Serdobsk is a Russian town, the administrative center of the Serdobsk District of the Penza Region.

It is located in the western suburb of the Volga Hills, on the banks of River Serdoba (the basin of Don), on the boundary of the steppe and forest-steppe, 111 km to the southwest of Penza. It has a railway station.

The town takes the overall area of 28 sq km.

History of Serdobsk

Serdobsk Settlement known since 1699 was environed with a shaft and served as a fortification against incursions of nomads. In 1717 it withstood a siege of the Crimean and Kuban Tatars. In the middle of the 18th century it became the Settlement of Big Serdoba.

It was the district town of Serdob in the Saratov Province from 1780 and became part of the Saratov Province in 1797.

In 1856 in the district town of Serdobsk in the Saratov Province had 3 churches, 321 houses, and 41 shops.

In the 19th century most of the town residents were engaged in agriculture, resinous wood distillation, tar craft and trade. The railroad was laid via Serdobsk in 1896.

During the Civil War Serdobsk was the arena of fights of the Red Army against the groups of insurgents A.S. Antonov and F. Popov.

In the 1920s and 1930s several small food enterprises were built there. During the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 some enterprises were evacuated from the western regions of the country to Serdobsk.

Architecture and Sights

The architectural outlook of the city is in many respects determined with the former merchant mansions of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The buildings of the former Municipality (1876), girls’ classical scool (1910), school (late 19th century), fire station (early 20th century), the Archangel Michael Cathedral (1895-1905).

20 km to the west of Serdobsk, near the village of Kurakino there is a palace and park ensemble of the late 18th century – early 19th century, the former estate Nadezhdino of Prince A.B. Kurakin.