Kineshma

Historical information
Temples
Museums
Accommodation    Kineshma is one of the oldest industrial centres of the upper Volga region. The history of Kineshma begins from III-II thousand B.C. with a settlement at the Upper Volga of Finno-Ugric tribe. They gave the name to their "motherland"- Kineshma, that means "dark, deep water" or "quiet, convenient harbour".
    The first records about Kineshma date 1429 in connection with the Tatar-Mongolian invasion. In 1504 the Moscow prince Ivan III in the special spiritual letter gave Kineshma to Prince F.I.Belskiy. Five centuries have passed through, but the name of a part of the town - Belovskaya is kept. In different periods of the 16th century Kineshma was a state ancestral lands and a private property. Kineshma went through the period of the big heroic battles at the beginning of the 17th century. The Home guard of Kineshma under the guidance of voevode Fedor Bobarykin made its contribution to defence of Russia in 1609 during Polish-Lithuanian intervention. The stone chapels were constructed in memory of this heroic period of the history of Kineshma.
    On the 29th of May 1779 the coat of arms was given to Kineshma according to the edict of the senate. The coat of arms is executed as a shield. At the top of it on the blue background a gallery is represented (an accessory of all towns of the Kostroma province) and at the bottom on the green background - "two bundles of linen, showing that the town will carry out a notable market".
    Linen industry successfully developed in Kineshma from the beginning of the 18th century only on local raw materials, guided by the foreign markets. By the middle of the 19th century not a trace had remained from the former developing linen industry in Kineshma. However, while manufacturers were building new enterprises in Kineshma and its district, trade was widely, briskly conducted, especially during fairs, which were glorified on the Volga. These fairs were held twice a year in Kineshma.
    Kineshma and its district are known as the most favourite places of rest and inspiration of many well-known people of Russia. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, whose life is inseparably related with Kineshma, annually, since May and even since April, till October worked in his country estate, bought by his father. That was the place, where the writer found peace for his creative work. He was also elected the honourable Justice of the Peace of Kineshma district. The great playwright, being a lawyer by education, made a lot of kind on this field for the country population. In 10 years after his death the musical-literary circle was created and then the theatre after his name. More than hundred years the theatre has carried Ostrovsky's name with honour.
    The name of another writer, A.A.Potehin, also is linked with Kineshma. He wrote a remarkable book of stories and essays "District small town Kineshma". The house, where he was born in 1829, is situated in the street Ryleevskaya. The large part of the exposition of a study of local lore museum is devoted to the great fellow countryman.
    The pride and glory of the town - scientists which are well-known in the world: a Russian epizootologist, doctor of Medicine, one of the main organisers of veterinary affair in Russia, V.F.Nagorsky and the scientist- economist, the author of the theory of economic conjuncture, N.D.Kondratev. Memory stands of these great scientists are made in the local lore museum.
    The life of a remarkable admiral G.I.Nevelsky is linked with Kineshma. In the museum there are his photos, he model of the vessel "Baikal", on which he made the known Amour trip, the devices, used by him in the expedition and wife's letter.
    Kineshma and surrounding picturesque nature attracted many remarkable people. The Great Russian composer A.D.Borodin was here in 1880 and wrote an opera "Prince Igor". S.Rahmaninov and S.Prokofev also were in the district of Kineshma. On the left bank of the Volga there was a country estate, belonging to the wife of the Great Russian astronomer and academician F.A.Bredihin. The scientist lived in it each summer. Here he died and was buried. Wonderful and picturesque scenes of these places, virgin forests and endless fields captured minds of the well-known Russian artists such as B.Kustoedov, L.Chernov- Plessky, and P.Krivonogov.
    By the beginning of the 20th century Kineshma was decorated with 12 temples. Now there are 10 temples, 6 of which-working.
    At present, the largest keeper of the historic-cultural heritage of the town is the state museum of History and Fine Arts of Kineshma, in which expositions the richest material on the history of Kineshma from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century is presented, there are also works of Russian and West-European art of the 18th – 20th centuries.

Makaryev-Reshemsky monastery
155440, Ivanovo region, Kineshemsky district, Reshma village
Tel.: (093) 31-98-343

    The monastery was founded at the close of the XXIV century near a large village Reshma within twenty kilometres from Kineshma on the right high bank of the Volga river by a monk of Pechersky Nizhegorodsky monastery , Reverend Makary Unzhensky and Zheltovodsky miracle man. Men’s abode was named in the name of the God’s Epiphany (has become known under the name of Makaryeva Hermitage). According the legend Reverend Makary and his disciples dug out under the mountain a well. The water therefrom is considered the healing one.
    At the beginning of the XVII century the monastery was ravaged during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. Restored at the tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
    Since 1764 - downgraded. It found itself in a grievous state. In 1767 it was built instead of the old ramshackle wooden church in the name of Life Giving Trinity a stone one with a hipped bell-tower, three altars, ancient painting, fretwork tsar’s gates , ancient icons. In 1883 it is enclosed with a stone fence with turrets. It was subject to natural calamities: (storm in 1844, fires in 1854-2955), Since 1901 it is a nunnery., it has begun the renewal of the abode.
    After 1917 the nunnery existed as an agricultural artel. On the 13.03.1929 the rest of the nunnery property was turned over to working parish Christ’s Christmas church. In 1940 the last working church was closed. On the place of the wrecked church of the Trinity it was built a school., in the two-storey cells it was located an educational corps of the boarding school. There were wrecked other nunnery buildings.
    In 1991 it was opened in Reshma a , by some miracle remained, Nikolskaya church.
    In 1992 some settlers of Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra came here. Round the parish church it began to revive a monastic life. In 1994 St. Nikolsky parish was renamed to Makaryev-Reshemskaya monastic commune and in 1998 it was changed to the monastery. In the monastery there are kept particles of holy relics of Reverend Makary Zheltovodsky and of many other saints. The monastery is involved in an enlightenment work : it is opened an orthodox school named after Reverend Joan Kronstadtsky , it is published an almanac “Light of orthodoxy, there are given lectures, settlers study liturgy, orthodox pedagogy.
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