Semyonov, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Semyonov () is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, notable for being a major center for traditional handcrafts such as Khokhloma wood painting and matryoshka dolls. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 24,473. Geography. The town is situated in an area of lowland bogs and forests, about northeast of Nizhny Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. The Kerzhenets River flows through the town. The surrounding area includes most of the Kerzhenets Nature Reserve, a federal-level strict ecological reserve, established for the protection and scientific study of the local ecology of the region . History. Rachmaninov may have born there. Poles are buried there to do with the Katyn massacre of 1940. Nazi Germany was there from some of 1941 to a bit of 1944. It was established in the beginning of the 17th century as a settlement of Old Believers. According to an Old Believer legend, the Old Believer settlement in the area was spurred by the existence of the ancient Olenevsky Skete (today, the village of Bolshoye Olenevo, some southeast from Semyonov), which had supposedly been founded in the 15th century by some of Venerable Macarius's monks to commemorate their leader 's Miracle of the Moose that took place at that site, and later joined the "Raskol". The first documented mention of Semyonov was in 1644; it was referred to as Semyonov's hamlet, later as Semyonovo village, and from 1779 as the uyezd town of Semyonov. From the beginning of the 19th to the early 20th century, it was a center for Old Believers movement and the only place to produce Old Believers' religious items such as lestovka prayer beads. Administrative and municipal status. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with 1 work settlement and 190 rural  localities, incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Semyonov—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Semyonov is incorporated as Semyonovsky Urban Okrug. Economy and crafts. Since 1918 Khokhloma wood painting became a major craft in Semyonov. In 1960, Semyonov was organized as a factory named "Khokhlomskaya rospis" ("", Russian for "Khokhloma painting"). This factory specialized in the production of hand-painted wooden items (ranging from tableware to toys and furniture) with unique style, and also matryoshka dolls, marketed as souvenir items. The factory offers  tours around the various stages of production and visitors can see craftspeople making and painting the items in traditional Russian styles. Transportation. Semyonov is located on the Nizhny Novgorod-Kotelnich railway, which is part of one of the main routes used by trains traveling from Moscow to the Urals and Siberia. The town is served by electric commuter trains, connecting it to Nizhny Novgorod in just over an hour.