Aleksandrov

Aleksandrov (əlyĭksän`drəf), city (1989 pop. 68,000), E European Russia. The city came under the control of the Muscovite princes in 1302. Ivan IV resided (1564–81) in Aleksandrov, where he organized his political police, the Oprichnina. The city is also the site of the first printing establishment in Russia, founded during the reign of Ivan IV, and of the famous Uspenski convent (late 17th cent.).

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Aleksandrov 

city, center of Aleksandrov Raion on the Seraia River in western Vladimir Oblast of the RSFSR. It has a railroad station on the Moscow-Yaroslavl line, 113 km from Moscow. Railroad lines go from Aleksandrov to Kineshma. Its population in 1967 was 46,000. Its industries include radio and television, artificial leather, textiles, knitted goods, and food-processing enterprises.

The city was first mentioned as Aleksandrov settlement (sloboda) in a document by Ivan Kalita in the 14th century. From 1564 to 1572 it served as the residence for Ivan the Terrible. One of the first Russian presses existed in Aleksandrov; in 1578 it published the Psalter. In 1778, Aleksandrov became a district city. On Dec. 7, 1905, striking workers from a number of Aleksandrov textile factories began an armed uprising (the so-called Aleksandrov Republic), which was cruelly suppressed.

Architectural monuments of Aleksandrov include the Troitskii cathedral, which is in the spirit of early Muscovite architecture (1513; 16th-century frescoes) and which includes two unique 14th-century brass doors brought from Novgorod and Tver by Ivan the Terrible; the marqueed Pokrov church (mid-16th century; 16th-century frescoes) with a 17th-century refectory; the Raspiatskaia church and bell tower (1560’s); and the 5–cupola Uspenskaia church (first quarter of the 16th century). In the 17th century the Uspenskii monastery was built in the village, and fortress walls with towers and cells were constructed (1670–80’s). There is a museum of local lore in Aleksandrov.

REFERENCE

Il’in, M. A. Podmoskov’e. Moscow, 1965.