Kirishi District

Subject / Topography/Administrative - territorial division
KIRISHI DISTRICT, a part of Leningrad Oblast. Area: 3009 sq. km. Population: 67,700. In the west, it borders Tosno, in the north-west, Kirovsk, in the north, Volkhov, and in the east, Tikhvin Districts of Leningrad Oblast; in the south-east, with Lyubytin District, and in the south, with Novgorod Oblast. The district has 80 rural locations united in six rural settlements, and two urban settlements, Budogosch and Kirishi. It established in 1932 as a result of renaming of Andreevsky District and attachment of the area of the canceled Budogosch District. The initial center of the district was Noviye Kirishi settlement (until 1931, Soltsi village). In 1943, after the settlement was destroyed in WWII, the industrial settlement of Budogosch became the district center, and since 1965, the town of Kirishi. K. D. is crossed by the Mga-Pestovo and Volkhovstroy-Chudovo railroads, and the Budogosch-Tikhvin railway branch. The motor roads have approaches to the Novaya Ladoga-Murmansk, Novaya Ladoga-Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg-Moscow routes. There are loading docks on the Volkhov River, at Kirishi Town and at Pcheva village. In ancient times, these areas were very sparsely populated. By the end of the 1st millennium A.D., the Volkhov land was being actively colonized by the Slav tribes, with the Volkhov River becoming an important trading and transport route (see “Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks.”) Today’s K. D. has several settlements known from written sources of the break of the 15th and 16th centuries. From the mid-18th century, the Kirishi (Zakhozhsky) handicraft of lace making with spindles was developing there (see Zakhozhsky lace.) In the first half of the 19th century, an estate of the Decembrists Bestuzhev appeared in Soltsi settlement on the left-hand bank of the Volkhov; A. A. Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) lived there in the 1810s –1820s. In the early 20th century, N. K. Roerich traveled down the Volkhov and described his journey. In the 1930s, the sawmill and timber processing industry began to develop in K. D. During WWII, the district’s economy was heavily damaged, and its restoration process started in the 1960s. Currently, it is one of the industrially developed districts of Leningrad Oblast. The principal sectors of industry are oil refining (Industrial company "Kirishinefteorgsintez"), power engineering (Kirishi District Powerplant) and wood processing. Besides, enterprises of the chemical, glass, food, and light industries successfully operate in K. D. K. D. has a central district library with several branches, incl. Kirishi Town Library, central children’s and town children’s library, 3 music schools (in Kirishi, Budogosch, and Glazhevo settlement), children’s school of arts, Palace of Children’s and Youth Creativity, 19 culture centers and social clubs, Youth Center, Palace of Culture, and a picture gallery. The newspaper "Kirishsky Fakel" is published, and operates the Kirishi Radio station. The Kirishi museum of local history works actively. The school of Glazhevo Settlement has a “Russian Izba” center of traditional Russian lifestyle. The library of Sredneye Selo has a mini museum of folk art and paintings of V. G. Starov, Prof. of the Academy of Arts and National Artist of Russia. Annual festival of folk art “Eternal Love For Our Cradle” is held in K. D. The reserve “Clean Moss” located near Kirishi Town is a protected natural area.
See also: Kirishi District: Arms. Yegorov, Sergey Borisovich
Bestuzhev (Marlinsky), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
Bestuzhevs, The
Roerich, Nikolay Konstantinovich
Starov, Vladimir Georgiyevich
Historical Toponyms/Andreyevsky Distrct of the Leningrad Region
Historical Toponyms/Budogoshch District
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kirishi District/Budogoshch Urban Settlement
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kirishi District/Glazhevo Settlement
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kirishi District/Kirishi Town
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kirishi District/Pcheva Village
Historical Toponyms/Novgorod Gubernia (Province)/Novoya Ladoga Uyezd/Soltsi Village
Topographical landmarks/Volkhov River, the
Абрамович В.Ф. Земля моя Приволховье. Кириши и Киришский район. Кириши, 2001.
Даринский А.В. Ленинградская область. Л., 1975., С.325-331
Культура Ленинградской области на рубеже тысячелетий. СПб., 2003, С.60-61
Кириши.ру :: Новости. URL: http://www.kirishi.ru, С.60-61
Бизнес Санкт - Петербурга. URL: http://www.spb-business.ru, http://www.spb-business.ru/show.php?directory=100030
Budogoshch children music school
"Chisty Mox" ("Pure Moss"), a reserve
Glazhevsk children music school
Kirishi Museum of the Local History, the
Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks
Zakhozhskoye lace