Verkhniye Pechyory is a collective name for several microdistricts of Nizhegorodsky District, located on the southeastern outskirts of the city.
All microdistricts of Verkhniye Pechyory are characterized by a predominance of residential buildings of various types in their development structure, and by the absence of industrial and large manufacturing enterprises, business activity zones, and through roads — all of which are typical features of a "bedroom community" in a large city.
As of July 2006, the population of the microdistrict exceeded 40,000 people; however, since Verkhniye Pechyory is a peripheral area in the direction of which the city of Nizhny Novgorod is expanding, the population of the microdistrict is continually growing at a significant rate.
The total area of the microdistrict is 318.2 hectares, including 233.3 hectares transferred in 1995 from the lands of Kstovsky District. The prestige of the microdistrict accounts for its high property prices.
Name and History
The word "Pechyory" (also spelled "Pechory" or "Pechery"), widely used in the names of geographical features and Christian religious structures, is thought by some scholars to derive from a modified form of the word "peshchery" (caves). The origin of these Nizhny Novgorod place names is associated with the history of the Voznesenskiy Pecherskiy Muzhskoy Monastery founded in this area, which, like many other early Orthodox churches, had a "cave-based" precursor — that is, one consisting of earthen caves.
Originally, the name Verkhniye Pechyory referred to four microdistricts of the city of Gorky, laid out during urban planning in the 1970s and assigned sequential numbers.
Despite the absence of reliable data, the most plausible assumption is that the name of the microdistricts is connected to the name of a village or sloboda (a settlement with certain privileges) whose territory was absorbed into the city and became the site of modern development.
This assumption is supported by the fact that Verkhniye Pechyory sits atop the right (steep) bank of the Volga River, while several kilometres upstream along the river, at the water's edge (i.e., below), lies the sloboda of Pechyory, which is now also part of the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Today Verkhniye Pechyory consists of eight microdistricts. At present, microdistrict numbers are cited and mentioned only when they are of material significance; in all other cases it is customary to refer to a single general microdistrict, Verkhniye Pechyory. In everyday speech, the word "Verkhniye" ("Upper") is often dropped from the microdistrict's name.
The standard form of the adjective derived from the microdistrict's name has not yet been firmly established. Both the single-word form "Verkhnepechorsky" and the hyphenated form "Verkhne-Pechorsky" are considered acceptable.
Component Parts and Development Specifics
Some blocks within the microdistrict are separated from one another by deep ravines, which determine the specific character of the architecture and the contour of development.
On the ravine slopes, which are characterized by unstable soils, private cottage construction or mixed low-rise development predominates.
The designation "Verkhniye Pechyory" is generally not applied to areas of private development. These territories bear either the historic names of the villages that once occupied those sites, or proprietary names proposed by the developers and designers of the relevant blocks.
Proprietary names proposed by their developers and designers are used to designate blocks of modern mixed-use development adjacent to the Verkhniye Pechyory microdistrict.
Thus, the boundaries and component parts of the microdistrict may now be considered fully established and include the following:
Old Verkhniye Pechyory
The term "Old Verkhniye Pechyory" refers to the territory of microdistricts No. 1–No. 4, built up with multi-storey buildings in the 1970s. The blocks of Old Verkhniye Pechyory feature standard Soviet-era development consisting predominantly of nine-storey panel-construction apartment buildings. The architecture is uniform and standardized, as construction was carried out in a comprehensive manner and within compressed timeframes. It is separated from the new part of Verkhniye Pechyory by Kasyanov Ravine.
New Verkhniye Pechyory
New Verkhniye Pechyory refers to the part of the microdistrict located to the north of Kasyanov Ravine. This part of the microdistrict was developed significantly later than the old part. The reason was a general construction crisis that coincided with the socioeconomic transformations of the mid-1980s to early 1990s. The architecture of New Verkhniye Pechyory is contemporary. The buildings are characterized by individual designs and vivid exteriors.
Division into Microdistricts
Verkhniye Pechyory (as a complex of microdistricts) comprises the following microdistricts:
- Microdistrict I (within the boundaries of Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, Lopatinsky Ravine, the mouth of the Kova (Starka) River, and Kompozitora Kasyanova Street).
- Microdistrict II (within the boundaries of Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, Brinsky Street, the channel of the Kova (Starka) River, and Lopatinsky Ravine).
- Microdistrict III (within the boundaries of Kazanskoye Highway, Brinsky Street, Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, and Kompozitora Kasyanova Street).
- Microdistrict IV (within the boundaries of Kazanskoye Highway, German Lopatin Street, Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, and Kompozitora Kasyanova Street).
- Microdistrict V (within the boundaries of Kazanskoye Highway, Kasyanova Street, Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, and Bogdanovicha Street)
- Microdistrict VI (low-rise development on the slope of Kasyanov Ravine)[1]
- Microdistrict VIII (within the boundaries of Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, Lopatinsky Ravine, and Nizhnepechyorskaya Street)
- Pechyorskaya Ridge (within the boundaries of Kazanskoye Highway, Bogdanovicha Street, and Nizhnepechyorskaya Street)
Adjacent City Districts
To the north, Verkhniye Pechyory borders the Pechyorskaya Dolina microdistrict; to the west, Sovetsky District; to the south, the modern mixed-use development zone "Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Sloboda"; and to the east, the village (sloboda) of Podnove, Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and the "FSB townlet," whose core consists of housing built for employees of that service.
Nature
Verkhniye Pechyory has several ravines. The reason for their formation is the softness of the rock making up the right-bank massif of the Oka and the Volga River, which renders it weak, loose, and easily eroded by rainwater and by the flows that arise during snowmelt. Erosion is also frequently aided by groundwater.
Lopatinsky Ravine
Begins in the center of Old Verkhniye Pechyory at the intersection of German Lopatin Street and Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, and widens toward the channel of the Kova River). The ravine floor has a paved pedestrian path. Descents from the residential blocks into the ravine floor are made in the form of metal staircases. The bottom of the ravine carries the sewage collector for the Verkhniye Pechyory microdistrict, which discharges into the Kova (Starka) River[2].
Kasyanov Ravine
Begins at Kazanskoye Highway and widens toward the channel of the Kova (Starka). The ravine floor has a two-lane road connecting the Verkhniye Pechyory microdistrict with the Kuznechikha microdistrict. Near Verkhne-Pechyorskaya Street, utilities are routed across the ravine via an overpass that also serves as a pedestrian crossing.
In 2007, construction of a proper pedestrian bridge across the ravine was begun (at the contractor selection stage).
The landscaped slopes of Kasyanovskiy Ravine, with paved pedestrian paths, serve as a recreation area for local residents given the absence of dedicated park zones in Verkhniye Pechyory.
Valley of the Kova River (Starka)
Along the bottom of a deep ravine that intersects the Lopatinskiy and Kasyanovskiy ravines, the Kova River River flows along the western boundary of the microdistrict. As a result of systematic pollution from household and industrial waste, the river is in poor ecological condition and is not used as a recreational area by Nizhny Novgorod residents.
Social and Everyday Infrastructure
Verkhniye Pechyory offers comfortable living conditions that meet all the basic needs of its residents.
Transport Infrastructure
Transport connections between Verkhniye Pechyory and the rest of the city of Nizhny Novgorod are well developed.
Bus service plays the dominant role in passenger transportation.
Verkhniye Pechyory is the terminus for a large number of urban bus routes.
In the Stories of Nizhny Novgorod Residents
Urban Legends
- Apparently around 1959(?) Khrushchev came to Gorky to explain to the locals about "communism in 20 years." During his visit, a devastating landslide occurred in Pechory. Correct me if I'm wrong; back then catastrophes were never officially reported anywhere, but people said that so much refuse had accumulated on an improvised dump on the hillside that an explosion of gas from decomposition occurred. And Nikita had to deal with that matter too, and not just speak from the podium at Minin Square about communism blah-blah. [1] (archive)