Vachsky District is located in the southwestern part of Nizhny Novgorod Region. The district borders Pavlovsky District, Sosnovskiy District, and Navashinskiy District Districts, as well as Vladimir Region.
The territory of Vachsky District contains 118 populated localities, united under 1 district, 1 urban-type settlement, and 10 rural Councils. The administrative center of the district is the settlement of Vacha.
The distance from Nizhny Novgorod to the district center is 110 kilometers.
The area of the district is 98,000 hectares.
History
The history of Vacha has its roots in the distant past, when this area was apparently not yet settled by Slavs. It was an unremarkable village that lived by subsistence farming. Vacha began to develop in the early 19th century, when the serf peasant D. I. Kondratov established a small production of table and bread knives here. This was in 1830. In 1839, one of his sons, Dmitry Dmitrievich Kondratov, took over his father's business, further developed metalworking production, and brought the village of Vacha to the world's attention by winning a grand gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1870. Subsequently, goods produced in Vacha received awards at exhibitions in London, New York, and other major capitals of the world. Today, the former Kondratov factory is a modern production facility operating as JSC Trud.
Vacha did not become a large city, but its fame and renown, thanks to the people who live there, has spread throughout the world. Today Vacha is the center of the district; the settlement has more than six thousand residents. It has schools, kindergartens, healthcare institutions, banks, a well-developed retail network, the district's industrial flagship JSC Trud, many small private enterprises, a cultural center, and a stadium. Vacha has more than 50 streets and 40 km of roads, and a widely branching network of utilities infrastructure. Without leaving the settlement, one can obtain a higher education here. Vachsky District was officially established on June 30, 1929.
Municipal Development
In August 2006, it had been 20 years since the gasification of Vacha and the district with mains natural gas began. Over these years, gas has reached virtually all major populated localities in the district. Eight gas boiler plants have been built, providing heat to thousands of apartments and social and cultural facilities.
Positive changes are hard to miss. Shops are being built and renovated in Vacha and across the district, schools are being computerized, churches are being restored in Davydovo, Dyakovo, and Yakovtsevo, and a new church is being built in Filinskoye. Spiritual life is being revived.
Industry
The main industrial sectors of the district are metalworking (JSC Trud, ZAO SMI, ZAO KPKhI, OOO Nadezhda), livestock farming and agriculture, as well as mica processing (ZAO Slyuda).
Spiritual Life of the District
Churches
- Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Aleksandrovo
- Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Arefino
- Church of Alexander Nevsky in Berezovka
- Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Bolshoye Zagarino
- Church of St. George the Victorious in Dyakovo
- Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Zhaysk
- Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Zelentsovo
- Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kazakovo
- Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa in Nevadyevo
- Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in Nershevo
- Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Poltso
- Church of the Prophet Elijah in the village of Filinskoye
- Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Epifanovo
Museums
- Vachsky District Local History Museum
District Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of Vachsky District: the shield is divided by a horizontal line, with the lower portion divided vertically. In the first silver field, a gules stag — the coat of arms of Nizhny Novgorod Region; in the second green field, an oak leaf; in the third azure field, a gules anvil. Across both lower fields is superimposed a stylized wave (representing the Oka and Vachka rivers). The green color symbolizes forests and agricultural land; the oak leaf is a reminder of the historical name of the region from the village of Petrova to Pavlovo-on-Oka — "Starodubye." The anvil is a symbol of metalworking.