If fate, on the basis of one of its guided motives, will ever lead you to the city of Orlov, the sights are unlikely to line up in order to please you. Perhaps you even think that there is nothing to look at all. A tiny town with wooden buildings can only boast of a population of seven thousand and a local history museum. However, everything in the world has its own history. Having learned more about this settlement, you may not be so categorical and on the way (for example, to Kirov) you will drop into the city of Orlov, whose sights are modest, but also worthy of attention.
A bit of history
Orlov is a small district center in the Kirov region. The official date of its foundation is the first mention in the annals in 1459. During the war, the Galician and Moscow principalities the city was captured by the troops of Tsar Vasily II. In 2014, the village celebrates its 555th anniversary. However, there is no doubt that people lived in this territory long before the 15th century. Today, historians believe that the first settlement on this site arose in the XII-XIII centuries, and immigrants from Novgorod lands became its inhabitants.
A bit of geography
Like most cities of antiquity, Orlov was founded in a convenient place - on the cape, at the confluence of two rivers - Vyatka and Plyushchikha. On both sides it was protected by natural water barriers, and on the third - a deep moat, also filled with water. Oryol settlement is one of the oldest in the region. In the middle of the last century, archaeological excavations were carried out here . Today, on the site of a triangular settlement, you will see only hillocks and pits. And only rich imagination will help to imagine how the ancestors grew rye, barley, oats and peas here, fished, hunted and fought using darts and arrows.
But the hillfort is not the only thing that the city of Orlov can offer us. Sights are not only archaeological, but also natural. The district center stands on the Vyatka River, and it is impossible for a real traveler to ignore it. Once the largest tributary of the Kama was famous for shipping. Here ferries ferried people, steamers buzzed, barges stretched and scurried speedy pleasure boats scurried about. Indeed, only in the Kirov region the length of the Vyatka is about one and a half thousand kilometers. Today, the river has become shallow, but still as beautiful as when Vasnetsov wrote it. By the way, in neighboring Kirov, Alexander Green spent his childhood and youth . Local historians believe that the local nature inspired the writer to create an amazing world of "Scarlet Sails." Fishing enthusiasts will not miss the chance to engage in “silent hunting” here. Vyatka has the highest fishery category.
Here bream, and catfish, and pike, and zander, and carps are found. But locals for the "real fish" revered only the famous sterlet, which was once from here on the carts delivered to the imperial table in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Where is the city of Orlov
The map will tell us that it is located 70 kilometers from the regional Kirov, on the right bank of the Vyatka. Nearby are also Kotelnich, Murashi and Sovetsk (former Kukarka, the birthplace of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov). By the way, Orlov himself twice changed the name throughout history. In the period from 1923 to 1992, he was called Khalturin - in honor of the handsome revolutionary Stepan Khalturin, who in 1880 managed to carry 30 tons of dynamite into the basement of the Winter Palace and launched an explosion, which killed 11 people. Emperor Alexander II, against whom the terrorist act was contemplated, survived by fortunate coincidence. Khalturin was born three kilometers from Orlov, in the village of Khalevinskaya.
Orlov City: Attractions
This settlement is remarkable for its remarkable Russian leisureliness, patriarchalism, and provincialism. Many low wooden buildings with carved platbands have been preserved here. A sort of stronghold of the merchants in the Vyatka. In one of the surviving mansions there is a local history museum. Only 3,000 items are stored in it, almost all of which are genuine. There are merchant and Soviet halls, as well as a military exposition.
The only active church in Orlov is the Nativity of the Theotokos (1840). The holy relics of the great martyr Michael Tikhonitsky are stored in it. Father Michael worked as a priest and taught the law of God in Orlov. He was shot during the years of red terror.
The once beautiful Trinity Church of the 18th century has also been preserved. But today it houses city baths.
By the way, local historians argue that between Orlov and Moscow there is an invisible connection. The fact is that once in the city they found the image of the Savior. He was taken to the capital’s Kremlin. The icon was brought through the Frolovsky Gate. Allegedly since then, both the gates and the tower above them received the familiar name Spassky.
The city of Orlov (photos clearly demonstrate this) is gradually changing. Five-story stone buildings, beautiful flowering corners appear. From here you can even bring souvenirs to relatives. If you do not get to Kirov with its Vyatka lace and Dymkovo toy, get some unusual chess or backgammon inlaid with straws. These are made at a local enterprise - Chess OJSC.