Maryovo

Maryovo village is the administrative centre of Maryovo Rural Settlement and Maryovo Municipal District in the Novgorod Region. It stands on the Maryovka River on the Kholm — Demyansk road. It is connected by road with Veliky Novgorod. The nearest railway station is Lychkovo in Demyansk District, 94 km away. Maryovo is an ancient settlement. Some local historians believe the Maryovo churchyard was founded as early as 947, when Princess Olga of Kyiv visited the area while reorganising tribute collection. The name Maryovo appears in chronicles describing the XII century. A XV-century list of towns includes 35 Novgorod and Pskov towns, among them Demyana, Velil and Maryova. The 1495 Novgorod census books mention the Maryova volost in the Derevskaya Pyatina. Maryovo is first mentioned in the XIII century as the grand-princely volost of Maryova. It was divided into 10 districts averaging 20 villages each. In total there were 209 villages, 314 households and 734 tax-paying peasants. The area was relatively prosperous, known for blacksmithing, fur hunting and gathering wild honey. Moscow scribes surveyed the Maryova volost in 1495. Its centre was the Maryova churchyard, which later became Maryovo. At the end of the XV century it was repeatedly attacked by Lithuanian troops, and in 1612–1617 it was under Lithuanian-Swedish occupation. A survey of 1620 found the volost almost deserted; residents began returning from Moscow lands in 1620–1622. Maryovo is also recorded in 1678 and 1710. From 1702 the territory belonged to Ingermanland Governorate, and from 1727 to Novgorod Governorate. From the XIX century the volost was called Moiseyevskaya and formed part of Demyansk Uyezd. Before the emancipation reform, 1477 male serfs lived in 72 villages and belonged to 31 landowners, whose holdings ranged from 2 to 737 serfs. After the reform of 1861, village life changed significantly and peasants increasingly travelled to St. Petersburg and other cities for work. In 1882, the Velilskaya, Moiseyevskaya and Molvotitskaya volosts contained 347 villages and 18 thousand residents. The district, including Maryovo, suffered heavily during the Demyansk operation of the Great Patriotic War. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on 19 February 1944, the administrative centre of Molvotitsky District was moved from Molvotitsy to Maryovo. From 5 July 1944 the district belonged to the Novgorod Region. In 1963 Molvotitsky District was abolished and its territory joined Demyansk Rural District. In 1968 a music school opened in Maryovo. In 1972, Yak-40 flights began on the Maryovo-Leningrad route. A hotel with a dining room opened in 1975; the following year the Maryovo automatic telephone exchange began operation and the Pobeda cinema welcomed its first visitors. Today Maryovo has many features of an urban-type settlement, while preserving historic monuments including the 19th-century Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God.