Kolchugino District

The Kolchugino district is located in the north-west of the Vladimir region. The population of the district is 52,807 (2018). The administrative center is Kolchugino with a population of 43,089 people (2018). The district was formed on April 10, 1929 as part of the Alexander district of the Ivanovo Industrial Region. Since August 14, 1944, the Kolchugino district has been part of the newly formed Vladimir Region. In March 2000, the city of Kolchugino and the Kolchugino district were merged into one municipality "Kolchugino District". In May 2005, the Kolchugino district was given the status of a municipal district, and the city of Kolchugino entered it as a city settlement.

The Kolchugino district is famous for the oldest metallurgical enterprise in Russia – a copper smelter, founded in 1871 by Moscow businessman A.G. Kolchugin near the village of Vasilyevskoye. The working village at the plant began to be called Kolchuginsky and gave rise to the future city of Kolchugino. Since the mid-1890s, having become the largest non-ferrous metal processing plant in the country, it has been fulfilling orders of the Russian Navy (producing nickel and copper blanks and sheets, elements for shells, capsules for cartridges, camping pots). During the First World War, Kolchugino factories worked entirely for military needs, being the main supplier of cable products (telephone, signal, mine and other cables). In 1918, the plants were nationalized.

Today, the economy of  Kolchugino is based on the historical production of non-ferrous metallurgy. The "Kolchugtsvetmet" plant (the former A.G. Kolchugin’s metallurgical plant), until recently, produced about 30% of the total non-ferrous metals in Russia, not only in the form of pipes, profiles and wires, but also the famous cupronickel cup holders, with which Russian Railways trains are equipped, cutlery, dishes. The Kolchugino Electrocable Plant produces a variety of cable and wire products – cables that are used for laying in the Far North, for the needs of the civilian fleet, in mechanical engineering, energy, oil and chemical industries. 

The areas of decorative and applied art and crafts, developing in the Kolchugino district, are metal art and jewelry, blacksmithing, root plastic, wood painting, hand-painted silk and wool, embroidery, manufacturing of textile dolls, etc. The main organizations that develop and promote folk creativity, are Kolchugino Art Gallery, House of Culture of the Kolchugino District, Social and Cultural Center, Inter-settlement organizational and methodological center, village houses of culture. The ensemble of folk song "Honey Savior"("Medovy Spas") and the Exemplary collective ensemble "Rodnik" of the Children's art school of the Kolchugino district received great popularity in the Kolchugino region.

Crafts and trades
Blacksmith craft
Today, blacksmithing craftsmen are rare. But nevertheless, forges that are engaged in manual forging are preserved.
Wood carving
Argunovo carving. Morden masters of wood carving.
Metal art
Masters use the technique of filigree, which required patience and accuracy in creating patterns from individual parts of twisted copper or silver wire.
Wood painting
Vladimir patterns is an original painting, when the paint is applied not with a brush, but with a foam rubber swab or just an artist’s finger, forming a light cloud.
Embroidery
Embroidery in the technique of " white satin-stitch ", "Vladimir seam".
Ceremonial dolls
Hand painted silk
The workshop "Silk Collection" produces designer clothes, scarves, accessories, and interior items made of silk, painted in technique “cold batik”.
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