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Useful
Link Nizhny Novgorod.
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The city was founded by Grand Duke George II
of Russia in 1221 at the confluence of two most important rivers of
his principality, the Volga and the Oka. Its name literally means
Newtown the Lower, to distinguish it from the older Novgorod. A
major stronghold for border protection, Nizhny Novgorod fortress
took advantage of a natural moat formed by the two rivers.
Along with Moscow and Tver, Nizhny Novgorod was among several
newly-founded towns that escaped Mongol devastation on account of
its insignificance and grew up into important centers of Russian
political life during the period of Tatar yoke. For a short period
of time it was the capital of the Suzdal Principality and competed
with Moscow for the power in the region. However the competition
with Moscow was lost and in 1392 the city was incorporated into
Muscovy. Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin was built in 1508-1511 (under
supervision of the Italian fortress engineers) and became one of the
strongest Russian citadels. There is a legend saying that the
project was initially developed with participation of Leonardo da
Vinci. However there is no documented proof of Leonardo's work for
that project, the only thing the legend is based on - the striking
resemblance of Leonardo's sketches and the actual kremlin schemes.
The fortress was strong enough to withstand Tatar sieges in 1520 and
1536.
In 1612, the so-called national militia, gathered by a local
merchant Kuzma Minin and commanded by Knyaz Dmitry Pozharsky
expelled the Polish troops from Moscow, thus putting an end to the
Time of Troubles and establishing the rule of the Romanov dynasty.
In 1817, the Makariev Fair, one of the liveliest in the world the
16th-18th centuries, was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod, which
thereupon started to attract numerous visitors and by the mid-19th
century it turned Nizhny Novgorod into trade capital of the Russian
Empire.
Under the Soviet rules the trade connections of the city were
abandoned and Nizhny Novgorod turned to become an important
industrial centre instead. During the communist time the city was
closed to foreigners to safeguard the security of Soviet military
research. The physicist and the Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov was
exiled there during 1980-1986 to limit his contacts with foreigners.
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