Tver Region
// GENERAL INFORMATION
Tver Region is located in the central part of the East European Plain and is one of the largest regions in European Russia, with a total area of 84 100 km2. It borders on Smolensk Region in the south, Novgorod Region in the west, Volgograd Region in the north, and Moscow Region in the east. It has a population of 1 651 000.
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The region was formed on January 29, 1935, and until 1990 was called Kalinin Region. It is divided territorially and administratively into 36 districts, 23 cities (12 under regional jurisdiction), 4 city districts, 33 towns, and 613 rural administrations. The largest cities are Tver, Rzhev, Vyshny Volochek, Kimry, and Torzhok.
The regional center is the city of Tver situated on the upper Volga. The city arose in 1180 out of craft trading settlements located next to monasteries not far from the mouth of the Tvertsa River.
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Tver Region has large deposits of brown coal, peat, glassmaking sand, limestone, dolomite, and mineral fertilizers; it is also famous for its mineral springs.
The main rivers are the Volga, Mologa, and Tvertsa. There are hundreds of lakes, including Seliger Lake, and nine reservoirs. The climate is temperate continental with an average January temperature of -9 °C, an average July temperature of +17 °C, and annual precipitation of about 650 mm. The terrain is flat.
The region is located in the southern taiga and subtaiga zones. Forests consisting mainly of spruce and pine cover nearly 50% of the region's territory.
Natural conditions are favorable for the population, but the ecological situation is generally acute, mainly as a result of industrial air, water, and soil pollution and forest degradation.
The most important industrial sectors are engineering and metalworking (excavators, railway passenger cars, textile equipment, farm machinery, electrical goods, and instruments), the textile industry (cotton, wool, and silk fabrics), the chemical industry (synthetic fibers, glass fiber plastics, and printing inks), and the printing, woodworking, pulp and paper, glass, and porcelain industries.
Agriculture is oriented towards livestock farming.
HISTORY
According to archival information, there was already a settlement on the point of land at the confluence of the Tmaka and Volga rivers in the 9th and 10th centuries. A fortress was built on the site much later, during the fighting between the Rostov-Suzdal princes and Novgorod. The founding date for Tver is generally considered to be 1181. In the 12th century, Tver was a small fortress on the western border of the Suzdal principality. It became part of the Pereyaslavl principality in the first half of the 13th century; and then about 1247, it became the capital of the Tver principality, with the Tver Kremlin as its historic center. It was made the center of a bishopric in 1265. Tver was burned twice (1276 and 1282), but nothing could interfere with its growth and development. The stone church of Feodor was built at the mouth of the Tmaka River between 1323 and 1325, and ties were established with Lithuania that lasted until 1485.
In the 15th century, Tver was a large trade and cultural center and one of Russia's most developed cities. Information about casting of bells and extensive stone construction in Tver dates from this time. A stone prince's palace, a stone cathedral bell tower, and stone churches (Ivan Miloslavsky, Boris and Gleb, Archangel Michael) were built in the Kremlin; stone churches were also built at the Fedorovsky and Zheltikov monasteries. However, these were the last days of Tver's power as the center of an independent principality.
Muscovite forces occupied the city in 1485, and Tver principality's independent political existence came to an end. It became part of the centralized Russian state but remained an important trade and industrial center. Stone construction continued; White Trinity (Belaya Troitsa) Church has been preserved from that time.
In 1708, Tver became part of the newly established province of Ingermanland (St. Petersburg from 1710 onward), and then in 1727, was added to Novgorod Province. Since Tver was located on important trade and strategic routes, the government of Catherine the Great took special measures to rebuild the city.
In 1775, Tver once again became the center of the Tver governorship (Tver Province as of 1796).
From 1809 to 1812, Tver was the center of the newly organized Tver, Yaroslavl, and Novgorod governorship. Putevoi Palace became the residence of the governor-general, Prince G.F. Oldenburg.
Aleksandr Pushkin visited Tver a number of times between 1820 and 1830; and celebrated figures such as poet Fedor Glinka, dramatist Aleksandr Ostrovsky, writers Fedor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ivan Lazhechnikov, and Aleksandr Ertel and many others lived here in the 19th century.
The city's development kept up with the times. All events occurring in Russia were reflected in its social, political, and cultural life. The first congress of zemstvo doctors [doctors who worked for municipal health care systems organized by local assemblies known as zemstvo in the 19th century] was held here in 1871, and the Tver provincial scientific archive committee was set up in 1884. Between late 1850 and early 1860, the city was one of the centers of the liberal movement, and a committee to organize and improve the lives of household serfs was established. During the same years, the Samolet steamship company was set up on the Volga River, the first passenger ships were built, and the first factories opened. A factory manufacturing parts for textile machines, a number of sawmills, and a large steam-powered mill began operating in 1873. Construction of a carriage works began in 1897, and the first railway cars came out the following the year.
Educational institutions, including a theological seminary, the Maksimovich Women's Teacher's College, a diocesan women's school, and a women's business school were built in Tver in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hotels, religious institutions, living quarters for workers, housing for workers at the Morozovskaya and Pozhdestvenskaya factories, the National Theater, a post office, and a bank were also built. The first telephones were installed in the city in 1893, and the first intercity telephone exchange was built in 1898. The first car appeared on the streets in 1895. A bridge across the Volga was built at the turn of the century, and the first electric trams were launched and street lighting began in 1901. The first movie theater opened in 1905, and a plane landed in Tver for the first time in 1910. And it was in Tver that engineer Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich made the first Russian vacuum tube.
Revolutionary activities began in Tver in 1902 with the establishment of the Tver committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDRP). During the Civil War [1918-1921], many companies were shut down, which had a negative impact on the city's economic development. However, its vital activities began to revive immediately after the end of the war, with the help of so-called "shock work" and Communist subbotniki [voluntary unpaid work done on days off, especially on Saturday (subbota in Russian)].
In 1929, Tver Province became the center of a division and then of a district of Moscow Region.
In 1930, a new government-inspired campaign in the fight to separate church and state was launched in Tver, in which nearly all bell towers were demolished. In 1931, Tver was renamed Kalinin and became the center of the newly formed Kalinin Region. At that time, a regional philharmonic, music school, and regional art gallery opened, and an academy, the Star (Zvezda) movie theater, and a river port were built. Construction of new streets began, e.g., Kalinin, Tchaikovsky, Vagzhanov.
The Second World War changed all this. Thousands of buildings (7714 in all) were destroyed, and more than 70 companies were put out of commission. A difficult period of reconstruction began, followed by a wave of industrial construction. A whole series of buildings, including a drama theater, Palace of Culture, and the Gorki Library, were constructed after 1945. By 1990, the city had more than 80 industrial companies in 28 different sectors.
In 1989, a joint session of the city and district Soviets of People's Deputies of Kalinin decided to restore the city's historic name of Tver. A celebration in honor of the restoration of the city's true name was held on July 29, 1990. Tver's coat of arms, first approved by Empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great) in 1780, was officially reinstated on November 16, 1990.
RESOURCES
Tver Region has the largest explored peat reserves in European Russia, a well-developed production base, and facilities for peat production and processing. There are also reserves of limestone, brick clay, quartz sand, crushed stone, and gravel, as well as production of brown coal, glassmaking sand, dolomite, and mineral pigments. Mineral water used for medicinal purposes can also be considered a mineral resource. A resort has been built around the well known Kashinka mineral waters, and there are other springs near Torzhok (Mitino) and Konakovo (Karacharovo). There is a large deposit of high-quality rock salt in the western part of the region, and oil and gas are produced in the northeast and south.
Tver Region has abundant water resources. There are more than 600 large lakes and many smaller lakes, including Seliger Lake, the jewel of the territory, and more than 800 rivers and streams with a combined length of 17 000 km. The Volga, Dnieper, Western Dvina (Daugava), and Msta rivers have their sources in Tver Region. Much of the region lies in the Caspian Sea basin, except for the western and northwestern districts, which lie in the Baltic Sea basin. The upper Volga and its left tributaries, the Selizharovka, Tma, Tvertsa, Medveditsa, Kashinka, and Mologa rivers, and right tributaries, the Vazuza, Tmaka, Shosha, and Nerl rivers, all flow through the region. The largest lakes are Seliger, Sterzh, Vselug, Peno, Volgo, Sig, Kaftino, and Velikoe. Reservoirs have been built on a number of rivers, including the Volga (Ivankovskoe, Uglichskoe, and Rybinskoe reservoirs), Vazuza (Vazuzskoe reservoir), and Tsna (Vyshnevolotskoe reservoir); altogether, there are nine reservoirs. Residents of Moscow and Moscow Region drink water from Tver Region; and the main watershed of European Russia runs along the Valdai Hills in the western part of the region, forming a source of drinking water for European Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic countries. This means that all industries located in the region must be nonpolluting.
Most of the region is located in the forest zone. Mixed coniferous-deciduous forests cover 4.5 million hectares, the most heavily forested areas being the southwestern and northwestern districts (50-70%). In addition to the most common species (spruce, pine, and birch), you may encounter the occasional oak, maple, ash, elm, larch, cedar, and other trees that are fairly rare in these areas. Heather and juniper grow on the hills and uplands; rowan bushes with moss and lingonberries, on the dry plains; and Labrador tea, ragged robin, and blueberries, in the wet lowlands. Dryland meadows cover nearly 2 million hectares, and floodplain meadows are found in river valleys.
Bogs, including peat bogs, cover more than 6% of the region. Extensive moss bogs are found in the forests and in low-lying areas between hills. They are generally formed as a result of slow, centuries-long overgrowth of shallow lakes and glacial rills, a process that is still going on. Reeds, cattails, horsetail, lilies, white water lilies, duckweed, squill, vetch (a plant with a poisonous root), water crowfoot, Elodea, parrot feather, pondweed, and hornwort grow luxuriously on all small lakes. As the bogs form, a new marshland flora develops on them. The largest bog in the area is Swan Moss [Lebyazhy (Anushinsky) Mokh], which is 25 km long and from 5 to 15 km wide. According to local residents, swans inhabit a small remote lake in the bog known as Swan (Lebyazhye) Lake. Lebyazhy Mokh is noted for large peat deposits up to 8 m thick. In its vegetation, it is a typical sphagnum bog covered with sphagnum moss, arrowgrass, cranberry, cassandra, and Labrador tea. The huge water reserves contained in the bogs are primary sources of supply for rivers; for example, it is well known that 1 m3 of peat retains nearly 10 m3 of water. Bogs soak up water like a sponge during spring runoff and gradually release it over the summer. Large tracts of lingonberries and cranberries grow in the local bogs, and many birds and animals find refuge in the deep forest.
Large numbers of wild animals live in the region's still relatively undisturbed forests. Among them are hoofed animals like moose, roe deer, and wild boar and fur-bearing animals, such as bears, wolves, lynx, foxes, raccoon dogs, squirrels, martens, hares, polecats, stoats, and weasels. Animals like the beaver, mink, and otter live in the rivers and streams.
The moose is considered the crowning glory of the forest. Young pines and willow and aspen brush make a good forage reserve for animals. The beautiful, graceful European roe deer is occasionally encountered in the forests here, and wild boar hide in reed beds and other vegetation around bogs in summer. The shaggy brown bear considers himself the master of the forests. In summer, you often see the tracks of this enormous but usually peaceful beast on remote sandy roads and paths. It inhabits evergreen forests, where there are a lot of fallen trees and ant hills.
Enormous numbers of birds can be seen and heard in the region. In spring and early summer, the land is filled with the sound of bird voices and songs. Hazel grouse whistle in the fir woods, and woodpeckers tap. Nightingales trill in cherry bushes. Thrushes and chiffchaffs sing, and cuckoos cry "cuckoo". The capercaillie (or wood grouse), the largest and wariest bird of the Russian forests, lives deep within swampy spruce and pine thickets. The characteristic drumming of black grouse is often heard in spring in birch forests, clearings, fields, and forest borders. Woodcock like to put on displays in low forest and young birch and aspen woods and above meadows, roads, and cuttings. Snipe are often heard above moist hollows. Enormous flocks of ducks, more rarely geese, and occasionally swans descend on the lakes in spring and fall.
Fish such as bream, pike perch, pike, perch, roach, bleak, silver bream, smelt, and ruff are common inhabitants of the region's lakes and rivers. Ide, tench, crucian, burbot, vendace, cyprinid, gudgeon, eels, and peled are more rarely caught. Single cisco, grayling, asp, sicklefish, carp, rudd, lamprey, dace, spined loach, bullhead, and loach are encountered. Trout are raised artificially on fish farms. Catfish are found in some lakes, and crayfish are found in some small lakes along with fish.
ECONOMY
Tver Region is part of the Central economic district. The region's diversified industry is of great importance to the local economy, the main industrial sectors being the processing and textile industries and engineering.
The region is noted for high-end, labor-intensive engineering products, as well as products of the chemical, light, and printing industries. The porcelain and confectionery industries are also important. Engineering is one of the leading industries in the cities of Tver Region. The companies in this industry typically manufacture highly specialized products that are in demand both in Russia and on the world market. Companies manufacturing finished products, e.g., excavators, flax combines, railway passenger cars, machine tools, and equipment for various industries, predominate in the region.
Other developed sectors include production and repair of textile and chemical industry equipment and manufacture of metal products and structural elements for the engineering industry.
Light industry is also very important to the regional economy, particularly the textile industry, which is one of the oldest light industry sectors. Tver is a leading producer of cotton, linen, and silk fabrics. The region has always been famous for its bumper flax crops; therefore, local raw materials are used to make linen fabrics.
Tver Region's high industrial potential requires large amounts of electric and thermal power; thus, the power industry ranks second in industrial output. The Konakovo Thermal Power Plant (Konakovskaya GRES) is the largest power plant. Nuclear power is gaining importance as well; the most powerful nuclear power plant is located in Udomlya.
The food industry accounts for about 20% of total production. The main sectors in this industry are flour milling, confectionery, meat and dairy products, bread baking, and nonalcoholic and alcoholic drinks.
The forest industry is represented by nearly 400 logging and timber processing companies, which export most of their production. Companies in this sector are restructuring to manufacture products on the basis of chemical and mechanochemical treatment of timber in the main logging areas in order to eliminate unnecessary transport. This will allow more efficient use of the entire mass of cut timber, including wood waste, and the production of marketable goods, such as cardboard containers, wallboard, and pulp chips.
A convenient geographic location, reliable transportation connections, the availability of building sites suitable for new industrial facilities, and skilled personnel create all the necessary conditions for increasing the region's industrial potential.
Agriculture is a vitally important economic sector for any region, since the well-being of the population depends on its level of development. It provides food for the population and raw materials for manufacturing consumer goods.
The natural climatic conditions in Tver Region contribute to a high level of agricultural development. Yields per hectare are twice the Russian average figure. The most important agricultural sectors are beef and dairy cattle, crops such as spring wheat, rye, buckwheat, vegetables, and industrial crops like flax. More than 30% of all land sown in flax in Russia is located in Tver Region. Small, suburban-type holdings producing vegetables, potatoes, milk, meat, and eggs are a special line of activity in the region. These holdings are located around large cities and supply essential food products to city residents.
Plant cultivation is the foundation of agriculture, since the development of all other agricultural sectors depends on its level of development. Cropland occupies 1 155 400 hectares, or 18.8% of the region's territory. Grain growing is the leading area of specialization (410 800 hectares), followed by potatoes (51 600 hectares), flax (45 800 hectares), and vegetables (10 000 hectares). Flax is grown mainly in the central and eastern districts of the region. Cultivation of feed crops is another important sector (about 45% of the total sown area).
Most of the region's large livestock farms are located in the eastern and central district. The cattle population is 480 200 head. The annual milk yield per cow is 2168 kg on average. Poultry farming is a new, highly mechanized sector that specializes in meat and egg production. One of the region's largest poultry factories is the Zavidovskaya plant, which produces not only eggs and meat, but also sausage, dairy products, mayonnaise, pasta, and powdered eggs, although basic production is the most profitable. The number of laying hens is about 420 000 out of a total flock of 892 000, a number that will increase in the future. Even now, the Zavidovskaya plant produces a third of all poultry products in Tver Region.
The food- and flax-processing industries expand along with agriculture. Each company has its own raw material area. The food-processing industry includes companies in the meat (11 meat-packing plants), butter and cheese, flour-milling, bread-baking, confectionery, and distilling sectors.
The region has a well-developed infrastructure consisting of railway, river, motor vehicle, air, and pipeline transportation systems. Tver Region has one of the highest proportions of paved roads in the country. The region's location between Russia's two capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, has an obvious influence on traffic flows from Northern Europe and the Baltic countries to central Russia.
Small business has expanded in recent years, and there are now more than 1700 small businesses of various forms of ownership in Tver.
Rapid economic growth has contributed to the expansion of foreign economic ties and the attraction of both Russian and foreign investments. The region has entered into international business cooperation with companies in Italy, Germany, France, the United States, Finland, and Hungary.
AUTHORITIES
Government in the region consists of the Administration, which is formed for the purposes of supporting the activities of the Governor as the highest official and exercising the governmental authority he assigns to it. The Charter of Tver Region is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Tver Region is the region's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body in the city of Tver is the Tver Administration, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate normal development of the city.
CULTURE AND ART
Tver is the heart of Russia in every sense of the word: as a land of forests, lakes, and rivers; as a historical and cultural center; and as the crossroads of domestic and international transportation routes. A varied landscape, beautiful nature, and a geographic location between Russia's two capitals have contributed to the prosperity of Tver Region. The large numbers of historical, archeological, architectural, and cultural monuments bear witness to Tver's vital activity from ancient times to the present. Tver Region is especially rich in monuments of the 13th-20th centuries. Fourteen cities in the region have been granted the status of "Monument to Town Planning". Fascinating walking, cycling, automobile, boat, and other tours have been developed for tourists.
Lovers of antiquity will be interested in learning about Tver's monasteries. The oldest of these are Boris and Gleb (12th century) and Otoroch-Uspensky (13th century). Nil's Hermitage, which marked its 400th anniversary in 1994, is an especially revered religious center.
Tver has 42 Orthodox churches and 1 Lutheran church. The buildings of 21 of these churches have been preserved, most of them built in the 13th-19th centuries. Transfiguration Cathedral, where the remains of the sainted Grand Prince Mikhail Yaroslavovich, killed by Tatar-Mongol forces in 1318, lie in a silver sepulcher, is unusually beautiful. The 14th century Church of the Holy Trinity is eyecatching with its silver cupolas and regal carved iconostasis gate. A mosque was opened in the city center in the late 19th century.
One of the city's most interesting historical monuments is the imperial palace (formerly Putevoi Palace, now the governor's residence) built in 1763 during the reign of Catherine the Great. Emperor Alexander I was a frequent visitor, and writer Nikolai Karamzin read the first chapters of his book History of the Russian State to him here. Today, there is a historical museum in one wing of the palace, where Stone Age tools, articles excavated from archeological digs, and other ancient objects, such as crosses, icons, coins, and textiles.
Another beautiful building preserved in the city center is the Tver Gymnasium (now the premises of a medical school and a workers' educational center) on Millionnaya St. Well-known writer Ivan Lazhechnikov was director of the gymnasium from 1831 to 1837. He was the author of the historical novels The Last Courtier, The Palace of Ice, and The Heretic and later vice-governor of Tver.
The original layout of the city center has been preserved to this day. The center was built on the site of major fires of 1767 and 1773 according to the designs of Russian architects I.I. Betsky and P.R. Nikitin in the time of Catherine the Great.
A beautiful columned hall adorns the building of the Assembly of the Nobility (now the Officers' House) dating from 1841. It was the creation of the famous architect Carlo Rossi and sculptor Ivan Vitali.
A monument to Russian explorer and narrator Afanasy Nikitin stands on the left bank of the river across from the city center.
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (vice-governor from 1860 to 1862) lived in Tver until 1917. The house on Rybatskaya St. where the writer once lived is now a memorial museum.
Fable writer Ivan Krylov served on the Tver city council in his younger years; and Fedor Dostoevsky stopped in Tver for several months in 1859 while returning from exile in Siberia.
Other famous Tver natives include aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev (1888-1972), writer Boris Polevoi (Kampov; 1908-1981), and Stalinist ideologue Andrei Zhdanov (1898-1948).
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