Volokolamsk

History

It was first mentioned in the Voskresensk Chronicle under the year 1135. It was built by Novgorodian merchants on a 5-kilometer (3.1 mi) portage (Russian: Волок) on a waterway from Novgorod to Moscow and Ryazan, hence the name "Volokolamsk" (i.e., "Volok on the Lama"). In 1178, the town was burned by Vsevolod the Big Nest, who added it to Vladimir-Suzdal lands. His son Yaroslav II restored it to Novgorod in 1231. After the Mongol invasion of Rus', the town was divided into two parts: one assigned to Novgorod and another one to the Grand Dukes of Vladimir. The Principality of Tver failed to take it in 1273.

Ivan Kalita presented his part of the town to the boyar Rodion Nestorovich, who presently wrested the other part from Novgorod. In 1345, Simeon the Proud gave Volokolamsk to his father-in-law, one of Smolensk princes. While in possession of Smolensk, the town withstood a siege by Algirdas during the Lithuanian–Muscovite War (1368–72). Vladimir the Bold defeated Tokhtamysh near Volokolamsk in 1383. Soon thereafter, it reverted to Novgorod. The town remained the southernmost enclave of the Novgorod Republic until 1398, when Vasily I definitively incorporated it into the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Ten years later, it was granted for two years to Švitrigaila, who had just defected to Moscow. Having lost its Hanseatic trade and connections with Novgorod, the town declined and was not mentioned by any sources for the next half a century. It was in 1462, when Volokolamsk was given by Ivan III to his younger brother, that the town became the seat of a full-scale appanage principality. Its first prince erected the single-domed limestone Resurrection Cathedral, which still stands. Another prince was Andrey Volotsky; the chief monument from his reign is the three-domed cathedral of the Vyazmischi Cloister (1535).

In 1613, Volokolamsk braved a siege by Sigismund III Vasa, an event which led to the town's fortifications being represented on its coat of arms. By that time, Volokolamsk had been associated primarily with the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, situated 17 kilometers (11 mi) to the northeast.

The Soviet authority in Volokolamsk was established in late October 1917. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, a number of violent clashes between the German and Soviet troops and partisans took place near Volokolamsk. The town was under German occupation from October 27 to December 20, 1941, when it was liberated by the 331st Rifle Division.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Volokolamsk serves as the administrative center of Volokolamsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with seven rural localities, incorporated within Volokolamsky District as the Town of Volokolamsk. As a municipal division, the Town of Volokolamsk is incorporated within Volokolamsky Municipal District as Volokolamsk Urban Settlement.

Twin towns – sister cities

Volokolamsk is twinned with:

In Popular Culture

Alexander Bek's 1944 novel, Volokolamsk Highway («Волоколамское шоссе»), is a lightly-fictionalized account of the defensive fighting by elements of the 316th Rifle Division along the road from Volokolamsk to Moscow in October, 1941.