Earlier, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Evgeny Kuyvashev, announced a large-scale program “Irbit – a city-museum”, which should give a new direction to the development of the municipality, completely transforming it for the upcoming 400th anniversary.
Hello story!
Irbitskaya Sloboda was founded in 1631. Three years later Torzhok appeared there, and a little later the annual fair, which over time became one of the main trade events in Russia. Irbit received from Catherine II the right to be called a city for the loyalty and firmness of its inhabitants during the Pugachev uprising: the residents of Irbit did not want to rebel, but to trade. The merchants of the beautiful city built rich houses and beautiful churches, many of which can still be seen today: in small Irbit, 86 buildings are recognized as cultural heritage.
In 2022, the head of the region increased financing for the comprehensive development program of Irbit by 220 million rubles. Thus, until 2025, almost seven billion will be spent to support local industry, small businesses, housing and communal services, the development of culture, sports, tourism and, of course, the restoration of architectural and historical monuments . It was in Irbit that the governor initiated a systematic approach to the repair of residential buildings, cultural heritage sites. Today, residents of old mansions are provided with apartments from a flexible fund during restoration work, which greatly simplifies and speeds up repairs. In 2023, 15 historic buildings will be restored.
Heritage of the Middle Urals
Guests at this year’s 380th Anniversary Irbit Fair were already able to see how the city center has been transformed. The renovated facades of old houses and stylized signs with “yats” created the feeling that here, on Lenin Square, the distant past meets the present. And the fair itself, recognized last year as “Property of the Middle Urals”, took place on the renovated square on a new scale: almost 50 thousand people walked through its shopping galleries and events in three days.
Photo: Tatyana Andreeva/RG
For the anniversary, the archive service of the Sverdlovsk region prepared a collection of publications “Fair in Irbit. 380 years of history…”. The archivists not only selected interesting documents from the repository, but also included in the publication materials from the Irbit Historical and Ethnographic Museum and interesting facts discovered during the research of local historians. Flipping through the book you can see how trade developed in the Urals over the centuries, what mark the fair left on culture, construction, the development of crafts and industry in all spheres of life of the region.
– Irbit Fair is one of the brands of our country. This is not just an entertainment event, it is our story. The fair provides an opportunity to inform the younger generations about our region and our traditions,” said Evgeny Kuyvashev.
From the fair? To the fair!
But even after the fair, the city’s transformation did not stop. In October, as part of the program “Formation of a comfortable urban environment”, the reconstruction of Sverdlova Street, the longest pedestrian street in Irbit, was completed. A playground, trees, benches and flower pots appeared there, and the city’s first bike path was built.
– Previously, this territory was a faceless area, practically without landscaping. This is a really important event for the residents of the city,” Nikolai Smirnov, Minister of Energy, Housing and Communal Services of the Sverdlovsk Region, was happy for the residents of Irbitsk.
Anna Melkikh, a resident of Irbit and owner of a restaurant chain, agrees with him:
– Great, the city is transforming before our eyes! There are places where you can enjoy a walk, because it is comfortable and beautiful. For us entrepreneurs, this is also a very good story: there is a large flow of guests and many return. And people go not only to important events, such as the Irbit fair and the motorcycle festival, but also on weekends, during school holidays. Tourists arrive by the busload! The development of the city in a new direction means new jobs and increased wages in the service sector. Now, I know, several hotels and hostels are preparing to open.
Your own Rubens and Dürer
Of course, organized groups don’t just come to stroll through well-maintained streets. The city with a population of 36.5 thousand inhabitants has several museums that would not be missed in the capital. For example, historical and ethnographic, the largest among the provincial ones in the region; the only collection of motorcycles in the country and, finally, a unique museum of prints and drawings. Honestly, to see the originals of Rubens, Dürer, Van Dyck, Goya, Rembrandt, it is worth taking a ticket to Irbit from anywhere in the world. The director of the museum, Valery Karpov, who assembled an incredible collection of masterpieces with truly Irbitan perseverance and initiative, probably had no idea that he was not only creating a unique repository of works of art, but also establishing a new vector of development for the entire city.
In the top 300 in the world
In this same museum, in a room where exquisite engravings hang on the walls, experts from seven countries recently met to discuss strategies for the development of small towns and historic settlements.
– More and more attention is being paid to the transformation of these small towns and historic settlements. They preserve our traditions, cultural identity and national identity. They also serve as a key indicator of the level of socio-economic development of regions and states,” said Vasili Kozlov, deputy governor of the Sverdlovsk region.
Photo: Tatyana Andreeva/RG
He noted that the Irbit development program, which was developed on the initiative of Evgeny Kuyvashev, echoes the UNESCO project for the preservation of world heritage. And the director of the department of multilateral humanitarian cooperation and cultural relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Alimov, stressed that Irbit has a chance to enter the UNESCO network of creative cities in 2025. This unusual international program has existed since 2004 and It unites cities around the world that have chosen creativity and cultural industries for their development. In total, the network now has just under 300 cities from 90 countries, including five Russian ones, and each chose one of seven possible directions: Ulyanovsk – literature, Kazan and Veliky Novgorod – music, Kargopol – crafts and folk art, Saint Saint Petersburg: unexpectedly gastronomy. Irbit can become the sixth in this creative series.
“The cities in our network are at the forefront of accessing culture and mobilizing creativity to improve sustainability and urban development,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
Participating cities, it is written on the project website, have the opportunity to share their best experiences and develop partnerships with other “club members”.
To the plant – factory, to the city – public
The changes planned in the Irbit – City-Museum program are already beginning. During a business trip, Evgeny Kuyvashev visited the Irbit special equipment plant together with the head of the municipality, Nikolai Yudin. The operating company is located in historic buildings, among the buildings there is even an old church built in 1871. In other buildings, before the revolution, trading stalls were opened at a fair. Now the plant produces field kitchens, trailers and semi-trailers, chassis and other products necessary for people, so the plant will not be closed, but its workshops will be moved to an industrial zone.
– We understand the uniqueness of production. We need to start designing and building from 2025. It is a lot of money, but since we have taken on Irbit, I think we will be able to implement this project in a year and a half or two,” said the governor. The unoccupied premises will be used as public spaces, for example, an art residence.
As a result of the transformations, Irbit should receive two groups: “City of Museums” and “City of Art Education”. Within the framework of the creation of the second, a training campus for the study of cultural heritage sites, their restoration and the training of specialists in this field will appear here.
Irbit will celebrate its fourth anniversary in 2031.
Direct speech
Evgeny Kuyvashev, governor of the Sverdlovsk region:
We have big plans, we will definitely do everything to make Irbit more beautiful, brighter and more convenient year after year. And the most important thing is that Irbitsk residents want to live here and young people will definitely return here. We will divide our program of preparation for the 400th anniversary of the city over eight years, be sure to take into account all the suggestions of the neighbors and, I assure you, together we will make Irbit a real jewel box of the Urals.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS