The village of Nikolskoye (Leningrad Region) in 1990 received the status of a city. The entire history of the settlement is associated with the construction of St. Petersburg, with peasant immigrants, which in the amount of 4720 people. by order of Peter I arrived here in 1710 from Moscow (Mozhaisk district) and some other central provinces of Russia.
What gave the name to the village
The urban settlement Nikolskoye (the Leningrad Region has several dozen of these types of municipalities) covers an area of 1444 hectares and is located in the north of the Tosnensky district. This locality got its name thanks to the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker brought by peasants-stonemasons, which was placed in the built wooden chapel. The Miracle Worker is an epithet of saints, especially famous for the gift of intercession in response to prayer to them. In the Christian religion, these saints are especially revered.
Very common name
Due to cramped conditions, in 1718 the chapel was demolished, and in its place a wooden church was erected in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The village of settlers was growing and changing its status. In Russia, there are a lot of churches and temples erected in honor of this saint, as well as the settlements bearing his name. For example, Nikolskoye (Enotaevsky district) of the Astrakhan region, the village of the same name Dolzhansky district of the Oryol region, the village of Nikolskoye-Zheltukhino, and finally, we are considering Nikolskoye (Leningrad region). The listed settlements are a small fraction of the large number of cities of the same name, villages, rural and urban settlements. Therefore, when it comes to some kind of Nikolsky, it is necessary to indicate the area to which he belongs next.
Everything for construction
So, the village of Nikolskoye (Leningrad Region) arose 40 versts from the construction of St. Petersburg and for a long time was called Plate Breaking.
Here a quarry slab was mined and processed, and lime was burned, turning it into cement. In general, this village, with masons and bricklayers who settled here, could well be called a building complex, in modern terms: the scope of work on the production of basic and auxiliary materials for the construction of St. Petersburg was great.
Church shrines
According to local legends, there used to be wastelands of Kazola and Merkele (seaside), Swedish settlements, on the site of which then a Russian village grew and a church was built in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, who, among other things, is the patron saint of sailors. In addition to the image brought from Russia, several faces with the relics of saints especially revered in Russia were donated to this church. With the advent of the temple, the village received its official name - Nikolskoye. In those days it belonged to the Shlisselburg district.
Historical places
The settlement stretched two versts along the right bank of the Tosny River, and on its left bank there were state-owned factories for the production of lime, cement, brick and roofing tiles. The professionalism of Nikolsky workers ensured constant well-paid orders.
The village was expanding, but a solid stone church was built only in 1817. I would like to note that the village of Pustynka, located 2.5 miles from the church, belonged to Count Tolstoy. Presumably, in the territory now occupied by the city of Nikolskoye (Leningrad Region), even in ancient times, there were Russian settlements. Such guesses are explained by the fact that treasures with coins minted during the times of Ivan the Terrible were found here.
New owner
The village of Nikolskoye received a new impetus for development after its purchase in 1876 by Colonel Boris Ivanovich Viner, who, being an excellent tradesman from 25 years old, opened a private powder factory in 1877 on the lands of the village of Nikolsky, later named Catherine, in honor of name of his wife. The opening of a plant of this profile became possible only thanks to the decree (1876) of Alexander II, which allowed non-state enterprises to return to this industry after a 50-year hiatus. The products of Wiener's brainchild were of the highest quality and often won international awards.
New industries
In pre-revolutionary times, the village of Nikolskoye in the Leningrad Region was famous for the Sablinsky glass factory of M. Frank and Co., whose products were known throughout Russia. The glass empire of the Franks possessed tremendous capital and expanded production all the time. The list of products was great - except for pressed glass, window glass, wavy, Boehm, "monnier", corrugated (ribbed) were produced here.
And also cathedral, photographic, porthole. In addition, the production of dishes, glass prisms and bricks, glasses for paintings, round glass for glasses, decorative glass ornaments was arranged. In addition, on the territory of Nikolsky there was a paper and cardboard factory, as well as a brick factory. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century it was a large industrial center.
Post-war period
But the revolution and war completely destroyed the industry of this region, most of Nikolsky himself and the church in the glory of Nicholas the Wonderworker.
After the war, cities and towns, including Nikolskoye, in particular, began to actively recover, sometimes almost from scratch. In 1958, several villages - Pustyanka, Perevoz, Zakhozhye, Voskresenskoye and the Druzhny branch of the Telmanovsky state farm - merged with Nikolsky and formed a workers' settlement, as residents became workers in the rebuilt factories.
Quartz sand was found in local quarries . Industry gradually revived and reached its most rapid growth in the 80s. At the initiative of residents, whose number increased by 19 thousand by 1995, the status of the village was changed to “urban”. And everything would be fine, but the "dashing nineties" came. Industry and construction in the city froze. But now, starting from the first years of the 21st century, everything is blooming again, new microdistricts are appearing.
Territorial structure of the Leningrad region
As noted above, the city of Nikolskoye is the administrative center of the eponymous urban settlement, which borders on other similar administrative-territorial units. The districts of the Leningrad Region in the amount of 17 units, together with the Sosnovoborsky urban district, form the constituent entity of the Federation, which is part of the North-Western District. On the territory of the region there are municipalities (which are included in the districts, but have their own self-government bodies), the city district and the city of Lomonosov, which belongs to St. Petersburg, which has federal significance.
All districts of the Leningrad Region are municipal; they include 61 urban settlements and 142 rural ones. Nikolskoye urban settlement, formed in 2006, is part of the Tosno district. The municipality, in addition to the settlement we are considering (20.5 thousand inhabitants), includes the village at the Pustynka station, as well as Gladkoye and the village of the same name.
Literary patrimony
The Pustynka village is forever immortalized by the writer Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, who got it in 1850. According to contemporaries, it was here, together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers, that he came up with Kozma Prutkov. Here he wrote many other novels, including “Prince of Silver” - a work included in the trilogy of Russian tsars. Visiting the classic was the whole color of literary Russia - Turgenev, Goncharov, Fet. I especially loved these places and glorified them in verses by the Russian poet and thinker Vladimir Solovyov. It should be noted that the Russian Museum has a landscape dedicated to Nikolsky, spread out on the banks of Tosna.
Elite villages
Absolutely every city in Russia now has a cottage village. Nikolsky in this regard is no different from his brothers. As a rule, these villages are built in the most beautiful and ecologically clean regions. In the Leningrad Region, where there is both sea and forest, there are plenty of such areas, and therefore elite settlements grow like mushrooms after rain.
All of them have the necessary infrastructure, access to them is provided, security is assigned. The cottage village "Nikolskoye" is in Tosnensky and Gatchinsky districts.