City of Brides is a widespread unofficial name for the city of Ivanovo in Russia. It is used in colloquial speech, in the press, on the Internet. It is mainly distributed among residents of other cities of Russia. It is a registered trademark of a large Ivanovo food company, and is also used as a brand by various Ivanovo – most often wedding – organizations. Why exactly is the city of Ivanovo called as the City of Brides? We will soon take a look at the 6 reasons.
The Location of the city of Ivanovo
The city of Ivanovo is located in the center of the Ivanovo region on the banks of the Uvod River, 290 km northeast of Moscow and about 100 km from Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Kostroma. The territory of the city is 10,484 ha, of which 2,353 ha are built up.
The History
Ivanovo stood at the Kokuy stream, the right tributary of the Uvodi. The historical core of Ivanov is the modern square of the Revolution. Based on the results of archaeological excavations and historical evidence of the development of the region, we can conclude that with a high degree of probability Ivanovo already existed in the 15th century. By 1579, the foundation of the Pokrovsky Monastery is referred to where the Palace of Arts now stands. The first known written reference dates back to 1608: in the books of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Ivanovo appears as the village of Ivanovo. At the beginning of the 17th century and earlier, Ivanovo did not yet have an established name.
In Ivanovo, already in the 17th century, textile craft reached a special development: weaving linens and decorating them. Since 1743, the counts Sheremetevs owned the village. In the middle of the 18th century, the first manufactories were founded by wealthy peasants, later calico production appeared. In 1871, through the merger of the village of Ivanov and the Voznesensky Posad that appeared in 1853, the city of Ivanovo-Voznesensk was formed, which soon became the leading textile center of the Russian Empire. In 1918, the city became the center of Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya province. In 1932, it was renamed into Ivanovo.
The Economy
Ivanovo, unlike its neighbors (Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kostroma) developed primarily as an industrial center, so there was a significant number of industrial enterprises.
The city is traditionally considered the center of the textile industry. At the moment, the number of textile enterprises has slightly decreased, but there are a large number of sewing enterprises. Starting from the thirties of the 20th century, machine-building enterprises began to be actively created in the city. Currently, food industry enterprises are developing. In Ivanovo, there are also a small number of chemical enterprises.
Currently, trade and services are developing at an accelerated pace. The city has a large number of shopping centers, an extensive network of fast food restaurants and nightclubs. There are prerequisites for the development of tourism.
The Relation between Ivanovo and the Brides
1. Populated with more female than male
The image of Ivanov as a city with a predominant female population appeared with the development of the textile industry. A large number of women worked in the fabrication and processing enterprises. After World War II, as a result of the decline in the male population, the demographic imbalance worsened. Many machine-building enterprises were created who needed mostly male workers. Nevertheless, this problem could not be completely resolved: according to the State Statistics Committee of Russia , the Ivanovo Region continues to occupy first place in terms of the difference in the number of inhabitants by gender, so in 2005, 1,247 women fell per 1,000 men, with a ratio of 1,000:1,158 for the country in whole.
2. Famous for its female weavers
Popularity of the “female” image of the city was heightened by the famous Ivanovo weavers Valentina Golubeva and Zoya Pukhova . They represented the city and the region in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, their images were propagated in the Soviet media, they were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and later they took leading positions in advanced textile factories.
3. It is mentioned in a popular song
The most known fact about the nickname “city of brides” for the city of Ivanovo is credited to the song “Why Are We Not A Couple” (music by E. Krylatov, lyrics by M. Plyatskovsky) performed by Andrei Mironov in the film “Honest, Intelligent, Unmarried ”, released in 1981. Each of the three verses of the song ended with a chorus:
I’ll repeat everything about love to you anew,
But when you get tired of repeating it in vain,
Know it: I’ll leave for Ivanovo,
And Ivanovo is a city of brides.
4. It is reflected in the symbol of the city
The theme of the “city of brides” was reflected in the emblem of the city, adopted in 1996 by the Ivanovo City Duma. Unlike the previous coat of arms with a torch and a shuttle, it depicts a young woman in Russian national clothes, busy spinning.
5. A lot of events in the city are about brides
Often, the city administration initiates festive events related to the theme of “brides”. For example, on the day of the city, May 28, 2011, the “Bride Parade” was held. The streets of the city were packed with 140 girls in wedding dresses. Such events are organized annually by Cosmopolitan magazine entitled Runaway Brides, where charming girls in wedding dresses have fun all day on the territory of Ivanovo.
6. People still go to Ivanovo to get the nicest wedding dresses
Although in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg people can easily get high quality wedding dresses, some Russians still have theirs made in Ivanovo for the sake of sentiment, culture, and history.