Travel to Ivanovo in Russia

Journey to the Historical City of Ivanovo

The city of Ivanovo, with an estimated population of over 430,000, is the administrative centre of Ivanono Oblast, Russia. Situated halfway between Kostroma and Vladimir on the banks of the Uvod River, this large industrialized city is well known for its textile industry, which employs a large number of the population.

The large village of Ivanovo was first mentioned in Russian archives in 1561. The inhabitants of the village were involved in fishing, hunting and trading, but their main occupation was the weaving of cloth. In 1741 a textile manufacturing plant was built by a local peasant, signaling the beginning of an industry that has earned a reputation for fine fabrics exported as far as England. With the majority of the textile industry workers being women, the city jokingly came to be known as the “City of Brides”.

The city of Ivanovo was created by the merging the of textile producing village of Ivanovo with the industrial settlement of Voznsensky Posad in 1871. Until 1932, the official name for the settlement was Ivanovo-Voznesensk. By the early 20th century Ivanovo competed with Lódz, also in Russia, for title of the main textile production centre in Europe. Due to unsatisfactory working conditions of the textile workers in Ivanovo, however, the industry was subject to many strikes.

For the history-lover there are many relics of the civilian airport that serves the city is called Ivanovo Yuzhny Airport.

Ivanovo is an interesting town to stop off in when you are traveling in the Golden Ring of Russia.