Time passes and political systems, attitudes, values change. Leaders are changing. Many children born in the 21st century cannot answer with certainty who Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev were ... Although until recently, every self-respecting Soviet citizen knew not only the year of Lenin's birth and where the leader of the world proletariat was born, but also the main points each plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Our contemporaries do not consider it necessary to remember such information. There is no point in discussing whether this is good or bad, but for the sake of erudition you can find out where Lenin was born. And it happened in the city of Simbirsk. In 1924, it was renamed Ulyanovsk.
A bit from the history of the city where Lenin was born
This city is located on the banks of the Volga and Sviyaga rivers, almost 1000 km southeast of Moscow. It was founded in 1648 as a fortress to protect against invasions of nomadic tribes from the east. A decree on this was issued by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. This fortress was named Simber. After more than 200 years, Catherine the Second renamed the city to Simbirsk and made it the center of the Simbirsk province. Emperor Paul in 1796 confirmed this administrative status of the city.
Relocation of the Ulyanov family to Simbirsk
Parents of Vladimir Ulyanov were educated and intelligent people. In particular, his father, Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Kazan University, and in 1854 received the degree of candidate of mathematical sciences. He was a successful teacher in the gymnasiums of Penza and Nizhny Novgorod, but for ideological reasons he moved to Simbirsk. Why? The fact is that after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Russia was swept by a wave of Europeanization and public education. All conscious teachers were eager to work on this field and contribute to the education of the common people, and not just the children of wealthy parents, as it was before. Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov was embraced by this idea. Therefore, when the place of inspector of public schools was vacated in Simbirsk, he did not hesitate to move his family there and was appointed to this post in 1869.
Simbirsk since the Ulyanovs
The population of the city at the time of the arrival of the parents of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) was 26 thousand inhabitants, but it could not be called a province far from cultural life. As early as the 18th century, the first theater in Russia existed here, in 1838 its own newspaper began to print, a public library was functioning, and a telegraph was working. That is, all the benefits of civilization of that time were available. In addition, since Simbirsk was located on the large navigable river Volga, the waterway connected it with other large cities. In this regard, trade was developed. Thus, the city where Vladimir Lenin was born justified the title of "noble nest."
Also, five years before the Ulyanovs moved, Simbirsk experienced a big fire. But it even served to the good of the city, because it was rebuilt according to a new plan, wide streets and beautiful gardens appeared.
Nomadic life in rental apartments
As an inspector of public schools, official Ulyanov was not supposed to have official housing, so the growing family had to be content with renting. That is why in the 18 years they lived in Simbirsk, they had to change seven houses.
The first dwelling was the outbuilding of the house on Streletskaya Street, which belonged to Pribylovskaya. There, in the autumn of 1869, Ilya Nikolaevich drove in with his wife and two children - Anna and Alexander. Immediately in 1970, a third child was born, Vladimir - the future builder of communism.
Six months later, the family moved from an outhouse to one of the apartments of the same house. Then daughter Olga was born. But they did not live long in the house where Lenin was born. I had to move to a neighboring one on the same street, which belonged to Zharkova. Then there were three more rented apartments, until Ilya Nikolaevich in 1878 acquired his own house on Moskovskaya Street. But there the family also lived relatively little. The breadwinner and the head of the family passed away early, and the eldest son Alexander was executed on charges of conspiracy against the emperor. Therefore, in 1887, they decided to sell the house. Soon after, the Ulyanovs left Simbirsk and moved to Kazan.
Lenin Memorial in Ulyanovsk
The hometown of Lenin was renamed Ulyanovsk in 1924. And in 1970, on the centenary of his birth, a memorial memorial was opened in the city where Lenin Vladimir Ilyich was born. It includes the houses of Pribylovskaya and Zharkova, where the Ulyanovs lived, their own house on Moskovskaya, as well as the Great Universal Concert Hall and the House of Political Education. In the apartments where the Ulyanov family lived, everything was kept almost unchanged. You can also see the diorama, which depicts Simbirsk of the 1880s.
Hometown of Lenin today
Now Ulyanovsk is a large regional center with a population of over 600 thousand. It is divided into four districts: Leninsky, Zheleznodorozhny, Zasviyazhsky and Zavolzhsky. The latter is located on the opposite bank and is connected to the other two bridges - the Imperial and Presidential. But the most prestigious has always been considered the Leninsky district. Even before the Ulyanovs arrived, only merchants and nobles lived here. Many buildings of those times were preserved in their original form. And the street where Lenin was born is considered a historical monument and is a pedestrian.
Many Russians and foreigners annually come to Ulyanovsk. They want to visit this street and the house where Lenin was born. The city also causes considerable interest. Every year it receives thousands of tourists who want to visit the homeland of the October Revolution.