Bolkhov (russian: Бо́лхов) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

Bolkhovsky District Bolkhovsky District (russian: Бо́лховский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #522-OZ and municipalLaw #464-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-four in Oryol Oblast, Russia. It is located in the north of the oblast. The area of the ...

Oryol Oblast Oryol Oblast (russian: Орло́вская о́бласть, ''Orlovskaya oblast''), also known as Orlovshchina (russian: Орловщина) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is th ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located on the Nugr River (

Oka Oka or OKA may refer to: Cars * Oka (automobile), a small car designed by AvtoVAZ and produced by ZMA and SeAZ * OKA 4wd, a large 4-wheel-drive vehicle made in Western Australia by OKA Military * 2B1 Oka, Soviet 420 mm self-propelled mor ...

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

), from

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, p=ɐˈrʲɵl, lit. ''eagle''), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast situated on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow. It is part of the Central Fed ...

, the administrative center of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom of ...

. Population: 12,800 (1969); 20,703 (1897).

History

Bolkhov was first documented in a chronicle from 1196.Official website of Bolkhovsky District
Уездный город Болхов
After the

Mongol invasion of Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous southern cities, including the largest cities, Kiev (50,000 inhabitants) and Chernihiv (30,000 inhabitants), with the only major cities escaping destr ...

, it became the seat of a local princely dynasty, whose descendants may be traced until the 19th century. In the 16th century, it became one of the fortified posts for defending

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

from the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

on the south. It was there that the army of Vasily IV was defeated by

False Dmitry II False Dmitry II ( rus, Лжедмитрий II, Lzhedmitrii II; died ), historically known as Pseudo-Demetrius II and also called "тушинский вор" ("rebel/criminal of Tushino"), was the second of three pretenders to the Russian throne w ...

in 1608. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Bolkhov was occupied by the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

from October 9, 1941 to July 28, 1943.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Bolkhov serves as the

.Law #522-OZ As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Bolkhovsky District as the

town of district significance Town of district significance is an administrative division of a district in a federal subject of Russia. It is equal in status to a selsoviet or an urban-type settlement of district significance, but is organized around a town (as opposed to a ...

of Bolkhov. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Bolkhov is incorporated within Bolkhovsky Municipal District as Bolkhov Urban Settlement.Law #464-OZ

Religion

Bolkhov preserves four churches dating from the turn of the 18th century, including the five-domed Trinity Monastery Cathedral (1688-1706) and the Trinity church with an elongated belfry. By far the largest church in the city is the Savior's Transfiguration Cathedral, built in 1841-1851 to a design by one of

Konstantin Thon Konstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton (russian: Константи́н Андре́евич Тон; October 26, 1794 – January 25, 1881) was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works includ ...

's disciples.

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Bolkhov

Bolkhov Business Directory
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Oryol Oblast Bolkhovsky Uyezd