Pervomaysk is a city and the administrative center of Pervomayskiy District in Nizhny Novgorod Region, the administrative center of Pervomayskiy District. It lies 189 km south of Nizhny Novgorod.
History
The settlement of Tashino, now the city of Pervomaysk, has a one-hundred-and-fifty-year history and is directly connected to the villages of Maly Makatelyom and Bolshoy Makatelyom. Written sources mention them as early as the 16th century. A large part of this district, in the upper reaches of the Alatyr and Satis rivers, was covered by vast forest tracts that could be crossed from one end to the other without encountering a single patch of cultivated land. Although timber harvesting in the area began in 1724, when straight oak trees were selectively felled for the needs of the Kazan Admiralty for "shipbuilding purposes," the forests remained uninhabited and there were no permanent forest settlements.
Until the late 18th century, the local peasants were state serfs. In 1797, Tsar Paul I gifted these villages to the governor-general of Penza and Nizhny Novgorod, Prince A. I. Vyazemsky, who in 1807 bequeathed them to his illegitimate daughter Yekaterina Andreyevna — the wife of the celebrated Russian writer and historian N. M. Karamzin. The founder of the Tashino settlement was their son, Alexander Nikolayevich Karamzin. After retiring, A. N. Karamzin set off for his parents' estate, accompanied by servants, a gardener, and a doctor. He settled near the village of Bolshoy Makatelyom, in a locality called Rogozhka — a name derived from an old peasant craft: in the linden ravines, people stripped bast and wove rogozhka (bast matting). Two whitewashed izbas (traditional wooden houses) joined by an entryway made up the entire "manor house" (a little later the entryway became a front hall, and two rooms were added above the izbas).
In 1850, A. N. Karamzin married Princess Natalya Vasilyevna Obolenskaya, a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court. The couple came to live at Rogozhka.
Iron ore was discovered in the forests. It lay in lens-shaped deposits at shallow depths. A test smelting showed the ore to be suitable for industrial processing. Convinced of this, A. N. Karamzin sought permission from the Mining Authority to build a cast-iron smelting plant. Permission was granted, and Karamzin proceeded with accelerated construction.
On July 30, 1853, the plant produced its first smelt. The entire construction was funded by the dowry of Karamzin's wife, Natalya, and both the plant and the settlement were named after her — Tashin, Tashinsky. Settlements grew up around the plant. On April 18, 1951, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the settlement of Tashino was elevated to the status of the city of Pervomaysk. The City Day and District Center Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of September.
Today the Rogozhsky park ensemble is a state nature monument of regional significance and is under protection. The burial site of the Karamzin couple is located here.
Economy
- manufacture of machinery and instruments for railway transport
- timber industry enterprise
- embroidery factory
- dairy plant
Attractions
The following attractions are located in the vicinity of the city:
- Rogozhsky Park with its system of ponds — 25 km from the city;
- the urochishche "Grafinsky Propasti" (Countess's Chasms) — a karst sinkhole 4 km from the city;
- the urochishche "Skit" (Hermitage) with surviving structures (monks' cells and a refectory from the late 18th – early 19th centuries, on the Satis River) — 28 km northwest of the city.
Interesting Facts
- Despite its small size, Pervomaysk has a direct rail connection to Moscow (express train No. 79/80 Pervomaysk – Bereshchino – Moscow-Kazanskaya).