Volkhov is located within Volkhov lowland, 122 km to the east of St. Petersburg. It is a railway junction (Volkhovstroy I) at the lines to St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Cherepovets, Chudovo-Moskovskoye (towards Moscow).

It is a pier on River Volkhov.

The town with the population of 46.827 people (as of 2013) has the area of 108 sq. km.

History of Volkhov

On the bank of Volkhov River, where the well-known trade way “from the Varangians to Greeks” passed, there were old-time Novgorod settlements of people engaged in taking ships over Volkhov rapids.

In the early 20th century Volkhov became a railway station at the line connecting St. Petersburg with Vologda and Cherepovets. The Zvanka station settlement with locomotive depot and repair shops was built there and a line to Petrozavodsk and Murmansk was laid down starting from there in 1916.

It was founded as the settlement of builders of the Volkhov hydroelectric power station and was named Volkhovstroy, i.e. “construction at Volkhov”.

During the Great Patriotic War one of the first big victories took place under Volkhov in winter of 1941. It stopped approach of fascist armies to Leningrad.

In 1970 the city was awarded the October Revolution order.

Architecture and Sightseeing

Volkhov hydroelectric power station (1918-27) is an important milestone in development of industrial architecture: its composition is in harmony with the technological scheme of its construction.

10 km away from Volkhov, in the Staraya Ladoga village there is the Staroladozhsky memorial estate.

30 km to the southeast of Volkhov, at the Zelenets station, there has remained the ensemble of the Zelenetsky (Trinity) Monastery (founded in 1565-70) with constructions of the 16th -18th centuries: the Trinity Cathedral (1684, then reconstructed), the Blagoveshchensk Church with a belltower (1680th), monastic cells (the 1680s), hegumen’s house (19th century), and a stone fencing (the 1680s).