Slobodskoy. A Walk From The Plane to The Wolf Pit

Greetings, friends.
It's time to tell you a little bit about the city I live in. This is the old Russian town of Slobodskoy.

The city stretches along the high right bank of the Vyatka River and is located 35 km east of the regional center. The first mention of the city dates back to 1489. Of course, by the standards of many European cities, our Slobodskoy is still not old.

Cathedral Square is the center of the city. All socially significant events and celebrations take place here. The bell tower, the symbol of the city, was built in 1824 to mark the tenth anniversary of the victory over Napoleon.

But today I want to take a walk somewhere else. This is a new old city park on Spirtovodovskaya Hill. The name of the mountain comes from the distillery located here.
But sometimes the mountain is called Pivzavodskaya, because there was also a beer factory here.

It is not possible to find such an art object in every city. People who come to our city for the first time usually ask - Why is there a plane here? You can talk for a long time about how this plane was brought here in 1983 from Izhevsk. It's about 500 km.
For reference:

this aircraft flew 40,000 hours and made 29,999 landings — the maximum length of service for its series.

The aircraft is installed in front of the Trinity Church, which is located in the old city cemetery. The church and necropolis were built in 1775, 250 years ago.



Sunday morning in September. The park is quiet and I met only one person. In summer, there are many children, grandmothers, and young mothers in the park. The park was renovated last year, and attractions for children of all ages were installed.



The park is located next to the cemetery, if you go downhill. On the border of the cemetery and the park, there is a burial of dead soldiers in the hospital in the period 1942-1945.
I have been living in this city for 35 years, but to my shame, I found myself here for the first time only last winter. Recently, this burial was restored.

Next to the Mass Grave is a monument to the victims of Stalin's repressions. But the discovery for me was the monument to the German soldiers who died in captivity during the First World War. I knew that there were German prisoners in Slobodskoy, and their descendants remained after them. But I thought it was about the Second World War. But the historical truth about the German soldiers on Sloboda land is very scary, and it is not customary to talk about it.

We're going downhill again. Victoria Village Hotel-Restaurant. A very nice restaurant with delicious cuisine. This hotel features a poultry house, which is particularly interesting for small children. Adult guests can also visit the sauna or relax in the gazebos to celebrate memorable dates.

Monument to the writer Maxim Gorky. Why was it installed in this city? I don't know. It seems to me that no one knows. Gorky had never been to Slobodsky.

The brewery. It unexpectedly closed at the beginning of the century. As people say, the factory was open on Friday, and on Monday, the workers came to work, but it turned out that all the equipment had already been removed from the buildings.
The brewery was founded in 1866 by Vasily Alexandrov, a merchant.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the plant's products were sold in various provinces of the Russian Empire, but in 1918, after the October Revolution, the company was nationalized and mothballed for 14 years. In the 30s of the last century, the plant started working again. Some people I know worked at this plant in the 90s and they said that the plant had not been modernized since its launch. And I'm not surprised.

All life consists of stages of birth, growth, prosperity, decay, and death.
One business is dying, and a new one is emerging in its place.
The distillery, which was built in the 19th century, died a little later than the brewery, and one of its buildings now houses a funeral business.
This business has been gaining momentum and growing in our city since 2022. And this business is now flourishing all over Russia.

The largest funeral parlor was opened on the territory of the deceased brewery, and therefore, the brick wall was demolished, which once housed even a beer shop.

I walk back to the starting point of the walk, not through the park, but along the footpath along the old cemetery fence.

Speaking of the Wolf Pit. The place next to the Cathedral, the distillery has long been called the Wolf Pit. No one could explain to me the reason for this name. But I noticed that in winter, the air temperature at the plane and at the bottom of the hill varies by 2 degrees; it is colder below.