Sol’vychegodsk, Russia

History

Solvychegodsk was founded in the 14th century on the shores of Lake Solyonoye. The locality was known as Usolye posad or Usolsk in the 15th century. Anikey Stroganov (1488–1570) began salt production in 1515, which later became a huge industry, and started the Stroganov family fortune. In the 16th–17th centuries, Solvychegodsk was a big commercial, handicraft, and cultural hub of Northern Russia. It was especially famous for its enamel industry. Solvychegodsk was captured and looted by Polish-Lithuanian vagabonds, the Lisowczycy, on January 22, 1613. In 1796, the town became a part of Vologda Governorate. It was also known as a place of political exile. Joseph Stalin was exiled here for seven months after being arrested by the Okhrana in March 1908 and for another seventeen months in 1911.

In 1937, Solvychegodsk was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Arkhangelsk Oblast.

In 1992 the bodies of peasants who died in 1930 in transit from Kotlas into exile were reburied in a common grave in the town cemetery. A memorial was added two years later.

From the History section of Solvychegodsk on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.