Mstyora or Mstera () is an urban locality (a settlement) in

Vyaznikovsky District Vyaznikovsky District () is an administrativeLaw #130-OZ and municipalLaw #62-OZ district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Vladimir Oblast, sixteen in Vladimir Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northeast of the oblast. The area of ...

Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, the oblast's population was 1,443,693. The UNESCO World Heritage L ...

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 ...

. Municipally, it is a part of Mstyora Urban Settlement, of which it is the administrative center. Population:

History

It grew up as a settlement attached to the nearby

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of the Epiphany (), on land belonging to the Romodanovskys, in the early 17th century. After the abolition of the monastery in 1764, it became a village, named after the Mstyora River (then known as MstyorkaИздание Центрального статистического комитета Министерства внутренних дел. "Списки населённых мест Российской Империи. VI Владимирская губерния". Санкт-Петербург, 1863. Стр. 50.); the name is probably from Merya ''Mustajarvi'' (compare Finnish ''musta'', meaning "black", and ''järvi'', meaning "lake"). Like the nearby villages of Kholuy and Palekh, it was a center of icon production in the traditional style, but in contrast to the opulence of Palekh icons, those of Mstyora "sought to emulate the fifteenth and sixteenth century austerity" and "were greatly favored by Russia's

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...

' sect."Yuri Ovsyannikov, ''Russian Folk Arts and Crafts'' (Moscow: Progress Publishers). By the beginning of the 18th century, it became an important trading post, with 182 houses and 57 shops; during the 19th century lithographed

lubok A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki''; ) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. ''Lubki'' prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early exampl ...

prints were produced in large numbers until competition from book publishers in

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 ...

and St. Petersburg proved too great. The 19th century also saw the development of textiles, market gardening, boat building, carpentry, and other industries. "By 1897 Mstyora was a town with over four thousand inhabitants, and the site of periodic fairs at which books and prints were sold. 'The inhabitants of Mstyora are only peasants in name,' wrote lexanderPrugavin. 'In essence these are real city folk.'"Jeffrey Brooks, ''When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861-1917'' (Northwestern University Press, 2nd ed., 2003: ), p. 103. Meanwhile, Mstyora's icon makers had turned to the restoration and imitation of icons in all styles, which led to fakery as well; V. N. Ovchinnikov, an icon painter himself, observed: "Mstyora craftsmen were so good at copying old icons, that quite often, the dating of a newly painted one would baffle the expert." After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, "Mstyora craftsmen switched to making painted, turned wooden toys and the painting of oilcloth, kerchiefs, tea caddies, and sugar bowls"; eventually they turned to the production of the miniatures for which Mstyora has become famous. In 1863, Mstyora was administratively a part of Bogoyavlenskaya Volost of Vyaznikovsky Uyezd. At that time, its population comprised 2,615 inhabitants (1,205 male and 1,410 female) living in 307 homesteads. At that time, there were three Russian Orthodox Churches, one

Edinoverie Edinoverie ( rus, единове́рие, p=jɪdʲɪnɐˈvʲerʲɪjɪ, literally "coreligionism") is an arrangement between certain Russian Old Believer communities and the official Russian Orthodox Church, whereby such communities are treated as a ...

church, two colleges, an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

, a lithography shop, a market, a pier, and three factories in Mstyora. Urban-type settlement status was granted to Mstyora in 1935.Исполнительный комитет Владимирского областного совета депутатов трудящихся. "Владимирская область. Административно-территориальное деление". Владимирское книжное издательство, 1955. Стр. 8.

References

External links

*Official website of Vyaznikovsky District
Information about Mstyora Urban Settlement

{{Authority control Urban-type settlements in Vladimir Oblast Vyaznikovsky Uyezd Populated places established in the 1600s 17th-century establishments in Russia