Tambov History PDF

1 TAMBOV Tambov is one of the oldest towns. It was built in 1636 as a fortress to defend the place from the Crimean Tatars. The fortress was surrounded by the wall with 12 towers. At the beginning of the 18-th century Tambov lost its role...

1 TAMBOV Tambov is one of the oldest towns. It was built in 1636 as a fortress to defend the place from the Crimean Tatars. The fortress was surrounded by the wall with 12 towers. At the beginning of the 18-th century Tambov lost its role as a fortress and became an administrative and trade center of Russia. In 1779 the Tambov province was formed, it included 13 towns. Then Tambov received its emblem of a hive and bees. It is one of the best emblems in Russia. It is a symbol of friendship and industry. The best features of a man are concentrated in the emblem. Now pay your attention to an interesting fact. In Russian words when people speak about a man from Tambov they say “a Tambov wolf”. The roots of these words are connected with Englishmen. It was happened in 1720. There was a market in Moscow. Merchants from many countries and towns came to Moscow. English merchants were going to buy skins for the uniforms of English guards. They chose the skins of Tambov wolves. They were large enough and of high quality. Some months later English merchants returned to Moscow to buy some more wolf skins. They looked for skins in the market and asked everybody about Tambov wolves. Since that time we have known the words "a Tambov wolf." Tambov stands on the river Tsna. “Tsna” is not a Russian word. It is a Bulgarian word. “Tsna” means “black” – “chrna”. The founder of our town was G.R. Derzhavin, He was a well-educated man for his time and a well- known poet. He did a lot for our town. When he came to Tambov there were no definite streets in the town. There werе only churches and the place for a market on the map of the town. The appearance.of it changed almost every year because of the fires. Derzhavin made up his mind to make a new plan for a town. He had a map of the town and he had not a pen or a pencil nearby. So he decided to use his sword and to mark the streets with the help of it, according to the places of churches. The streets were: Astrakhanskaya (now Sovetskaya), Long Street (now K.Marxa), Bazarnaya and Obvodnaya (now Proletarskaya). So the streets of the town are straight, because of the sword. There are only three towns in the world with such straight streets - Edinburgh in Great Britain, St. Petersburg and Tambov. Since 1786 Tambov has had its own newspaper. There were only 3 towns with their own newspapers in Russia: Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg and Tambov. A lot of people all over the world know the name of Vernadsky, who was born in Tambov. He was a scientist, a biologist and a philosopher. Ivan Minayev - a well-known indiaknowlogist was also from Tambov. He graduated from Tambov College when he was 18 years old. He spoke many languages. Later he lived and worked in England. He found books about India written in Hindi, read and translated them into Russian and then Englishmen had to translate them into English. They learned India with the help of his books.  2 Scientific achievements in our region in agriculture are connected with the name of Ivan Michurin. Now we have a large laboratory and a scientific institute named after him. He is the author of many new sorts of apples, pears, cherries. The old town Kozlov was named after Michurin. Michurinsk is also connected with the name of the famous artist Gerasimov. In 1918 the Union of Soviet artists was organized. The head of it was Gerasimov the first president of the Academy of Arts in our country. Now there is a museum of Gerasimov in Michurinsk. Before the revolution the town was rather small, it was only a commercial center with light and food industries. We start our excursion from the Sobornaya square. It is the place where the fortress was laid. Here we can see Spaso-Preobraghensky Cathedral. It served as the Museum of Regional Studies. This Cathedral was founded in the 17-th century. Some years ago our local authorities adopted a decision to restore church service here. And the Museum of Regional Studies is situated now in another building. Tambov Museum of Regional Studies is one of the oldest Russian museums. It was established in 1879 and based on several donated private collections. Today there are more than 72 thousands of exhibits in the museum archive. Among others there are unique collections of ceramics (including amazing porcelain collection), archeology, ethnography. The museum has an interesting collection of drawings and oil pictures. The prioruty of the museum work is popularizing of the Tambov history. Several exhibitions are thematically bound with the names of famous people, who visited or livid in Tambov region (e. g. "Friendship of Pushkin and Baratinsky"). The museum includes archive, departaments of history, nature, metodic, restoration, scientific library, photo lab, planetarium and also four branch-museums (Rachmaninov Museum is among them). Rachmaninov Museum is a 2 hours drive from Tambov in Ivanovka village. There is a wonderful professional annual musical festival “Lilac Night” in Rachmaninov Museum at the end of may which attracts a lot of visitors from many Russian cities and towns. Near the Cathedral there is a park. Before the revolution the governor's residence was situated here. In front of the Cathedral there is a monument and the Eternal Flame. It was built in 1970 in honor of those who died defending our country during the Great Patriotic War. Every year on the 22-nd of June the day when the war began, the meeting takes place here. The architect of this ensemble is Lebedev, our Tambov architect. Now we are in Sovetskaya Street (former Palace Street). It was called Palace Street, because the governor's residence was situated not far from it (in the Town Park of Culture and Rest). It was a majestic palace. You can see a long building with columns. It is the former "Gostiniy Dvor". It was built in 1836. Now it is one of the shops in the town. Then we pass an old building. First it was a reading-room, and then the library, now it is the Art Gallery (built on Narishkin's gift).  3 Opposite it there is the building of the first gymnasium for boys in our town. Such outstanding men as diplomat Chicherin, writers Sergeyev-Tsenskiy and Terpigorev studied there. Nowadays it is one of the buildings of Tambov State Technical University. On the left there is the building of Tambov State University in the honor of G. R. Derzhavin. Before the revolution it was Alexandrinsky Institute for the daughters of noblemen. The architect is Brulov. In 1918 a university was opened and in 1930 it was reorganized into a pedagogical college. Now it is one of the buildings of Tambov State University. Lenin Square is the central square is our town. The first monument to Lenin was erected there in 1937. From that day all meetings and demonstrations took place there. A new monument was built in 1967. Before the 20-s in this square there was a beautiful Archdeacon Stefan Virgin's Church. It was the saint place in the town. Nowadays in this square we can see the building of the Drama Theater. It was built in 1894. The architect is Sverchevsky. Then we can see an old building of the former hotel “Kolos”, where Maxim Gorky, a famous Russian writer lived at the end of the 19-th century when he made a tour about the country. Now it is an administrative building. Then we can see the modern four-storied building of the library. It is named after A.S. Pushkin, our famous Russian poet. It is the largest library in the region; it has a lot of departments, millions of various books. Near the library there is a park at the end of which we see a modern building of the Concert Hall. On the top of this building we can see 2 sculptures made by our Tambov talented sculptor woman Veltsen. The building of the musical college is in Sovetskaya Street. It has the name of the famous Russian composer Rakhmaninov. It was built in 1903. The history of the musical college in closely connected with many well-known composers, musicians. In the park in Sovetskaya Street there is a monument to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a girl soldier who fought heroically during the Great Patriotic War. Behind it there is Kazansky Monastery, which was built in the 19-th century Besides, in Moskovskaya Street you can see the Voskresensky Nunnery. There is also an old church there. Now we can see the building of former state Duma, the so-called office where the town's Parliament was situated. Nowadays it is the building of mayor’s office where the local authorities work and the Russian national flag flying over the building. The first soviet diplomat Chicherin lived in the house in Sovetskaya Street. He was the minister of foreign affairs from 1918 to 1930. He could speak English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Latin, Hindi, Arabian and all major European languages. He studied at Tambov gymnasium and then he graduated from St. Petersburg University Faculty of History and Linguistics. He was the most educated Minister of  4 Foreign Affairs in Europe, a publicist, a historian, a music expert and a linguist. Now his house is the mansion museum. Opposite this house there is the House of Narishkin, the richest nobleman of the 19-th century who was the greatest patron of art and literature. He built the public reading room in the town, supported many actors and actresses of the drama theater and gave money for the health services. The Pokrovskaya Church is the main cathedral in our region. It was built in 1750. On the bank of the Tsna River there is a real palace of the manufacturer Aseyev. At the beginning of the 20-th century he decided to build a house that would impress everybody in the town. Aseyev’s house (Museum Complex “The Aseyevs’ Estate” now) was designed by Moscow architect Lev Kekushev in 1905. Built in Art Nouveau style with its original facades and exclusive decorative touches the house strikes by its unique beauty and refined details. Both permanent and temporary exhibitions are offered in the museum. Aseyevs family traditions are honored in the estate. The balls with guests in fancy dresses dancing waltz and mazurka are not rare here. Dramatized tours around the estate involving professional actors from Tambov state drama theatre are especially popular among visitors. On the territory of the estate there is a wonderful park with firs, maples, elms, lindens, birches but most importantly oaks. Just in front of the main entrance a visitor’s attention is attracted by the multiphase fountain with dynamic lighting. The marble copy of Venus de Medici statue overlooks the whole fountain area. After the Great Patriotic War in the 40-s - 50-s Tambov became an industrial centre of our country. Many plants and factories were built. Tambov was the centre of engineering and chemical industries. Plants and factories produced various goods, tools, machines, equipment for various industries. Nowadays Tambov region is becoming an agricultural center of Russia. Great attention is paid to the developing of food industry and agricultural sector of Tambov regional economy.