Bezhetsk is a Russian town in the Tver Region. It is located in the Bezhetsky Verkh Upland, on the right bank of the Mologa River (the Volga basin), 130 km to north-east of Tver.

It has a railway station. The town taked the overall area of 18 sq km.

History of Bezhetsk

The settlement of Bezhichi was recorded in charters of the Novgorod Prince Svyatoslav in 1137. The name apparently comes from the Old Russian “bezh” meaning “refugees, or fugitives”. A legend associates its origin with refugees from Novgorod.

It belonged to the Tver Principality and after its fall in 1485 Bezhetsk became part of Moscow.

From the early 13th century Bezhitsk was the center of the extensive district of Bezhetsky Verkh that was destroyed in 1272.

The administrative center of the district was moved from Bezhetsky Verkh to Gorodetsk Fortress located 20 km to the south, the place of modern Bezhetsk. Bezhetsky Verkh was attributed to the Ingermanland Province (St. Petersburg Provinc since 1710) in 1708 and the Uglitsk Province (the Moscow Province from 1727) in since 1719. In 1766 Gorodetsk was renamed into Bezhetsk. From 1775 it was the district town of the Tver Province.

In 1856 in the district town of Bezhetsk of the Tver Province had 11 churches, 745 houses, and 151 shops.

The Vindavo-Rybinsky railroad was laid through Bezhetsk in 1876 and soon it made the town a large center of trade in flax. Linen industry was the main industry here till 1917.

Architecture and Sights

Bezhetsk has a number of old churches: Cathedral of the Elevation of the Holy Cross (1670), the Transfiguration Church (1772), Kazan Church (1775), and the belltower of Vvedenskaya Church (1682). Other historical buildings include the shopping arcade of the early 19th century. The town garden has the monument to V. Ya. Shishkov.

9 km away from Bezhetsk there used to be the Gumilyovs’ estate of Slepnyovo, where Anna Akhmatova and Nikolay Gumilyov spent summertime from 1911 to 17.