Ust-Vym an excursion

We begin our excursion with the central area of Ust-Vym – the most ancient village in the Komi Republic.

The name was received from the geographical position – here the river Vym mergers with the river Vychegda – here there is the river Vym mouth.

In Komi the village is called Emdin. The population of the village is about 1 thousand people.

For the last 30 – 35 years the village has considerably changed – the shape of its central part reminds not rural but rather a city construction.

. The very first new building of the village – the House of Culture, named after Galina Pitirimovna Lytkina – was built in There is a hall, a premise for discoes, an auditorium on 200 places, on the first floor there is a rural library named after Nikolai Michailovich Dyakonov.

The new building of Ust-Vymskaya secondary comprehensive school was built in 1981 and calculated on 192 students places.

In 1984 the building of the administratively-shopping center was built. In the building there is the administration of the village, a drug store, a hairdressers, a branch of the Savings Bank of Russia, a militia local station, a post office and other premises. Shops are placed in an extension adjoining a building.

In 1985 the building of a kindergarten on 160 childrens places was constructed.

Now we shall pass to a memorable place of our village – to the monument to victims in the Great Patriotic War. The monument to the lost inhabitants of our village was established to the 40 th anniversary of the Victory in 1985.

The monument symbolic is laconic and simple – a part of a fortification with a battlement is a symbol of protection of Motherland and over it there is a mournfully inclined banner. The inscription in the Komi language is addressed to the living LIVE AND REMEMBER ! There are 135 surnames of victims on a pedestal.

Further we pass to the memorable sign devoted to the 600 th anniversary of the village which is called A BIRD OF HAPPIHESS. The author of this memorable sign is one of the first professional komi sculptors Vladimir Afanasevich Rokhin who lived in Syktyvkar. Further we come to the memorable sign devoted to the 600 th anniversary of the village which is called A BIRD OF HAPPIHESS. The author of this memorable sign is one of the first professional komi sculptors Vladimir Afanasevich Rokhin who lived in Syktyvkar.

The sign was established on the 15 th of August 1980 on the day of celebrating of the 600 th anniversary of the village. The sign was made of metal by the collective of Zheshartsky experimental metal factory.

The bird for ancient komi had special value. The majority of our birds are birds of passage. They leave native places with the approach of colds and come back with the approach of warm days. Ancient komi considered that birds bring warmth and new life.

The BIRD OF HAPPINESS reminds a wood- grouse. During former times our places were famous for the wood-grouse hunting. Besides the sign is a weather vane – the beak of a bird is always directed to the side whence the wind blows. The basis of the bird is the faceted column. It reminds a calendar of the komi hunters. On such faceted wooden columns the komi hunters marked dates. There are notches on the sides of this column too. There are 600 of them – on numbers of the years lived by our village by

ORTHODOX CHURCHES occupy a special place in our village. One of them is the church for the sake of the prelate Stefan of Perm. It is the oldest monument of architecture of the Komi Republic. This church was put on a place of the first structure of Ust-Vym – the cell of Stefan of Perm. Stefan came here in the summer of 1380 and put a cell among trees and near to it the first in the lands of komi an orthodox temple was constructed.

Prelate Stefan of Perm was ranked to a face of sacred for his outstanding activity in glory of Christianity in The church for the sake of Stefan of Perm was wooden and in July 1740 burnt down after the strongest fire in Ust-Vym. In 1755 the building of a stone church began

Masters from Great Ustyug a native land of Stefan were invited to church building but they had a conflict with countrymen and the construction was stopped. In the early sixties the masters from Ust-Vym – brothers Vasily and Grigory Trenkins and Vasiliy Belorukov undertook the construction of the church.

In 1766 the temple building was finished and it was also consecrated. The destiny of the churches of the village was tragic. In 1926 the church of Stefan of Perm was closed. In the mid-thirties all church constructions were disassembled. Works on restoration of the church of Stefan began in the village to the 600 th anniversary of the village in s years. In 1989 it was transferred to a community of believers. Since the 15 t h September 1989 the church of Stefan again opened its doors to the believers.

. There is a new chapel near the church of Stefan for the sake of three prelates of Ust-Vym bishops Gerasim, Pitirim and Ion. The chapel was consecrated on the 8 th of May 1996 by HIS HOLINESS ALEXEY THE SECOND THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA. He visited our village on celebrating the 600 th anniversary of an ASSUPTION OF PRELATE STEFAN OF PERM. It was the first visit of the higher hierarch of Russian orthodox church in the history of the Komi land.. There is a new chapel near the church of Stefan for the sake of three prelates of Ust-Vym bishops Gerasim, Pitirim and Ion. The chapel was consecrated on the 8 th of May 1996 by HIS HOLINESS ALEXEY THE SECOND THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA. He visited our village on celebrating the 600 th anniversary of an ASSUPTION OF PRELATE STEFAN OF PERM. It was the first visit of the higher hierarch of Russian orthodox church in the history of the Komi land.

On the other side of the hill there is a second church which remained in our village from the 18 th century. It is the church for the sake of Arisrtatig Michail and other Unbodied Heavenly Forces. In is possible to pass there on a bulk dam which was partitioned off a stream in 1984 and thus the pond was formed.

We are passing to the museum object «Vst-Vym peasants house where the interior of the end of the 19 th – the beginning of the 20 th centuries is recreated and we approach the structures of a mans Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk monastery.

The monastery was founded by Stefan of Perm and was the first monastery which appeared in the komi lands. The Mikhailovsky monastery has played a considerable role in the spiritual formation of the komi people. At a monastery the school preparing personnel of clergy from local inhabitants operated. In 1764 the monastery was closed by the decree of the empress Ekaterina the second.

The monastery began to revive since Behind the monastery fence there is a dwelling house, the church of the icon of Iversky Divine Mother – the patroness of a monkhood and some economic constructions. The wooden chapel was transferred to the village from the village Kamsamas in In our area about ten similar chapels have remained.

We approach the memorable carved cross established in honour of the 600 th anniversary of the assumption of the educator of the komi people – the bishop Stefan of Perm. The cross was made of a larch in a workshop of the national master Alexander Panteleimonovich Zaboev in Syktyvkar.

The stone church for the sake of Aristratig Mikhail and Other Heavenly Unbodied Forces was put on the same place where the wooden church stood in 1795.The church was put up by Stefan of Perm. After the church had been closed there was for some time a dining room for the administration of the Ust-Vym camp.

The camp was on the other bank of the river Vym but the majority of the workers of the camp administration lived in the vi llage, therefor the dining – room for them was in the village. After the Great Patriotic War the building of the church was more often empty. From 1957 till 1976 there was a club with a film projector.

From 1980 till 1995 the exposition of the village museum took place in the building of the church. In 1996 the church building was turned over to monastery conducting. In 1996 the church was reconsecrated. The service takes place in the church during the summer period as the church is not heated.

Since 1996 the museum of history of the village settles down in the centre of Ust-Vym in a two-storeyed building of historical value. It is the former building of Ust-Vym hospital constructed in The exposition is placed on the first floor in five halls. On the ground floor there are office accommodations, a show room, a library.

This building has a unique value for the republic –in such a complete kind a building has not remained anywhere else. Now 4 buildings have remained from the whole complex.