Petushki District
The Petushki district is located in the west of the Vladimir region. The population of the district is 62,626 people (2018). The administrative center is the city of Petushki with a population of 13,112 people (2018), located on the Volga M-7 highway.
In the 19th-early 20th centuries, most of the district belonged to the Pokrov county of the Vladimir province. The Petushki district was formed on July 12, 1929 with a center in the working village of New Petushki as part of the Orekhovo-Zuevo District of the Moscow Region. On August 14, 1944, the Petushki district was transferred to the newly formed Vladimir region. In 1960, the territory of the abolished Pokrov district with the city of Pokrov was transferred to the Petushki district. In October 2004, the district as a municipality was given the status of a municipal district.
The oldest settlement in the Petushki district is the city of Pokrov, founded in 1506 as a settlement around the Anthony hermitage. Since the Anthony Monastery became patriarchal in the 1630s, the settlement became known as the Patriarchal Village of Pokrovskoye. In 1708, the Anthony hermitage, as a small monastery, was closed, in accordance with the Peter's decree, and its monks founded the Holy Introduction Island Monastery. In 1778, the village of Pokrovskoye was transformed into the city of Pokrov, which was located on a large Moscow road. Therefore, at different times many famous people were passing here – A.N. Radishchev, A.S. Griboedov, A.S. Pushkin, A.I. Herzen, etc.
Petushki, which received urban status only in 1965, is one of the smallest cities in the Vladimir region, although it is the center of the district. The inhabitants of Petushki have long been engaged in the maintenance of inns, which was determined by their location – on a large road going from Moscow to Vladimir, and then to Nizhny Novgorod. From the 18th century it was notorious as the Vladimir tract, which was used to send convicts to Siberia for hard labor. The tragic history of the road inspired the artist I.I. Levitan on the creation of the painting "Vladimirka" when he was on vacation in these places in 1891 (the Museum "Landscape House named after I.I. Levitan" has been opened in the village of Eliseikovo in the Petushki district).
In 1861, the construction of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod railroad gave an impetus to the development of industry in Pokrov and Petushki, mainly weaving and food. These two cities make the main contribution to the economic development of the Petushki district today. A unique plant of steel piston rings and stamping of small metal products for the needs of the textile industry is leading in Petushki.
Pokrov today is a well-known pharmaceutical center in the country, in which the Pokrov plant of biological products operates. Near the town of Pokrov in the village Volginsky is successfully developing the country's only All-Russian Research Institute of veterinary virology and microbiology, as well as the largest pharmaceutical company "Generium" (which produces drugs for the treatment of hemophilia, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, oncological and cardiovascular diseases). This is the only world-class biotechnological research center in Russia and an innovative production organized according to international standards.
Pokrov is a major center of the food industry. In 1997, the Kraft Foods chocolate factory opened here (from April 2013 - Mon`delis Rus), which produces every third chocolate bar in Russia.
The gastronomic brand of the region has become Pokrov gingerbread, the production of which today continues and develops the traditions of folk crafts. Pokrov gingerbread is not only an exquisite delicacy, but also a wonderful souvenir.
In the Petushki district, the traditions of the Argunovo woodcarving are revived (Leisure Association of the Nagorny rural settlement, master P. G. Ivashkin), as well as such areas of decorative and applied art as embroidery, patchwork, lacework and others. Interesting creative collectives work in the cultural institutions of the region, for example, the People’s collective ensemble of the Russian song "Anninsky Yard" (Anninsky Rural House of Culture), known far beyond the region.