Historical information

Ivanovo

     The first mention the name Ivanovo was in the year 1561. According to historical texts its origins are related to Ivan the Terrible. The territory was known at that time as a centre for the weaving and processing of flax in Russia. By the mid 18th century a thriving peasant population began opening linen factories. Over time the manufacturing of linen was mechanised using steam powered machinery and weaving looms. By 1860 approximately two thirds of finished fabric manufactured in Ivanovo was machine made, and the region developed into the leading region for textile manufacturing in the country.

     At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries Ivanovo was one of the centres for the revolutionary movement in Russia. In 1905 the Soviet Elective Board was created in Ivanovo, and later became the centre for political power in the former USSR.

     The Ivanovo regional government as an independent administrative body was created on June 20th, 1918, but only obtained its present borders in the post World War II period. Throughout its history Ivanovo has been an industrial oriented region. In the 1930s and 40s the textile industry developed quickly, and in the 50s and 60s machine manufacturing along with others began to grow. By the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 60"s the Ivanovo region had developed into the centre of the Upper-Volga economic unit, which encompassed all of North-Eastern Russia.

     Life and activities of many outstanding public figures Russian history and culture find their connected with the Ivanovo region. Among them are Sheremetevs, poet M. Tsvetayeva, architects the Vesnin brothers, Russian dramatist A.N. Ostrovsky, famous traveller and Admiral G.I. Nevelskiy, great artist - I.I. Levitan, famous singer F.I. Shalapin, scientist N.N. Benardos, son and father Tarkovskis and many others.

Shuya

     Shuya was first mentioned in 1539. By this time Shuya became significant trade City, residence of Shuyskiy Duke family. Since 1566 Shuya was a property of Ivan the Terrible with the right to collect taxes and have own court. In the end of 16-th century Shuya has economical boom.

     In the first half of the 17-th century Shuya is fighting with invaders from Poland and Lithuania. Only after victory social and economic situation started to improve. In 1629 Shuya is again reach trade and production center with good buildings and important administrative center too. Various handicrafts are being developed in the City of this period: soap-working, tannery, raw leather processing, furriery, blacksmith's works and so on and so forth.

     Shuya had a broad geography of trade connections. One English trade company even had its own shop in the city trade center. In the17-th century icon painting started to develop in Shuya too.

     In the beginning of 18-th century (1708 ) Shuya draw attention of Peter the Great. In1720 he ordered to send the group of Shuya children to study in Moscow. In1722 Peter the Great himself was in Shuya examining raw leather factories and shipping on the river of Teza. Sluices he ordered to build are still functioning and are the historic monument.

     By the 18-th century handmade linen fabrics manufacturing has been developed in the City of Shuya and its suburbs. In the second half of the 19-th century Shuya was one of important economic centuries specializing on cotton and linen fabrics production.

     By the end of 19-th -beginning of 20-th century Shuya is a significant center of workers movement. The first trade unions of textile workers are from Shuya.

     Shuya is famous for many historical places and monuments and also for its people. One of them is famous Russian poet Konstantin Balmont.

Kineshma

     The City was founded as a fortress on the river of Volga where smaller rivers - Kineshemka and Kazoha - flew into it. Kineshma was first mentioned in 1429 because of tatar khan invading. Even in that time the City was already famous for its fishing. They supplied Russian tzar table with the fish. In the first half of the 16-th century small fortress got its villiage with trade and handicraft. Ivan the Terrible stopped tatar troops and took tatar capital Kazan. After that in peaceful time Kineshma reached graet economic success by the beginning of the 17-th century. They produced salt famous all over Russia. It was an expensive product at that time.

     In the beginning of the 17-th century - new war: with Poland. After the invaders were thrown out of Russia, economic boom in Kineshma was the part of economic boom in whole Russia.

     The City became one of the most important points on Volga river trade way.

     By the 18-th century textile is the main business here.

     In the second half of the 18-th century there were three main textile centers in the region - Shuya, Ivanovo and Kineshma. Textile products were mostly exported and mostly to England.

     In the next 19-th century the businessmen of Kineshma could not stay the competition with other manufacturers. But after rail ways came to Kineshma (1871 г.) the situation improved..

     By the end of 19-th century the main production is textile. Besides, the City had 2 iron foundries, metal shops, raw leather processing, furriery, brewery, oil-cloth and lacquer production. They produced a lot of bread.

     Ther are many interesting historic places in Kineshma. It is well known for famous people who either lived in or visited Kineshma, such as A.Ostrovsky and A.Potekhin, great Russian writers, A.Vasilevsky, military leader, P.Borodin, Russian composer, and others. The first Drama Theater was founded and is still working in the City of Kineshma.

     At present time Kineshma is the second City in the region after Ivanovo according to its size.

Yuryevets

     The year of foundation is 1225. It had an important strategic location, that is why the invaders did never leave it alone till the end of 16-th century.

     Yuryevets specialization was fishing, supplying Moscow with fish and manufacturing wooden tableware.

     In the 17-th century - war with Poland and Lithuania. In 1609 Yuryevets was set in fire by the citizens themselves to prevent invading.

     Later on the City is developed by the type of all Cities located on the river of Volga: it is the gate for coming and going goods. In 1661 according to the order of Russian tzar Alexey new stone fortress was built here.

     In the 19-th century business people brought to Yuryevets bread by cheap river way and from Yuryevets - wood and flax..

     In 1870-th Yuryevets had flax processing, wood making and ship building factories.

     In the City of Yuryevets there were born such famous people as architectures -brothers Vesnin and famous producer Andrey Tarkovskiy.

Ples

     In 1410 there was founded a new City of Ples, important fortress for Moscow on the upper part of Volga river.

     Only by the end of the 16-th century enemies stopped trying to take the City.

     In a peaceful time Ples became a significant trade City with famous bread merket.

     After the war with Poland in the 17-th century for long years Ples has a calm life of provincial City.

     It lost its trade importance in 1870 when railway came to Kineshma.

     In 19-th century Ples economy was based on the bread sale and the activity of small steam navigation company.

     Famous Russian artist Levitan for many years spent his summer time in Ples making his landscapes.

     Right now Ples is an important tourist place of Ivanovo Region.

Palekh

     Palekh was first mentioned in the 13-th century.

     In written resources of 17-th century we find that main income of Palekh inhabitants came from icon painting.

     The village had a big market selling flax, butter, cattle and oats.

     After the Russian revolution of 1917 the artists had to think out other forms of their art. In 1924 there was founded "Ancient painting company", which started lacquer miniature painting. Their painting is famous all over the world.

     Now Palekh has flax manufacturing factory, the art of hand made and machine made embroidery is being developed. Young people study the art of lacquer miniature in the Art School of Palekh.

     All the other Cities and Villages of Ivanovo Region - such as Privolzhsk, Puchezh, Teykovo, Rodniki, Yuzha, Zavolzhsk, Furmanov, Vichuga, Gavrilov-Posad, Navoloki, Kohma, Komsomolsk and other - also have interesting history, a lot of picturesque places and historic monuments.

Geographical position

     Ivanovo region is located in the centre of the European part of Russia, three hundred kilometres north-east of Moscow. Its territory is 21,4 thousand sq. km. It borders on Vladimir, Kostroma, Yaroslavl and Nizhniy Novgorod regions.

     The favourable geographic position of the region promotes the development of internal and external economic and cultural links. Through the territory of the region there pass important automobile, railway and water highways, connecting Moscow and western regions with eastern and southeastern regions of the country.

     Despite the high level of manufacture, the region has a rather good ecological situation, which is important in modern conditions. It is one of the regions of Russia with the most favourable ecological conditions and has rich recreational opportunities, with water and wood resources, landscapes and medicinal springs. The region is a part of the Golden ring of Russia, a famous tourist route, numerous monuments of history and culture are concentrated on its territory. The most significant of them are the city of Plyos, the pearl of the Volga River, and the settlement of Palekh, the native land of famous lacquer miniature.

     The climate of Ivanovo region is moderate-continental. It is characterised by a considerably hot summer and frosty winter with a steady snow cover. The coldest month in winter is January with the average temperature of –12oC, the warmest month of summer is July, with the average temperature of +18oC.

     More than 200 lakes and about 2000 rivers are situated on the territory of the region. The largest river is the Volga with the Gorky water reservoir on it.

     The region is located on a joint of two zones: European taiga and mixed woods. As a whole, the woods occupy about 30 % of the territory of the region, meadows - about 10 %.

     The stocks of minerals in the region are insignificant. Deposits of clays and loams used in manufacturing building materials are available. In the central part of the region on the depth of 150-200 meters there lay mineral medicinal-table waters, which may be used for the treatment of gastric-intestinal and other diseases.

Population and Labour

     The population for Ivanovo region at the beginning of 2001 was 1.205 million people, with an urban population of 993 thousand and rural 212 thousand people. 82.4% of the population live in cities and towns making up the largest cities of Ivanovo (452.1 thousand), Kineshma (97.9 thousand), Shuja (65.5 thousand), Vichuga (44.5 thousand), and Furmanov (41.7 thousand).

Investment climate of Ivanovo region (June 2, 2003)

  1. Legislation on the investment activities

  2. Investment projects (some videos included)

     The Ivanovo region is located in the centre of European Russia, 300 kilometers north-east of Moscow. It rests on main intersecting transport lines connecting Moscow to the western central regions of the Russian Federation with eastern and north-eastern regions of the country. The region has very favorable geographical location due to it's transportation infrastructure. There are almost all known available transportation infrastructure systems at the ready, including highways and railways, river ports and airport facilities. The airport has international status and is capable of landing all main models of modern cargo and passenger airplanes. The territory of the region is 21,4 thousand sq. km with a population of 1.191 million people, including an urban population of 983 thousands people and 206 thousands people living agricultural area. Population of the region's capitol, the city of Ivanovo is 447.100 people . The other largest cities are Kineshma (97.500 people), Vichuga (44 000 people), Furmanov (41 000 people). The average density of the population is 55.8 people/square km. Labor potential is 588 000 people or 49.4 %. The official level of unemployment in relation to economically active population was 1.4 % in 2002.

     The Ivanovo region has rather high educational and scientific potential. There are 9 high schools, one academy and approximately 20 scientific research institutes. More than 50 thousand students study at regional universities, colleges and vocational schools. After the long economic recession a search for stabilization followed, and a subsequent significant raise in spending on research and development. However, the growth rate for innovative activity did not occur as quickly as R&D: in 2002-2003 about 14% of new technological developments were introduced mostly at large industries. As a rule, the new technologies were directed toward the extension of new production methods.

     Ivanovo has traditionally been one of the leading industrial centers of Russia and is well known for its textile and heavy industry manufacturers which comprise 287 industries of various branches. The main industries of the Ivanovo region are light, heavy, chemical, wood-processor, pulp-and-paper, food and building materials industries.

     Transport infrastructure of the region has practically all transport facilities of the well-developed area:

     Resource potential of the area is characterized by the presence of mineral waters, nonmetallic minerals and recreational resources:

     The current legislation is aimed at the creation of the optimum conditions for the investors and establishes the following forms of the state support:

     The Ivanovo region has a very high investment potential and has all the necessary conditions for the successive and profitable activity of the investors:

     Ground areas, the unfinished or unused buildings and buildings under construction can be offered in rent, repayment or for the organization of joint ventures to the investors, wishing to organize new kinds of manufacture.

Recommended branches for investment are:

  1. Mechanical engineering:

  2. Housing-and-municipal complex:

  3. Agriculture:

  4. Textile industry:

  5. Air transport: