VERKHOTURYE

Year of foundation: 1598.

Status: administrative center of «the Verkhoturye district» municipal unit.

Population: 17,5 thousand people.

Territory: 49 km².

Location: on the eastern slope of the Urals, on the left bank of the Tura river, to the north of Ekaterinburg.

Distance: 306 km to Ekaterinburg, 154 km to Nizhny Tagil.

Roads: 6 km away from the Ekaterinburg - Serov railway line.

Verkhoturye is the oldest of the Sverdlovsk regional towns. It was founded as a fortified station on the newly opened shorter and more convenient route from European Russia to Siberia. The road was called the Babinovskaya way, in honor of Artemy Babinov from Solikamsk, who founded the route at the end of the 17^th century. The order to build the new town of Verkhoturye on the site of the ancient «Chud» tribe («Mansi» tribe) settlement Neromkur was written in the Tsar’s decree of 1597. Later, this military and strategic post turned into the administrative and economic center of Zauralye. in 1601, a custom post where duties were collected from all the goods transferred through the city was set up in Verkhoturye. String of carts with bread, salt, fur-skins and provisions for the Siberian garrisons, as well as a great number of officials, trade and industrial businessmen, passed through the Verkhoturye turnpike.

Significance of Verkhoturye increased due to the raising of excise taxes, which brought even more profit than customs duties. A large wine-production industry appeared in the 17th century. In the town there were a central post office, shipyard and a river wharf, from where the merchants shipped their goods along the Tura river to the Siberian towns and then further to China. The coachmen left in 6 directions for Solikamsk, the Chusovaya river, Turinsk, Pelym, Lyalya and Tagil throughout winter and summer. So, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the town became the so-called «door» to Siberia, and developed into a large trade, distributive and administrative center in the Urals. Stone fortifications and a number of buildings (governor's house, market and others) were built in the town. The construction of the stone kremlin was started in 1698 and finished in 1712. The town was divided into 3 parts: the Town part with the kremlin. Zarechnaya part and the Yamskaya part. The Town part was inhabited by merchants and officials, while the coachmen and trades­men lived in the Zarechnaya and Yamskaya parts.

The Verkhoturye customs post was closed in 1753, when the new administrative center of Ekaterinburg appeared to the south and started to develop dynamically. In 1763 a new, more convenient road, «the Greater Siberian Way», was built. It exists up to now. Being far from the new trade roads. Verkhoturye lost its economic significance.

The economic recovery of the town began at the end of the 19th century when the Bogoslovskaya railway was built. Small sawmills and leather-processing works appeared. In those days the town lived a rich spiritual life: there were 13 churches and monasteries in the town. In spite of that the town lost its former economic significance, it remained a centre of the Verkhoturye district, the largest one in the Urals, and the only official city of the Northern Urals. The fight to establish Soviet power was especially stub­born and fierce. On April 5, 1926, by the decision of the Central Russian Committee, the town got the status of a rural settlement. Its industrial development started after the war, when the main local factories such as the skates factory, wood-chemical works, and others started work­ing. On April 2, 1947 Verkhoturye got back its status of a city. In 1998 Verkhoturye celebrated its jubilee. The city received visible and appreciable recovery support as part of the governor’s programme. The programme aims to restore monuments and turn Verkhoturye into a tourism and pilgrimage center of the Middle Urals.

For questions about interaction with the museum and about applications for online excursions, please contact the authorized representative of VGIAMZ in the media, the chief editor of the community Istfak Nikalaich @nikalaich (I. N. Novichenkov) Telegram address: @nikalaichistfak . Mail: [email protected]