Sobinka District
The Sobinka district is located in the center of the Vladimir region. More than half of its territory (southern part) is occupied by the forests of Meshchera, the northern part of the region is included in the zone of Vladimir Opolye. The population of the district is 53,628 people (2018). The administrative center is Sobinka with a population of 17,799 people (2018). The district was formed on April 10, 1929 as part of the Vladimir District of the Ivanovo Industrial Region. Since August 14, 1944, the Sobinka district has been part of the newly formed Vladimir Region. In May 2005, it was endowed with the status of a municipal district.
In the middle of the 19th century, textile production, traditional for the Vladimir province, appeared on the territory of the Sobinka wasteland. Thanks to it a working village was formed, the future city of Sobinka. Factory buildings were built according to the designs of English engineers and equipped with English machine tools.
The basis of the economy of the Sobinka district, as in previous times, today remains weaving and sewing. There are now two large factories in Sobinka for tailoring clothes (mainly working and sports). The Sobinka district has a highly developed food industry. A former large confectionery factory "Bolshevik", transferred from Moscow by the new owner, now – "Kraft Foods", specializing in the production of flour confectionery, is working in Sobinka. In the village of Vorsha there is a "Ferrero" confectionery factory, which produces the famous Kinder Surprises, Kinder Chocolate, Raffaello candies, etc. In addition, the first phase of the "Volgobas" bus factory was launched in December 2017 near Vorsha. In the village of Stavrovo operates the largest industrial enterprise of the region – a tractor equipment plant.
The Sobinka district is associated with the names of many prominent people of Russia. In the village of Undol (now the territory of the city of Lakinsk), there is the family estate of A.V. Suvorov (1730-1800), the great Russian commander, founder of Russian military theory, generalissimo. It is believed that it was here that Suvorov completed his famous work "The Science of Winning".
In the village of Cherkutino, Sobinka district, M.M. Speransky (1772-1839) was born, an outstanding statesman and politician who led the reformist activities of Emperor Alexander I, author of the draft of the first Russian constitution; during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, he headed the drafting of a complete set of laws of the Russian Empire, laying the foundation for theoretical jurisprudence.
The village of Orekhovo is the birthplace of N.E. Zhukovsky (1847-1921), the founder of practical, theoretical and experimental aerodynamics. Today, a memorial museum operates in the Zhukovsky’s family estate.
K.N. Britov (1925-2010), national artist of Russia, was born also in Sobinka. He is one of the founders of the Vladimir school of painting – an original trend in Russian painting, distinguished by decorativeness, brightness of color combinations, and emotionality.
The areas of decorative and applied art and crafts, developing in the Sobinka district, are wood carving and painting, pottery, making clay toys, weaving, embroidery, patchwork, etc. The main organizations of folk art are the Sobinka Culture and Leisure Center, the Stavrovo Culture and Sports Center, the Cherkutino rural House of Culture, etc. The People’s collective vocal and choreographic ensemble "Poteshki" has been working for almost a quarter of a century in the Zarechye rural House of Culture.