Moscow-Regional Filial of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University

A Brief History of Chernogolovka


The scientific center of the Academy of Sciences was founded in 1956 near the village of Chernogolovka, located 20 km north of the town of Noginsk (formerly Bogorodsk, before 1781 - Rogozhi).

The name of the settlement and the river Chernogolovka appeared centuries ago. In ancient times, this region, called "Chernogolovl'" (or "Chernoglavl'"), was a district of a grand duchy and dates from the time of the great Moscow prince Ivan I (fourteenth century). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the district Chernogolovl' had abundant forest game and, therefore, served as a favorite place for the kings to take in some "amusement and fresh air", that is, to go on various types of hunts.

The first official references to the village of Chernogolovka date to 1401, but the village mentioned on the anciant maps of XIII-XIV centuries. As a town of ancient Moscow, the ancient settlement of Chernogolovka was founded along the old road which connected Suzdal', the capital of East Russian Lands, to Smolensk, the capital of West Russian Lands. Later, in XVII-XIX centuries this road became the so called "Stromynka", and Chernogolovka was located three versts (3.2 km) away lay the main Troitskii road from the town of Bogorodsk (now Noginsk) to the famous Troitse-Sergiev Monastery (in USSR-times - town of Zagorsk, before and now - Sergiev Posad). An inn was located in the settlement along Main Stromyn Road. At the end of the eighteenth century, little Stromyn experienced a rebirth when the Ivanovo-Shuiskii industrial region appeared to the northeast of Moscow. Horses pulled raw materials and finished products through Moscow along Main Stromyn Road.

Tourist firms use the modern hotel complex in Chernogolovka in organizing excursions to the ancient Russian temples ofthe twelfth to fifteenth centuries, which are located 100 - 150 km to the north and east of Chernogolovka in the towns of Yur'ev-Pol'skii, Suzdal', Vladimir, Pereslavl'-Zalesskii, Rortov the Great...


History of Chernogolovka (in Russian).

© Michael Gavrilov, ISSP RAS, 1996.