Balakhna
Balakhna
a city and center of Balakhna Raion, Gorky Oblast, RSFSR, with a pier on the right bank of the Volga River, 32 km above the city of Gorky. With a population of 33,500 (1968), it has a railroad station on the Gorky-Gidrouzel branch. The city originated in 1474. During the second half of the 16th century and up through the 18th century it was an important center of salt mining and grain trade. Balakhna has a state regional electric power plant which operates on peat. Its enterprises include cardboard, furniture, and clothing factories and a casting and mechanical plant. The F. E. Dzerzhinskii Balakhna Pulp and Paper Combine is located in the settlement of Pravdinsk, near Balakhna. Among Balakhna’s architectural monuments are the Spasskaia (St. Nikita) Church of the Pokrovskii Monastery (1668) and the Church of St. Nicholas (1552). The city has a power engineering tech-nicum and a museum of local lore.