Vyksa is a Russian town (from 1934), the administrative center of the Vyksa urban district of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The town stands 15 km away from the Doschatoye Pier on River Oka, 28 km away from the Navashino railway station, and 186 km to the southwest of Nizhny Novgorod.

The town with the population of 56.2 thousand people (as of 2011) takes the area of 70 sq km.

History of Vyksa

It was named after River Vyksa that it stands on. The hydronym “Vyksa” comes from the Merya language and means “a stream, a current; a river taking off from a lake”.

It appeared as a settlement around the ironworks founded by the Tula factory owners the Batashovs brothers in 1767. By the mid 19th century Vyksa plants were the leaders in their branch.

According to the population census of 1897 the village of Vyksa had 2642 dwellers.

Vyksa became a working settlement in 1927 and developed into the town of Vyksa in 1934.

Architecture and Sights

Vyksa has picturesque cozy streets with 1or 2-storeyed houses surrounded with gardens. The main square is marked with the Nativity Church (1773) in the baroque to classicism style. The square is surrounded with residential and public buildings, among which there are some historical constructions, such as a drugstore of the 18th century, and a two-storeyed former house of Schultz-Orlova (the early 19th century).

Some of the old constructions of the historical Verkhnevyksunsky ironworks have remained: a one-storeyed building of workshops, a three-storyed classicism-style house (the 1760s-70s) of the plant’s first owner Batashov with a spacious regular park around it.

In 1898 the engineer V. G. Shukhov constructed a water tower in Vyksa.

Near Vyksa, in the Doschatoye Settlement, there is a historical Hunting Lodge that was constructed by the plant owners Batashovs in the late 18th century. On the high bank of Oka there is Trinity Church (1780) in the style of classicism.