Solvychegodsk

a city in Kotlas Raion, Arkhangel’sk Oblast, RSFSR. Landing on the right bank of the Vychegda River, 25 km northeast of the Kotlas railroad junction. Sol’vychegodsk was founded along Lake Solianoe in the 14th century and was named Usol’sk in the 15th century. In the early 16th century the Stroganovs, a family of prosperous salt-mining magnates, settled in the city. In the 16th and 17th centuries Sol’vychegodsk was a major trade, handicraft, and cultural center of northern Russia. In 1796 it became the district city of Vologda Province. At one time the city was a place of political exile. Sol’vychegodsk has been part of Arkhangel’sk Oblast since 1937.

Architectural monuments in Sol’vychegodsk include Blago-veshchenskii Cathderal (1560–84) and Vvedenskii Cathedral (1689–93). The former, a two-pillared structure on a high substructure, is noted for its fragments of paintings (1600, F. Savin and S. Iarofeev), its icons of the Stroganov school (late 16th and early 17th centuries), and its works of decorative applied art (16th through 18th centuries). The pillarless Naryshkin-style Vvedenskii Cathedral rests on a high substructure and is surrounded on three sides by a double-tiered covered gallery; its facades are richly covered with white-stone and tile decoration. There is a seven-tiered carved wooden iconostasis in the cathedral’s interior.

In the 17th century Sol’vychegodsk was the center for the production of Usol’sk enamel. The city today is a balneological and pelotherapeutic resort. The chloride-sulfate-sodium water from the mineral springs is used for bathing, and silt from Lake Sole-noe is used for mud baths. Diseases of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, as well as gynecological disorders, are treated. There is a sanatorium for children with rheumatic illnesses.