Varnavinskiy District is located in the north of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, along the middle course of the Vetluga River.
The District borders Kostroma Region to the north, Koverninsky District and Semyonovsky District Districts to the west, Urenskiy District and Vetluzhskiy District Districts to the east, and Krasnobakovskiy District District to the south. The distance to the regional capital is 190 kilometres; the nearest railway station, Vetluzhskaya, is 36 kilometres away.
The administrative center of Varnavinskiy District is the settlement of Varnavino, which was founded by the Venerable Varnava of Vetluga, who prophesied its establishment. The settlement is renowned for its rich historical culture. Before the Revolution, it was home to two gymnasiums — one for women and one for men. Today one of them houses a school and the other an orphanage. Varnavino has a church that has burned down several times and was most recently restored in 2001. The settlement also has a library, a music school, a community center, a bread factory, a forestry enterprise, a garment factory, and much else besides.
Varnavinskiy District includes the village of Bogorodskoye, with a population of 600, as well as Zarechnoye, Makariy, and others.
History of Foundation
In the mid-15th century, a Russian Christian monk named Varnava from the city of Veliky Ustyug settled on Krasnaya Gora (Red Hill) by the Vetluga River in the middle reaches of the Vetluga Region. At that time the Vetluga river basin was a remote and wild land inhabited by the Mari people. From 1464 onward, the Trinity–Varnavino Hermitage marked the beginning of a 300-year period in the history of Varnavino. However, during Varnava's lifetime in the second half of the 15th century there was no influx of Russian settlers to the Vetluga. The first Russian settlers in the upper reaches of the Vetluga could not live without church parishes, without Christian books, without church services. Russian peasants were afraid to settle in this troubled land at the time, and the Moscow authorities, preoccupied with their struggle against the Mari, Novgorod, and Vyatka, were unable to undertake the construction of a monastery here. But in the early 16th century a group of monks and carpenters was dispatched from Unzha, part of Galitsky Uyezd, to build a men's monastery on Krasnaya Gora. In 1764 the monastic period in the history of the Varnavino land came to an end: reckoned among the country's lesser monasteries, it was closed by decree of Catherine the Second.
In 1778 the monastery settlement was transformed into the town of Varnavin, a district town of Kostroma Governorate. After the abolition of serfdom, the zemstvo reform of 1864 led to the creation of zemstvos (local self-government bodies) in the districts. By the early 20th century the district town of Varnavin, with a population of 1,500, had the full complement of district and municipal authorities prescribed by the official establishment.
The town was the center of commercial activity in the district. Three major fairs were held in Varnavin annually — the Christmas Fair, the Trinity Fair, and the Mikhaylovskaya Fair. The district's comparatively large factories and plants included the Berdnikovs' wood-pulp-board factory, Basilevsky's glass-smelting plant, and the Smetskys' sawmill. Prosperous peasants owned mills, oil presses, and other enterprises. Between 1902 and 1904, the district zemstvo opened gymnasiums, a men's school, schools, and hospitals.
On 20 January 1918, Soviet Power was established in Varnavinsky Uyezd, and from 1922 Varnavinsky Uyezd became part of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Since then it was dissolved three times and incorporated into Krasnobakovskiy District. In 1964 Varnavinskiy District became an independent administrative unit.
Sights
In 2005 Varnavinskiy District was named the winner of the All-Russian competition "Ecologically Clean District (Territory)."
The district contains a large number of natural monuments, the Varnavinsky Natural Complex Wildlife Sanctuary, historic parks, and numerous oxbow lakes.
There are many monuments of history, culture, and architecture: the Varnavino Historical and Art Museum, the stone Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the village of Bogorodskoye, the wooden Church of the Venerable Varnava of Vetluga in Varnavino, the estate of the landowner Basilevsky in the village of Gorki, and the Bogorodskoye hillfort — a site of ancient human habitation.
The district center has preserved the architectural character of a former district merchant town; its ornaments include the women's gymnasium (now Varnavino Secondary School), the men's gymnasium (now Varnavino Children's Home), the residential house of the merchant Mutovkin, and the trading house of the merchant P. Ya. Ostrovsky. Varnavinskiy District is famed for its masters of wood carving and bone carving.
Industry
Main sectors:
- a decorative arts factory specializing in bone carving;
- auxiliary enterprises of Ministry of Justice institutions;
- furniture, timber products, bread-baking, metalworking;
- garment manufacturing;
- logging and timber processing.
Transport
Varnavinskiy District is located in the northwestern part of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 190 km from the regional capital. The drive from Nizhny Novgorod to Varnavino takes on average 2.5–3 hours. You travel along the Nizhny Novgorod–Kirov highway to the urban-type settlement of Krasnye Baki, then take the bypass road to Vetluzhskaya station, from which a highway runs along the Vetluga River to the destination.
An electric commuter train from Nizhny Novgorod running in the Kirov direction also stops at Vetluzhskaya station; from there a bus runs to the urban-type settlement of Varnavino, with its schedule coordinated with the arrival time of the commuter train.
Coat of Arms
Approved on 29 March 1779. Description of the coat of arms: "In the first part of the shield, the arms of Kostroma: on a blue field, the stern of a galley with three lanterns and lowered ladders. In the second part of the shield, on a crimson field, an arm emerging from clouds holding a stone, symbolizing the fact that the Apostle Barnabas, after whom the town is named, was stoned to death."