Overview
Pestrechinsky District (; ) is a territorial administrative unit and municipal district of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is socio-economically developed municipal district with a total area of 1361 m 2 located in the north-western region of the Republic of Tatarstan. The administrative center of the district is Pestretsy, a rural locality (tat. Питрәч). The estate of Vladimir Ulyanov's grandfather Alexander Blank stands on the grounds of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Lenino-Kokushkino" which is located within the district. Additionally the Pestrechinskaya stoyanka historical monument dating from the Bronze Age (XVIII-IX BC) can be found near the village of Pestretsy.
Geography
The district encompasses a total land area of 1361 m 2 with the district seat located in Predkamye. To the north, the Pestrechinsky district shares borders with the Vysokogorsky and Arsky districts, with the Tyulyachinsky to the east, and the Rybno-Slobodsky and Laishevsky districts to the south. The western part of the district adjoins to Kazan. The coat of arms of the Pestrechinsky district was approved in 2007 and entered into the State Heraldic Register of the Russian Federation under the designation No. 3190. In the center of the coat of arms, there is a jug representing the development of the craft industry in the region, whose inhabitants were actively engaged in jewelry, leather, wood, and metalworking industries. The jug filled with grain symbolizes the agricultural traditions and modern agricultural production that form the basis of the regional economy.
The two minks represent another developed sector of the economy - fur production. The red color on the coat of arms represents the qualities of hard work, strength, courage and beauty. Gold signifies the bounty of the harvest, wealth, solar energy, and warmth. Green is a symbol of nature, health, youth, growth and life. The regional flag was developed on the basis of the district coat of arms and was approved in May 2007. It consists of a red cloth with a green stripe 2/9 of the flag's width at the bottom edge. In the center, there are two mink holding a yellow jug with grain and a rooster standing on it.
Etymology
The area is named after its administrative center located in the village of Pestretsy. There are two versions of the origin of the name. According to the first, Pestretsy is formed from the "motley people" (pestryy narod), or various workers who settled in the region in the 15th-16th centuries such as woodcarvers, fellers, potters, carpenters, tailors. Another version suggests that the name comes from the "speck" mushrooms (pestrets) from the moss family often found in the region.
Origins
Prehistoric peoples first began to settle on the territory of the modern Pestrechinsky district at the end of the ice age. These inhabitants were primarily engaged in fishing and hunting and remnants of their places of living were subsequently discovered near the village of Pestretsy. The village itself was formed more than 400 years ago, after the Siege of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible. During his reign, the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was erected on Sviyazhskaya Mountain on the banks of the Volga, an event that was followed by the granting of land to east of Kazan to its builders by Ivan IV. The first settlement in those parts was named the Trinity Wasteland (Troitskaya Pustosh'). Subsequently, the area began to be actively populated by various artisans.
In the 16th century, the pottery industry became especially developed in the region, which would then grow into the production of artistic ceramics with Tatar national ornaments.
Contemporary Pestrechinsky district
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Tatarstan made an attempt to secede from the Russian Federation and gain its independence. In 1992, a referendum was held and as a result of Tatarstan proclaimed state sovereignty. However, the region would subsequently decide to remain part of Russia as a sovereign republic. At the same time, Tatarstan began to pursue an independent socio-economic policy and the districts within the republic received greater independence. From 1998 to 2013, the Pestrechinsky district was headed by Shaikhulla Nasybullin, followed as head of the region by Eduard Diyarov who began to actively develop the agricultural sector in the region.
Population
As of 2019, there were 45,054 residents in the region. The district is ethnically heterogeneous with Tatars making up 57% of it is inhabitants, Russians 38%, baptized Tatars and small groups of Chuvash, Armenians, Georgians, Mari and Ukrainians make up around another 2% respectively. From 2001 to 2011, the region experienced a population decline. In 2012, the birth rate in the district slightly increased to 343 births compared to 332 registered deaths. Additionally mortality rates have fallen over the past decade.
Municipal-territorial structure
There are 74 settlements in the Pestrechinsky district, comprising 21 rural settlements. The administrative centers of rural settlements are the large villages of Belkino, Bogorodskoe, Ekaterinovka, Kibyachi, Kobyakovo, Kovali, Kon, Koschakovo, Kryash-Serda, Kulayevo, Lenino-Kokushkino, Nadezhdino, Otar-Dubrovka, Panovka, Pestretsy, Pimeri, Tatarskoe Khodyashevo, Chita, Shali, Staroe Shigaleevo and Yantsevary.
Industry
Agricultural engineering interests in the region, are primarily represented by the "Press" company. Other large enterprises operating in the district are the regional operational gas service and the organizations "Partner" and "Stroitel".
Agriculture
The region is a key point in the development of the agro-industrial complex of Tatarstan The primary crops cultivated in the district include fodder, grain, leguminous crops, winter rye, barley, oats, and potatoes. In total, there are 26 agricultural entities in the district, including an agricultural cooperative, subsidiary farms, private limited companies, joint-stock companies, and peasant farms. Animal husbandry is another main area of activity with meat and dairy cattle breeding, poultry farming, horse breeding, and fur farming operations present in the region. In 2017, the gross agricultural output in the region amounted to 3.9 billion rubles, most of which related to the livestock industry. A major investor in the region's agriculture is “Ak Bars Holding”.
Other revenue-generating enterprises include the Koschakovsky fur farm, the Pestrechinsky poultry farm "Ak Bars" (brand "Pestrechinka"), the company "Gazovik" (consists of 3 branches: "Bogorodsky", "Tatarsky" and "Shigaleevsky"), the agricultural enterprise "Koschakovsky", a fish farm "Ushnya", horse farm "Kazansky", agricultural complex "Karpovka", "Pestretsy-agro", "Ratsin-Shali" and the "Pestrechinskaya food corporation".
Investment potential
The Pestrechinsky District has actively expanded cooperation with investors. In 2017, the volume of investment per capita amounted to almost 231 thousand rubles. The district has an industrial site "GreenwichPark Pestretsy" (in 2020 there were two residents "Spectrum" and "Technopark") and a technopark of the company "Danaflex".
Housing stock
In 2019, the head of the Pestrechinsky district, Ilham Kashapov, presented a sustainable model of rural development at the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS Participants. From 2015 to 2019, within the framework of this model 575 thousand square meters of housing were commissioned in the district, attracting another 11.3 thousand residents to the district, after which the population increased to 43.7 thousand. In terms of housing stock under construction, the Pestrechinsky district ranks third in the republic after Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny. For example, as a result of the residential complex "Tsarevo" alone the population of the Pestrechinsky district increased by 16 thousand.
Transport
Several large highways pass through the Pestrechinsky district including the M-7 (Volga) "Moscow - Kazan - Ufa", Shali - Sorochi Gory, Kazan - Lenino-Kokushkino - Tyulyachi - Shemordan, Staroye Shigaleevo - Pestretsy - Kulaevo (M-7). The Ministry of Transport plans to lay a part of the transport corridor "Western Europe - Western China" (section Yoshkar-Ola - Shali)
Ecology
The most significant water source in the region is the Myosha River. In total, 146 springs have been identified in the region, of which 7 are of historical importance. The Lenino-Kokushkinsky state natural-historical zakaznik (natural park) resides on the territory of the district, containing artificially created forests which are composed of species of pine and larch in the water protection zone of the Ushnya River.
Social sphere
There are 29 secondary schools, 13 preschool institutions, 1 boarding school, and the Lenino-Kokushkin vocational lyceum in the region. In the field of health care infrastructure, there is a clinic, a hospital, and an intensive care unit as well as 4 medical outpatient clinics. There are 36 medical institutions in the region. These include the Pestrechinskaya central regional hospital, Koschakovskaya, Lenino-Kokushkinskaya, Panovskaya, and Shalinskaya medical outpatient clinics, as well as 31 medical and obstetric points. The culture of the Kryashens of Zakazania and the Pestrechinsky region is considered the standard of the Kryashen folk tradition. The ancestors of the Kryashens of the Pestrechinsky district were old-baptized Tatars and retained pagan beliefs even into the 19th century.
At the same time, from the 16th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, the Kryaschens adopted many Christian beliefs which began combine with their old traditions to create their unique traditions. In the post-Soviet period, the religious, cultural, and everyday distinctiveness of the Kryashens from the Muslim Tatars became the reason for a number of Krashen organizations to demand recognition of the status of an independent people. The most famous district Kryashen is the Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Gavrilov, the defender of the Brest Fortress. Another well-known native of the area is the honored test pilot of the USSR Avdeev, Ivan Yegorovich from the village of Priyutovo.
In the Pestrechinsky district there is a centralized club and library system, the Pestrechinsky Museum of Local Lore includes a department of the Regional Museum in the village of Kryashch-Serda specializing in the study of the life and national culture of the Kryashens, as well as the Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union named after Pyotr Gavrilov in the village of Alvidino. A branch of Tatmedia, Pestretsy-inform, operates in the region; it includes the regional newspaper Vperyod (Alga) which is published in Russian and Tatar as well as the Pestretsy TV channel. In 2013, on the territory of the village of Pestretsy on the right bank of the Mesha, two ancient archeological sites were found in the Laishevsky forest which would subsequently be designated the Pestrechinsky site which dates from the Bronze Age in XVIII-IX BC.
An Eneolithic era site belonging to the Garino-Borsk culture from III-II thousand years BC was also discovered on the right bank. In total, along the coast of Myosha, archaeologists have recorded a cultural layer 45 meters long. In 2010, in the vicinity of the village of Lenino-Kokushkino, a treasure hoard of 350 silver coins was discovered. The hoard contained coins minted on behalf of the Moscow rulers Ivan III, Vasily III, Ivan IV at the mints of Moscow, Tver, Novgorod, and Pskov.
Sources
* * * * * * Tatar Encyclopaedia. — Казань, 1999.