Additional reading Historic background of Tambov

Task 21. Read and translate the text.

Task 22. Answer the question. What new information have you learnt about the history of Tambov.

Task 23. Exchange this information with your partner using phrases expressing agreement (disagreement) and your opinion.

Agreement	Disagreement	Opinion
Yes, sure.	I am afraid you are mistaken.	As far as I know…
That’s right.	I don’t quite agree with you.	In my opinion…
Quite so.	You are not right.	I guess (think, believe)…

Like all ancient towns Tambov consisted of the Kremlin and the suburbs. The Kremlin was surrounded by a very high wall made of wood with 12 towers. Up to the 18-th century the majority of buildings in Tambov were made of wood and the town was built without any plan. The fifth governor of Tambov – a famous poet G.R. Derzhavin adopted a special plan of Tambov’s reconstruction and invited famous architects to build the town theatre for which he wrote first plays. Gerzhavin did a lot for the development of Tambov. In the days of his governing the first school was opened. Now there is a monument to this great person and one of the universities is named after him.

Many streets and squares in Tambov were renamed in the course of time. For example the present day Lenin Square was first named Pyatnitskaya and then Karl Marks square. In 1937 after the first monument to Lenin was put in the centre of the square it was renamed Lenin Square. The two longest streets in Tambov – Internatsionalnaya and Sovetskaya were named Dvoryanskaya and Bolshaya.

In the history of Tambov there were many rich noblemen who helped poor people and contributed to the development of Tambov a cultural centre. A wealthy nobleman Naryshkin invested his money in the building of the first public reading-room. Now the Art Gallery is situated there. He also bought books for Alexandrinsky Institute for the maidens of noblemen. It is now one of the university buildings. Technical university building opposite the building of classic university is the former gymnasium for boys where Chicherin and Sergeyev-Tsenskii studied. The first gymnasia for girls was in the 2-storeyed building (now the Institute for Teacher’s Professional Development) in the corner of Dvoryanskaya (now InternatsionalnayA. and Bolshaya (now SovetskayA. streets.

Besides Naryshkin there were some other honorary citizens like M.Aseyev, I Suvorov, A. Nosov, who offered their money and even houses for the needs of the town. They organized hospitals, refuges for poor people and orphanages. The leader of Nobility Kondoidi presented his house to the town administration. Now Mayor’s administration is housed there.

It is also interesting to know that the first building of the railway station was completed in 1869. In that year the railway traffic connecting Tambov and Koslov (now Michurinsk) was opened.