Zavolzhye is a Russian town in Gorodetsk District of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The town stands on the right bank of River Volga (Gorky water reservoir, the pier), opposite to the town of Gorodets, 56 km to the northwest of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a railway station.

The town with the population of 42 thousand people (as of 2008) takes the area of 20 sq km.

History of Zavolzhye

It was founded as the settlement of builders of the Gorky hydroelectric power station (protected with an artificial dam 15 km long).

The year 1947 saw a government resolution for construction of the Gorky hydroelectric power station, and the first builders arrived there at the end of the same year. In 1951 they started casting concrete in the basis of the overflow dam. In November 1955 the first hydrounit of the Gorky hydroelectric power station took the industrial loading.

In 1950 the Pestovo Village was transformed into the industrial community of Zavolzhye. It was turned into a town in 1964.

During the construction of the Gorky hydroelectric power station some of the builders lived in the Pestovo Village on the right bank of Volga, and others lived in Gorodets town on the left river bank. For the latter Pestovo was on the other side of Volga and hence is the name Zavolzhsk, meaning “over Volga”.