Kasimov
Kasimov
a city in Riazan’ Oblast, RSFSR; landing on the Oka River. It is situated 164 km northeast of Riazan’ and 5 km from the Kasimov railroad station (the terminal point of a branch of the Riazan’-Ruzaevka line). Population, 33, 000 (1970).
The city was founded as Gorodets-Meshcherskii in 1152 by Iurii Dolgorukii. In 1471 the Muscovite grand prince Vasilii II Temnyi gave the city to the Tatar khan Kasim, who had fled from the Golden Horde to enter the Russian service. It was at this time that the city was renamed Kasimov. From the mid-15th century to 1681, it was the capital of the Kasimov Kingdom. Monuments from that period have been preserved, including a minaret (1470) and the mausoleums of Shah-Ali-Khan (1555) and Avgan-Muhammad-Sultan (1647). Among the most interesting 18th-century monuments are the Bogoiavlenie Church (1700), the St. Nicholas Church (1701), and the Troitskaia Church (1753–65). In 1780 the city was rebuilt according to a regular plan. The new buildings included a market arcade (1830’s), the Voznesenskii Cathedral (1854–64), and a number of residential buildings executed in the classical style.
Industries in Kasimov include the processing of sheepskin and fur and the manufacturing of nets and refrigeration equipment. There is a shipyard. The city has an industrial technicum, a medical school, and a pedagogical school. It is also the site of a museum of local lore.
REFERENCES
Shishkin, N. I. Istoriia goroda Kasimova s drevneishikh vremen, 2nd ed. Riazan’, 1891.Mikhailovskii, E. V., and I. V. Il’enko. Riazan’, Kasimov. [Moscow, 1969.]