Dom Moskvy in Balakhna — a cultural and leisure center in the town of Balakhna, the place where the Nizhny Novgorod Militia was formed, which in 1612 liberated Moscow from Polish invaders. Opened on November 14, 2008.
It is located in the historic part of Balakhna, on the square named after the city's famous native son — Kozma Minin, who together with Prince Pozharsky led the Nizhny Novgorod Militia.
Nature of the Phenomenon
According to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, the construction of Dom Moskvy is the capital's expression of gratitude to the people of Balakhna for the fact that their native son — citizen Minin — together with Prince Pozharsky, "in times of turmoil and state powerlessness, had the courage to call the people to defend the capital from Polish invaders."
In memory of this feat, the state declared November 4 a national holiday — the Day of National Unity. And Moscow presented as a gift this building, which houses a cinema-concert hall seating 240, music and theatre studios, two sports halls, a local history museum, a library with a reading room, a video library, a computer classroom, and a café.
History in Detail
"Dom Moskvy in Balakhna" was built in 16 months. The floor area of the building is 5,000 sq. m. The Moscow city government allocated 238 million rubles for construction; the Nizhny Novgorod Region contributed an additional 18 million for landscaping the surrounding area and connecting utilities, and the Balakhna District added 7 million rubles.
The idea for building such a complex belongs to Deputy Khinsteyn. The deputy first raised the idea two years before construction began.
With the opening of the cultural and entertainment complex, one of Balakhna's most serious problems was resolved — namely, the absence of any large sports facilities in the city.
Journalists pressed the mayor on what benefit Moscow itself stood to gain from this construction project. "Don't look for any mercantile motive," replied Yuri Mikhailovich. "Not everything can be measured in rubles or dollars. This Dom Moskvy will help shape a new generation, and that is already no small thing." He also reminded those present that Moscow's assistance to Russian regions is not an exception but a tradition. In just the same way, back in the early 1990s, operating on a rather meager budget, Moscow helped rebuild the city of Neftegorsk, which suffered the worst damage from the earthquake on southern Sakhalin. It built a school in the Gorny Altai that came through another earthquake without a single crack. Then two more residential buildings for the sailors of Severodvinsk… "From Kremlin unto Kremlin, one is all of Russian land," Governor Valery Shantsev rendered the principle of the capital's cooperation with the regions in verse.
Interesting Facts
- In Balakhna, Yuri Luzhkov also promised to build a good hotel, which would help the city develop tourism more actively: "A local history museum has opened in Dom Moskvy. We plan to expand its collection from our own reserves as well. I think that before long Balakhna will become one of the most attractive destinations for Russian and foreign tourists, and a good hotel will be most welcome." "We always keep our promises," concluded the Moscow mayor.
- When asked by the Moscow mayor (archive) whether he had learned the anthem of Nizhny Novgorod in three years as governor, Valery Shantsev responded by singing the final verse of the anthem of Nizhny Novgorod into the microphone without any prompting: "To Nizhny Novgorod — that means home…"
- Among Moscow's plans for expansion into the Nizhny Novgorod Region was also the idea of building a new airport on the open Volga expanses, but Valery Shantsev and Luzhkov ultimately abandoned the project. At the opening of Dom Moskvy in Balakhna, they explained their decision to journalists by saying that Nizhny Novgorod had acquired a powerful investor, and so the capital had decided to step aside on its own accord.
But on that very same day, an entirely different version appeared on the website of Moscow's Department of Property. The deputy mayor of the capital and head of the department, Vladimir Silkin, explained the termination of the deal by saying that Shantsev had refused to contribute a 450-hectare land plot to JSC "Nizhny Novgorod International Airport," in exchange for which Moscow had planned to buy an additional share issue in the enterprise. Finding the project's economic efficiency insufficient, the capital's authorities therefore withdrew from participation in it.