Solikamsk

a city under oblast jurisdiction and administrative center of Solikamsk Raion, Perm’ Oblast, RSFSR. Landing on the left bank of the Kama River; linked by electrified railroad line to Perm’ and Sverdlovsk. Population, 93,000 (1975; 38,000 in 1939, 83,000 in 1959).

Solikamsk was founded in the second quarter of the 15th century at the site of a Komi-Permiak settlement, near salt deposits; it was originally known as Sol’-Kamskaia or Usol’e-Kamskoe (from sol’, “salt”). In 1472 it was annexed by the Muscovite state along with Velikaia Perm’ and soon acquired fortifications and a posad (merchants’ and artisans’ quarter). From the 16th through 18th centuries, Solikamsk was the site of the major saltworks in Russia. In the 17th century it was an important trade center on the route to Siberia. In 1613 the city was assigned a voevoda (military governor). In 1719 it became the administrative center of Perm’ Province, and in 1796 a district capital in Perm’ Province. Soviet power was proclaimed in Solikamsk on Jan. 31 (Feb. 13), 1918. In 1919, Kolchak’s forces seized the city on several occasions.

In 1925 the extensive Upper Kama deposits of potassium salts were discovered near Solikamsk. During the years of Soviet power, Solikamsk has also become an important center for the chemical industry, with such enterprises as the Urals Potassium Combine and a magnesium plant (since 1936). Other enterprises include a pulp and paper combine. There is a poultry farm and a greenhouse complex in the suburbs. Solikamsk has evening technicums for the pulp and paper industry and for road construction, an evening branch of the Berezniki construction technicum, a medical school, and a pedagogical school. It also has a museum of local lore. Architectural monuments, most in the Moscow baroque style, include the Troitskii Cathedral (1684–97), the Kres-tovozdvizhenskii Cathedral (1698–1709), the Bogoiavlenskaia Church (1687–95), the Vvedenskaia Church of the Troitskii Monastery (1687–1702), and the Voevoda Residence (1688).