Kimry is an old town of the Tver Region. It is a cute and affable little town that unexpectedly stands out among the majority of similar quiet towns with its unique architectural image. One can hardly find many places like this in Russia with remaining fairy-like art nouveau architecture.
The town of Kimry stands on Volga River, at the inflow of small Kimrka, 133 km westward from Tver and 153 km away from Moscow.
Its railway station Savyolovo is on the line Moscow – Kalyazin. Kimry also has a river port on the right bank of Volga.
Sightseeing
In every street in the centre of the town one can see some unique, incomparable small houses or mansions.
It is interesting that Kimry got the status of a town only after 1917, so all these architectural monuments can be considered as stunning "rural" housing. Unfortunately, in the Soviet period the town’s architectural image was damaged. In 1936 new authorities blew up the cathedral complex on the central Troitsky Square, where Pokrovskaya Church (1816-1825) and Troitskaya Church (1829) stood on the bank of the confluence of Volga and Kimrka. The remaining Ascension Church (1814) on the other side of the river still looks wonderfully and makes the focus of the town.
Out of the recent cult constructions that have come down to us, one should mention the original Preobrazhenskiy (Transfiguration) Church (1906-1914) in the northeastern part of Kimry.
History
It is believed that the first settlement appeared here in the late Stone Age on the more picturesque and higher left bank of the Volga River, at the inflow of small river Kimrka into it. For the first time the village was recorded in 1546 as a court property in the letter of Ivan IV the Terrible to tax-farmers. In the 17th and 18th century Kimry belonged successively to families of princes, boyars and chancellors, and finally the last landlord gave a chance for Kimry dwellers to buy out their freedom, and 3000 villagers made it happen in 1847 by having paid the amount of 485 thousand roubles, a lot of money for that time.
It is interesting that throughout all the time of the settlement’s existence (since the 16th century) the villagers were engaged in the tanning craft, shoe-making and trading. This is what finally resulted in the blossoming of Kimry at the turn of the 19th century. Big orders of footwear for the army, especially during numerous wars (Crimean War 1853-1856; Russian-Turkish War 1877-1878; World War I), prompted fast development of Kimry and its housing development. At the turn of the 19th century there were already three tanneries, and dozens of shoe and tanning workshops. Railroad connecting Kimry to Moscow was put into operation at the same time. In 1907 there appeared the first mechanical factory Yakor, which had a water tower.
Such rapid development was bound to be reflected in the architectural outlook of Kimry. The central trading Troitskaya (Trinity) Square was paved in stone and street lanterns were set up. A solid new building in pseudo-Russian style was constructed next to old shopping arcade in 1914. Very quickly there sprang small and large shops, wooden and stone mansions owned by the local nobility. Everything was built “like in the capitals” – in the fashionable art nouveau, Neorussian and neoclassical styles. The fancifully graceful and asymmetrical art nouveau style with intensely curved lines, turrets and round windows came to prevail among the new architecture.