Tikhvin

Tikhvin (Ти́хвин; Veps: Tihvin) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin is also an industrial and cultural center of the district, as well as its transportation hub. Population: It was previously known as Predtechensky pogost, Tikhvinsky posad. According to one version supported by Max Vasmer, the name of the town originates from Old East Slavic тихъ (тихий), which means "quiet". According to another version, it is derived from Finnish tihkua — "trickle out". It was first mentioned in 1383 as Predtechensky pogost (Предтеченский погост), when a chronicle reported that a wooden Church of the Dormition was built here. Later, in 1495–1496, Y. K. Saburov, a clerk in the Novgorod Cadastre, mentioned the "...Tikhvin parish and in it, a wooden church..." Its location at the intersection of trade routes which connected the Volga River with Lake Ladoga and the Baltic Sea ensured its rapid development. At the beginning of the 16th century, it was already a widely known commerce and trade center. In 1507–1515, funded by Vasili III of Russia, on the spot of the burned wooden church, Dmitry Syrkov of Novgorod constructed the monumental stone Cathedral of Dormition, which stands to this day. In 1560, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the Monastery of Dormition was built on the left bank of the Tikhvinka River. Management of the construction project was entrusted to Fyodor Syrkov, the son of Dmitry Syrkov. Special importance was placed on the haste of its construction; therefore, the Tsar permitted the use of peasants from twenty rural divisions to assist in building it. In the spring and summer of 1560, the large Monastery of Dormition and the smaller Vvedensky convent were simultaneously built, as well as two trade and industrial settlements with various buildings for residential, economic, and religious purposes. The monastery was initially surrounded by a stockade of sharpened poles.