Votkinsk: attractions and description

50 kilometers from Izhevsk, Votkinsk is located on the shore of a huge and very picturesque lake. The sights of this small city are very interesting and worthy of attention. It was here that the musical genius of the world scale was born and grew up - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Votkinsk: the face of the city

The history of Votkinsk as a whole is quite typical for the cities of the Ural region. In the middle of the XVIII century, Empress Elizabeth signed a decree on the construction of a metallurgical plant here (or, as they said then, an iron works). The enterprise on the bank of the river Votka was built already in 1759. Soon, a small town grew up, which received its name from a local watercourse.

To date, Votkinsk has about 100 thousand inhabitants. The city is a part of the Republic of Udmurtia. Votkinsk is a city with a very heterogeneous ethnic structure of the population. Here, Russians, Tatars, Udmurts and representatives of at least forty other nations peacefully coexist.

The climate in Votkinsk is quite severe. On the other hand, here is an excellent ecology. Thanks to the greenery and forests, the air in the city is very clean.

In Votkinsk there are several dozens of industrial enterprises. But the main, city-forming is JSC "Votkinskiy Zavod". Every fourth able-bodied resident of the city works at this enterprise. By the way, one of the types of products manufactured at this plant are the intercontinental "Topol-M" missiles.

What can surprise the tourists and local historians the city of Votkinsk? Sights here are also present. First of all travelers come here to visit the house where the great composer Tchaikovsky was born.

Votkinsk: sightseeing. Photo and list of tourist objects of the city

"The Nutcracker", "Ondine", "Swan Lake" - it is difficult to find a person who would not have heard of these immortal pieces of music. Yes, and the surname of the author of these works is familiar, perhaps, to all. But the small homeland of Peter Tchaikovsky is Votkinsk.

The sights of the city are not limited to objects connected with the life and work of an outstanding composer. There still is a lot of interesting and noteworthy!

So, let's try to list the main sights of Votkinsk. Here they are:

• The Tchaikovsky House Museum.
• The city embankment and the dam of the Votkinsk sea.
• The museum of local lore.
• Annunciation Cathedral of the beginning of the XIX century.
• Panteleimonovskaya church (the end of XIX century).
• The old (Nikolayevsky) building of the Votkinsky plant.
• The monument to poet and musician Vladimir Vysotsky (opened in 2016).

Pre-revolutionary low-rise buildings of Votkinsk are worthy of attention and study. Dozens of nice brick and wooden houses will not leave indifferent fans of traditional Russian architecture. In addition, most of the city's historical buildings are in a decent and quite presentable form.

Detailed description of all the attractions of Votkinsk in this article will be difficult. But with the most interesting of them we will definitely get acquainted further.

Tchaikovsky House-Museum

A modest two-storey house of yellow color on the bank of the Votkinsky pond - it was here that in 1840 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born - a Russian composer, conductor and critic. The person who left a very significant trace in the world musical culture.

Tchaikovsky's father was the director of the local ironworks. And he, by the way, was not happy with his son's interest in music. Ilya Petrovich saw him in the future as a famous lawyer or official. True, when the young Tchaikovsky escaped from the Ministry of Justice to the Conservatory, his father did not put his son in the wheel.

Alas, only the central house of the Tchaikovsky estate has survived. The remaining buildings of the estate have been recreated already in our time. This is a coach house, a greenhouse, a gazebo with a colonnade, a vegetable pit and other structures.

Museum-Estate named after P.I. Tchaikovsky is the most popular tourist object in the city. Every year it is visited by tens of thousands of tourists. The museum presents photographs, documents, as well as personal belongings belonging to the Tchaikovsky family. The mansion regularly hosts theatrical shows and music festivals.

Embankment and city monuments

Votkinskaya embankment starts from the Tchaikovsky house and stretches almost 3 kilometers along the pond. At the beginning of the embankment in 1990, a very organic monument to Peter Tchaikovsky was established. They say that the composer was very fond of the landscapes of his native Votkinsk. It is possible that the prototype of his "Swan Lake" was just a local pond.

If you walk a little further along the embankment, you can see another famous city monument. This is a huge 167-pood anchor. And it is not accidental here, because at the local factory the anchors began to be produced in 1837.

Five hundred meters from the giant anchor is the Votkinsk Dam. This unique monument of architecture and engineering art is the same age as the city itself. The dam was built in 1759.

There are other monuments on the streets of the city. For example, in 2016 a bronze sculpture of Vysotsky was solemnly opened in the park near the Jubilee Palace of Culture. And in the central square of Votkinsk since 1958 is a miniature V.I. Lenin. True, against the background of the massive Cathedral of the Annunciation, the tiny figure of the "leader" looks a bit ridiculous.

Orthodox shrines of the city

What else is interesting in Votkinsk? The sights of the city are not only museums and monuments, but also its magnificent temples.

In the historical center of Votkinsk the Annunciation Cathedral rises. It was built in 1819. Snow-white columns on the facades, in combination with a high pointed belltower look very solemn and majestic. It was in this cathedral that in 1840 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was baptized.

A bit further to the south is another sacred place of the city - the Transfiguration Church. The church was originally wooden. But up to our time she did not live - the temple was burnt by the Pugachevs at the capture of the city. In the XIX century, the church was recreated in stone.

Finally…

The main attractions of Votkinsk are, of course, the museum-estate of P.I. Tchaikovsky, the city embankment and monuments on it. A nice addition to this list will be the expositions of the local history museum, the beautiful Orthodox churches of the city and the pretty old buildings in the center. Therefore, it is better for a tourist to come to Votkinsk for a whole day in order to have time to visit all the interesting objects and places of this city.