Tikhvin

The earliest information about the Tikhvin Prechistensky pogost, the settlement on the site of which first a settlement and later a town grew, dates back to 1383.

Its location at the crossroads of trade routes connecting the Volga River with Ladoga and the Baltic Sea ensured the rapid development of the Tikhvin pogost, the predecessor of the town of Tikhvin. By the beginning of the XVI century it was already a well-known trade and craft center.

In 1507-1515, at the expense of Moscow Grand Duke Vasily III, Italian architect Fryazin and Novgorod builder Dmitry Syrkov erected a monumental stone Dormition Cathedral for the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, modeled on the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which has survived to this day, in place of the burnt wooden Church of the Dormition.

In 1560, by order of Tsar Ivan IV, the Dormition Monastery was founded on the left bank of the Tikhvinka River. The Novgorod builder Fyodor Syrkov, son of Dmitry Syrkov (executed by Ivan the Terrible), was entrusted with the management of the work. Construction time was of special importance, so the tsar authorized the use of peasants from twenty volosts for all kinds of work.

During one spring-summer season of 1560, simultaneously with the Great Dormition Monastery, the Small Vvedensky Nunnery was erected, as well as two settlements, commercial and industrial settlements with a variety of residential, economic and religious buildings. The Dormition Monastery was originally surrounded by a log island-topped fence. Later, by the middle of the XVII century, it was replaced by walls consisting of two parallel wooden logs filled inside with earth and stones. A covered passage with loopholes ran along the top of the walls. Nine powerful towers rose above the walls. Thus, an important fortified point was created on the site of the ancient Tikhvin settlement, which played a major role in the defense of the northwestern borders of Russia.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Russian state experienced a deep internal crisis - the Time of Troubles. During the Polish-Swedish War (1600-1611), Swedish troops led by Delagardi were hired by Tsar Vasily Shuisky to fight against the pretender to the throne, False Dmitry II. Having failed to receive the promised payment in the form of the Russian fortress Korela, the rebellious Swedes captured Novgorod in 1611 and, taking advantage of the fact that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden had concluded a truce for ten months in April, the Swedes began to seize the Russian border lands of Novgorod - Korela, Yam, Ivangorod, Koporje and Gdov were captured. During this Russo-Swedish war of 1610-1617 on May 25, 1613, a rebellion against the Swedish garrison, organized by Leonty Artsybashev, begins in Tikhvin. The Tikhvin settlement was captured, looted and burned by Delagardi's detachments. But the people of the settlement, sheltering behind the fortress walls of the Dormition Monastery, withstood a long siege and numerous attacks of the enemies, and then defeated the Swedish army. The struggle of the Tikhvinians ended with the expulsion of the Swedes and marked the beginning of the liberation of the Novgorod land occupied by Swedish invaders, which was continued by Peter the Great in the 18th century to a victorious end at the cost of great efforts of the entire Russian people.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries Tikhvin settlement reached economic prosperity. Handicraft production was at a high level here. The products of Tikhvin blacksmiths were in particular demand. They were bought not only in Russian cities, but also abroad. Tikhvin became one of the points through which Russia's foreign trade was carried out, and the Tikhvin Fair was one of the largest in the country. The flourishing of trade and crafts in the XVII century contributed to the growth of the settlement, which spread over quite a large territory.

Since 1560 Tikhvin settlement was in vassal dependence on the Great Dormition and Small Vvedensky monasteries. Only on the territory of the monasteries - powerful feudal lords - stone construction was carried out. In the Assumption Monastery back in the XVI century besides the cathedral there were erected stone refectory with the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1581). The Holy Gate with the gatehouse Church of the Ascension and the side-chapel of Fyodor Stratilat (1591-1593), as well as a five-storied belfry (1600). Stone construction in the Tikhvin Dormition Monastery was especially intensive in the second half of the XVII century, when all wooden buildings were replaced by stone ones. As a result of these works on the territory of the monastery an ensemble was created, a historical and architectural monument of the XVI-XVII centuries. In its significant part it has been preserved up to nowadays. In the XVIII-XIX centuries the monastery buildings underwent some rebuilding, which changed their original appearance.

In 1723, after a long struggle, the inhabitants of the Tikhvin settlement were freed from the monastery administration. Tikhvinians received their own administrative body - the magistracy, which was subordinated to the Novgorod provincial chancellery. The settlement was finally separated from the monasteries only in 1764 after the decree on the transfer of monastic lands to the state.

In 1773 Tikhvin received the status of a district town of Tikhvin uyezd of Novgorod province.

In the XIX century Tikhvin continued to develop as a trade and craft center. Its economic importance increased due to the opening of the Tikhvin water system in 1811. Hundreds of ships - "Tikhvinoks" with cargoes sailed past Tikhvin from St. Petersburg to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. Up to six thousand ships a year passed through the Tikhvin Canal. Many residents of Tikhvin worked on timber floating and on water carriage transportation.

Since 1918 the town of Tikhvin and Tikhvin uyezd as part of the newly formed Cherepovets province.

Since August 1, 1927 the town of Tikhvin - the center of Tikhvin district of Leningrad district of Leningrad region (since July 23, 1930 directly in Leningrad region).

During the Great Patriotic War Tikhvin was occupied by Nazi Germany (see Tikhvin Defensive Operation on November 8, 1941.) It was liberated by the Red Army on December 9, 1941 as a result of the Tikhvin Offensive Operation. Tikhvin was the first town liberated during the Tikhvin Offensive Operation. of the Red Army's 1941 winter counteroffensive  (Polish)Russian.. During the war years many architectural monuments were destroyed.

On July 19, 1945 the city of Tikhvin was classified as a city of regional subordination.

In 1970 the historical center of Tikhvin, except for one street, was planned to be completely demolished for the construction of a residential neighborhood for the employees of the Transmash plant. The center consists mainly of wooden buildings. The Leningrad regional branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture and personally T. A. Slavina were concerned about the news.

October 24, 1974 for services in the defense of the state, courage and heroism shown by workers during the war, Tikhvin was awarded the Order of Patriotic War I degree.

Since January 1, 2006 Tikhvin is the center of Tikhvin urban settlement within Tikhvin raion.

By the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev of November 4, 2010 the city of Tikhvin "for courage, fortitude and mass heroism shown by the defenders of the city in the fight for freedom and independence of the Fatherland" was awarded the honorary title of the Russian Federation "City of Military Glory".

In October 2016, the Monument to the Children of the Siege of Leningrad, who died during the evacuation in October 1941, was unveiled near the Tikhvin railway station. The monument was unveiled on the 75th anniversary of the bombing of the Tikhvin station by Wehrmacht aviation, during which it bombed two echelons with children and wounded Red Army soldiers evacuated from Leningrad.