Pilna — a workers' settlement and the administrative center of Pilninskiy District, Nizhny Novgorod Region.
It is situated on the left bank of the Pyana River, 177 km from Nizhny Novgorod.
History of founding
The district center of Pilna was founded in 1698 by personal decree of Peter I as a settlement established alongside the first state sawmills on the Pyana River, which supplied ship timber for the construction of the Russian fleet. The settlement took its name from the sawmills and was initially known as the Sawmill Works.
In 1701, the sawmills on the Pyana produced their first large consignment of ship timber and oak staves, which were dispatched to the Baltic coast, to Lodeynoye Pole. Later, output began to be sent to the shipyards of the Kazan Admiralty. In 1890, a postal and telegraph agency opened in Pilna. In 1912, the Moscow–Kazan railway line passed along the southern outskirts of Pilna, giving the settlement transport links with the rest of the country.
Until 1922, Pilna was part of Kurmyshsky Uyezd of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate — and later Simbirsk — Governorate. From 1922, Pilninsky Volost formed part of Sergachsky Uyezd of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. In 1862, Pilninskiy District was enlarged. From 1929, the selo became the district center of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Gorky — Region. In 1964, the selo of Pilna was granted the status of a workers' settlement.