Semyonov is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, famous for being a major center for traditional handcrafts such as Khokhloma

Khokhloma

Khokhloma or Khokhloma painting is the name of a Russian wood painting handicraft style, known for its vivid flower patterns, red and gold colors over a black background, and the distinctive effect it has when applied to cheap and light wooden tableware or furniture, making it look heavier,...

 wood painting and matryoshkas. Population:

History

The town was formed in the beginning of the 17th century as a settlement of Old Believers

Old Believers

In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...

. According to an Old Believer legend, the Old Believer settlement in the area was spurred by the existence of the ancient Olenevsky Skete

Skete

A Skete is a monastic style community that allows relative isolation for monks, but alsoallows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection...

  (today, the village of Bolshoye Olenevo, some 24 km south-east from Semenov), which had supposedly been founded in the 15th century by some of Venerable Macarius

Macarius of Unzha

Venerable Macarius of the Yellow Water Lake and the Unzha, the Miracle Worker is a Saint of Russian Orthodox Church.He is credited with the founding of four monasteries in the Middle and Upper Volga regions of Russia....

's monks to commemorate their leader's Miracle of the Moose

Miracle of the Moose

Venerable Macarius' Miracle of the Moose is a miracle associated with the name ofVenerable Macarius of the Yellow Water Lake and the Unzha ,a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church...

 that took place at that site, and later joined the Raskol

Raskol

Raskol |schism]]') was the event of splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in mid-17th century, triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653, aiming to establish uniformity between the Greek and Russian church practices.-The Raskol:...

.

Today's Semyonov was first mentioned as Semyonov's hamlet in 1644, later as Semyonovo village, and from 1779 as the uyezd town of Semyonov.

From the beginning of the 19th to the early 20th century, it was a center for Old Believers movement and the only place to produce Old Believers' religious items such as lestovka

Lestovka

Lestovka or vervitsa is a special type of prayer rope made of leather, once in general use in old Russia, and is still used by Russian Old Believers today, such as the Russian Orthodox Oldritualist Church.-Form and symbolism:...

 prayer beads.

Economics & crafts factory

Since 1918 Khokhloma wood painting

Khokhloma

Khokhloma or Khokhloma painting is the name of a Russian wood painting handicraft style, known for its vivid flower patterns, red and gold colors over a black background, and the distinctive effect it has when applied to cheap and light wooden tableware or furniture, making it look heavier,...

 became a major craft in Semyonov. In 1960 Semyonov was organised as a factory named Khokhlomskaya rospis ("", Russian for "Khokhloma painting").

This factory specialized in the production of hand-painted wooden items (ranging from tableware to toys and furniture) with unique style, and also matryoshka dolls, marketed as souvenir items. The factory offers tours around the various stages of production and visitors can see craftspeople making and painting the items in traditional Russian styles.

Transportation

Semenov is located on the Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

-Kotelnich

Kotelnich

Kotelnich is a river port town in Kirov Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Vyatka River near its confluence with the Moloma, along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, southwest of Kirov. Population:...

 railway, which is part of one of the main routes used by trains travelling from Moscow to the Urals and Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

. The city is served by electric commuter trains

Elektrichka

Elektrichka is an informal word for elektropoyezd , a Soviet or post-Soviet regional electrical multiple unit passenger train. Elektrichkas are widespread in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union....

, connecting it to Nizhny Novgorod in just over an hour.

External links

• Mojgorod.ru. Entry on Semyonov