Gorokhovets District
The Gorokhovets district is located in the east of the Vladimir region. The population of the district is 21,097 people (2018). The administrative center is the city of Gorokhovets with a population of 12,799 people (2018), located on the Volga M-7 federal highway. The Gorokhovets district was formed on April 10, 1929 as part of the Vladimir district of the Ivanovo Industrial Region. Since August 14, 1944, the Gorokhovets district has been part of the Vladimir region. In May 2005, the district as a municipality was given the status of a municipal district.
Gorokhovets is included in the list of historical settlements of Russia, approved by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in 2010 (there are 41 settlements in the list). The city was founded by Andrey Bogolyubsky in 1168 as a border fortress on the eastern edge of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. In 2018, Gorokhovets celebrated its 850th anniversary.
In the 17th century trading activity of the townspeople is intensifying, large construction is being carried out at the expense of the Gorokhovets merchants. Modern Gorokhovets is decorated with unique monuments of the 17th century – seven merchant's stone chambers from twenty, preserved in Russia. In the House of Ershov (Sapozhnikov) today are the expositions of the Gorokhovets Historical and Architectural Museum. In the 17th century, Gorokhovets merchants at their own expense built churches, nine of which have survived up today (including the central Annunciation Cathedral) and entered the ensembles of the three existing monasteries (Troitsko-Nikolsky, Sretensky and Znamensky).
From the 18th century the Gorokhovets county was famous for its artisans – carpenters and boilers. Gorokhovets carpenters went down in history under the name of "yakushi" – after the name of one of the villages of the county. The visiting card of Gorokhovets today remains the wooden houses of local carpenters, unique in shape and decoration, preserved from the end of the 19th century. In one of them – the house of M.I. Shorin – the Inter-Settlement House of Folk Art and Crafts is located today.
In the 1890s, up to half of the male population of the county were masters-potters, many of whom were engaged in the seasonal work industry for the installation of oil cracking plants in the Caucasus, the construction of the Black Sea Fleet, and bridges across the Volga. At the turn of the 19-20th centuries, a boiler factory was founded in Gorokhovets, which since 1902 became a shipyard.
Since 1961, the "Elevatormelmash" lifting equipment plant has been operating in Gorokhovets. In 2001, a subsidiary of the Turkish company "Rusjam", the largest producer of glass containers in Russia, was opened.
Mainly light and food industries are developing in the Gorokhovets district, a large confectionery factory operates. Small workshops of woodworking, art casting and metal stamping are famous for their work.
Many areas of trades and arts and crafts are developed in the Gorokhovets district – carving and painting on wood, making the Gorokhovets carpentry toys, clay toys, embroidery, weaving, withy weaving, patchwork, etc. The main organizations that oversee folk art are: the Inter-settlement House of Folk Art and Crafts, Gorokhovets "District Center of Culture". Creative collectives work in the district’s cultural institutions – the Folk Collective Song Ensemble "Razdolye", The Exemplary Collective Folk Ensemble "Selyanochka" (Traditional Culture Center of the village of Fominki), etc.