Irbit (
[Stress is given per the ''Dictionary of modern geographical names'', entry o]
().) is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in
Sverdlovsk Oblast
Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, located from
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...
by train or by car, on the right bank of the
Nitsa
The Nitsa () is a river in the Sverdlovsk Oblast in Russia. It is a tributary of the Tura. The river commences at the confluence of the Neyva and the Rezh, east of the city Alapayevsk and flows firstly in an easterly and then in southeasterly ...
. Population:
It was previously known as ''Irbeyevskaya Sloboda'' (until 1662).
History
Founded in 1631 as Irbeyevskaya Sloboda (),
[''Geographical names of the Urals: Short Toponymic Dictionary'' ()] its name was changed in 1662 to Irbit. It was granted official town status by
Catherine the Great
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
in 1775 for the town's loyalty to the Empress during the
Pugachev uprising of 1773–1774. In 1776, she awarded the town its official crest.
In the 19th century, the
Irbit Fair was an important event for the trade in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
n
fur
A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...
and
Chinese tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of the administrative divisions, Irbit serves as the
administrative center
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of
Irbitsky District,
even though it is not a part of it.
As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the
Town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of Irbit
—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
.
[Law #30-OZ] As a
municipal division, the Town of Irbit is incorporated as Irbit Urban Okrug.
[Law #85-OZ]
Economy
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, various branches of industry, such as engineering, manufacturing of construction materials, pharmaceutical, light, and food-manufacturing industries developed rapidly. During the war a
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
-manufacturing plant was moved here from
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. For more than fifty years, over three million motorcycles had been produced here. The factory now produces only two thousand motorcycles a year, most of which are for export. In the
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
times, however, hundreds of thousands were produced. Today it produces different types of motorcycles and spare parts for them, specializing in heavy motorcycles with
sidecar
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...
s. Irbit is also the former world headquarters for Russian motorcycle manufacturer
Ural Motorcycles. In 2022, the Ural factory moved to Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan.
Irbit dairy plant is the largest milk-processing plant in the Urals. In 2004, it processed 66,000
ton
Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean:
* the '' long ton'', which is
* the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...
s of milk. Irbit bakery plant manufactures different types of breads and batons, cakes, croutons, toasts. Irbit chemico-pharmaceutical plant produces drugs, chemical substances, fluids for chemical industry.
Natural resources
Water resources are represented by the
Nitsa
The Nitsa () is a river in the Sverdlovsk Oblast in Russia. It is a tributary of the Tura. The river commences at the confluence of the Neyva and the Rezh, east of the city Alapayevsk and flows firstly in an easterly and then in southeasterly ...
and
Irbit Rivers. Mineral resources include
diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth ( ), also known as diatomite ( ), celite, or kieselguhr, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous rock, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging fr ...
and glass-making
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
deposits.
Transportation
The town is crossed by the long distance railway Yekaterinburg–
Tavda–
Ustye-Akha and by road traffic routes, directed to
Kamyshlov
Kamyshlov or Qamışlı (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Pyshma River (Ob River, Ob's drainage basin, basin) at its confluence with the Kamyshlov (river), Kamy ...
,
Artyomovsk,
Turinsk
Turinsk () is a town and the administrative center of Turinsky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Tura River midway between Verkhoturye and Tyumen, near its confluence with the Yarlynka, northeast of Yeka ...
, and
Tyumen
Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...
.
Culture
The
Irbit State Museum of Fine Art contains some important works including etchings by famous European artists. At the moment the museum is the only one in Russia specializing in
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
s. In its collection there are engravings by Italian, Dutch, Flemish, German, French, English, Spanish, Swiss, Austrian, Polish, Bulgarian, Belgian, and North American artists. The collection includes works from
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
to
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...
. Russian art is represented by the works of A. F. Zubova, I. A. Sokolova, E. P. Chemesova,
Mikhail Dobuzhinsky,
Alexander Deyneka
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deyneka (; May 20, 1899 – June 12, 1969) was a Soviet painter, graphic artist and sculptor, regarded as one of the most important Russian modernist figurative painters of the first half of the 20th century. His ''Collec ...
, and many others. The domestic collection represents the artists of Yekaterinburg and
Nizhny Tagil
Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, boundary ...
.
There is also a 200-year-old theater in the town.
Although Irbit no longer attracts as many visitors as it once did, the
Irbit State Motorcycle Museum is being built in the town with the intention of bringing foreign motorcycle enthusiasts to the
IMZ-Ural
IMZ-Ural Group Inc., more commonly known as Ural Motorcycles (), is a multinational company involved in developing, manufacturing, and worldwide distribution of Ural sidecar motorcycles. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with assembly facili ...
motorcycle factory. Each summer thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts come to Irbit from around the world to take part in the
Irbit bike show and in the Motocross races.
A public park is located in the northern part of the town.
Education
There are several educational institutions in Irbit. Affiliates of the
Ural State Technical University
Ural State Technical University (USTU) is a public technical university in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation. It is the biggest technical institution of higher education in Russia, with close ties to local industry in the Urals. ...
and the Institute of Commerce and Law provide higher education. Motorcycle training college and Agricultural training college, Medical and Pedagogical training schools are facilities of professional education. There are also ten secondary schools and seventeen pre-school institutions.
Notable people
The following people were born in Irbit:
*
Serge Timashev, scientist
*
Victor Raskin
Victor Raskin (born April 17, 1944) is a distinguished professor of linguistics at Purdue University. He is the author of ''Semantic Mechanisms of Humor'' (1985) and ''Ontological Semantics'' (2004) with Sergei Nirenburg and served as the founding ...
, linguist
*
Olga Chernyavskaya, athlete
*
Alexander Izgoev, Kadet politician
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
Official website of IrbitIrbit Business Directory
*
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Sverdlovsk Oblast
Irbitsky Uyezd