Ivanovo [ee-vah-nuh-vuh]

Ivanovo

[ee-vah-nuh-vuh]

Ivanovo, city (1991 pop. 540,000), capital of Ivanovo region, central European Russia, in the Moscow industrial region. A great Russian textile center, the city was the historic center of Russia's cotton-milling industry. From the 1880s it was a center of labor unrest. During the revolution of 1905, 60,000 workers went on strike and formed one of the first soviets of workers' representatives. After six weeks the strike was crushed. The city was called Ivano-Voznesensk until 1932.

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Ivanovo

Ivanovo (Ива́ново) is a city and the administrative center of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population:

Ivanovo has traditionally been called the textile capital of Russia. Since most textile workers are women, it has also been known as the "City of Brides". Probably the most famous of the city's female natives was the postmodern French writer Nathalie Sarraute.

It is home to Ivanovo Severny, which is one of the largest military airlift bases in Russia. Civilian air services are provided at Ivanovo Yuzhny Airport.

Ivanovo has several educational institutions: Ivanovo State University, Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, Ivanovo Medical Academy, Ivanovo Architectural Academy, Ivanovo State Power University(ISPU). ISPU is one of the oldest Universities in the town. It prepares specialists in power engineering. There are six faculties at this University.

History

Ivanovo was created by merging the old flax-processing village Ivanovo (first documented in 1561) with the industrial Voznesensky Posad in 1871. Until 1932, its official name was Ivanovo-Voznesensk.

By the early 20th century, Ivanovo competed with Łódź (also a part of the Russian Empire at that time) for the title of the primary textile production centre in Europe. As the workers' living conditions were appalling, the strikes were frequent. One of these strikes led to the first Russian revolution. According to the Soviet historiography, e.g., Great Soviet Encyclopedia, article "Soviets of Workers' Deputies" (Советы депутатов трудящихся), the Ivanovo Soviet (created in May 1905) was one of the first Soviets in the history. However this statement is contested, see St. Petersburg Soviet.