History

Cherepovets traces its official history to November 4, 1777, when Catherine II decreed a city in Novgorod Governorate «for the benefit of waterways».

The city chronicle has been enlarging with new notable events for more than 200 years. Since that time Cherepovets has developed from a small county town of 538 citizens into the largest industrial and transportation center of the North-West with the population of 315 000. No matter how Cherepovets changes it still has the ability to surprise.

In the epoch of Catherine the Great the city was famous for Cherepovets sterlet fishery – a refined delicacy served to tzars. In the second half of the century Cherepovets attained fame of one of the most educated city – every fifth citizen obtained education. Cherepovets was called «The Athens of the North» и «The Russian Oxford». With the construction of the Volga-Baltic canal the city has gained another landmark epithet — «port of five seas».

In the middle of the century Cherepovets became one of the largest construction sites in the country – the construction of one metallurgical and two chemical plants. The industrial growth caused a strong inflow of population to Cherepovets. Population growth and industrial development have changed the look of Cherepovets greatly. First bearing-wall and brick houses, hospitals, kindergartens and schools were constructed very rapidly. Before this there had been only wooden single-storey buildings in Cherepovets. Cherepovets became pioneer of bearing-wall house-building. The city on the Sheksna river was the first one in the USSR where a method of just-in-time assembling of wooden houses was practiced: any time of day and year trucks with slabs arrived and the three-shift work was operated continuously. Bearing-wall five-storey buildings were built until the end of 1980s in Cherepovets. The city had the strongest construction base.

Cherepovets today is a modern actively developing industrial city. Large enterprises of Cherepovets are worldwide leaders in their spheres: «Severstal» — in metal production, «Severstal-metiz» — in metalware branch, JSC «Ammophos» is one of the leading companies on fertilizer manufacturing.

In the beginning of XXI century the construction proceeded together with economic revival. In the coming years the government is going to reach the level of 150 200 square meters of housing construction per year.

History and culture experts know Cherepovets not only as an industrial center. At different times many outstanding cultural figures of Russia lived, studied and worked in the city on the Sheksna river and its suburbs. For example Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov, a brilliant poet of the first third of XIX century, a friend of A.S. Pushkin and his forerunner to a large extent. Another pearl of the Russian poetry whose name is connected to Cherepovets is Igor Lotaryov, the future «king of poets» Igor-Severyanin, who studied in Cherepovets non-classical secondary school. His poetic pen-name «Severyanin» was defined by the years spent in Cherepovets and nearby — in manors Soyvola and Vladimirovka. An integral part of the city history is the Vereschagin brothers: Vasily Vasilyevich — a world-known painter, and Nikolay Vasilyevich — the first Russian cooperator and creator of «Vologda butter». A future test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Valery Pavlovich Chkalov studied in Cherepovets technical school.

Another pride of Cherepovets is a legend of Russian rock Aleksandr Bashlachev, born and raised in our city. An outstanding folklore scientist Yelpidifor Vasilyevich Barsov was born in Loginovo village, Cherepovets district.  A famous polymath surgeon, corresponding member of Academy of Sciences of the USSR Nikolay Mikhaylovich Amosov was born in Olkhovo village.