, as well as Vladimir Region.

The territory of Vachsky District contains 118 populated localities,[1] united under 1 district, 1 settlement, and 10 rural Councils. The administrative center of the district is the settlement of Vacha.

The distance from Nizhny Novgorod to the district center is 110 kilometers.[2]

The area of the district is 98,000 hectares.[1]

From the History

The history of Vacha has its roots in the distant past, when this region was apparently not yet settled by Slavs. It was an unremarkable selo that subsisted on a natural economy. Vacha began to develop in the early 19th century, when a serf peasant, D. I. Kondratov, established a small production of table and bread knives here. This was in 1830.[3] In 1839, one of his sons, Dmitry Dmitrievich Kondratov, took up his father's enterprise,[3] and went on to advance the metalworking business and put the selo of Vacha on the world's map — winning a grand gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889.[4][5] Subsequently, products made in Vacha received awards at exhibitions in London, New York, and other major capitals of the world.[3] Today, the former Kondratov factory is a modern manufacturing operation within OAO "Trud".[4]

Vacha never grew into a large city, but its fame and renown, borne by the people who live here, has spread throughout the world. Vacha today is the center of the district; the settlement has more than six thousand residents.[3] It has schools, kindergartens, healthcare facilities, banks, a well-developed retail network, the district's industrial flagship OAO "Trud," numerous small private enterprises, a House of Culture, and a stadium. Vacha has more than 50 streets and 40 km of roads, and an extensively branched engineering infrastructure. Higher education is available without leaving the settlement. Vachsky District was officially established on June 30, 1929.[2][3]

Urban Improvements

In August 2006, it had been 20 years since the gasification of Vacha and the district with networked natural gas began. Over those years, gas has reached virtually all major populated localities in the district. Eight gas boiler houses have been built, supplying heat to thousands of apartments and social and cultural facilities.[4]

Positive changes are hard to miss. Shops are being built and renovated in Vacha and across the district, schools are being computerized, churches are being restored in Davydovo, Dyakovo, and Yakovtsevo, and a church is being built in Filinskoe. Spirituality is being revived.[4]

Industry

The district's main industries are metalworking (JSC Trud, CJSC SMI, CJSC KPKHI, LLC Nadezhda), livestock farming and agriculture, as well as mica processing (CJSC Slyuda).[6]

Churches

  • Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Aleksandrovo
  • Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Arefino
  • Church of Alexander Nevsky in Berezovka
  • Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Bolshoe Zagarino
  • Church of St. George the Victorious in Dyakovo
  • Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Zhaysk
  • Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Zelentsovo
  • Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kazakovo
  • Church of St. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa in Nevadyevo
  • Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in Nershevo
  • Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Poltsо
  • Church of the Prophet Elijah in the selo of Filinskoe
  • Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the selo of Epifanovo[7]

Museums

  • Vachsky District Local History Museum[8]

District Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Vachsky District: the shield is divided per fess, with the lower part divided per pale. In the first silver field, a red deer — the coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod Region; in the second green field, an oak leaf; in the third azure field, a red anvil. Over both lower fields is superimposed a stylized wave (representing the Oka and Vacha rivers). The green color symbolizes forests and agricultural lands; the oak leaf is a reminder of the historic name of the region from the village of Petrov to Pavlovo-on-the-Oka — "Starodubye." The anvil is a symbol of metalworking.[3]

Links

See Also

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Vachsky District Information Portal (archive)
  2. ngounb.ru — Vachsky District — V.I. Lenin Nizhny Novgorod State Regional Universal Scientific Library (NGOUNB) (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Vachsky District Information Portal (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Vachsky District Information Portal (archive)
  5. scissors.ru — Kondratov Tailor's Scissors — Museum of Scissors (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — Vachsky District Information Portal (archive)
  7. vacha.prihod.ru (archive)
  8. culture.ru (archive)