Kimry Art Nouveau

27 points3 km4 hours

Today we'll stroll through the historic center of what was one of the largest villages in the Russian Empire. Before the revolution, Kimry was home to peasant shoemakers who supplied leather goods and footwear to practically the whole country. Every peasant or merchant felt duty-bound to build a bright, handsome house to stand out from the neighbors. That's why Kimry has kept a unique set of peasant-built architecture, which we'll explore from every angle on today's walk.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras
🔍🖼️ Spot interesting details

Route points (27)

House of Onufry Vasilyevich Potapenko in Kimry

Point on route “Kimry Art Nouveau”

Point 25

House of Onufry Vasilyevich Potapenko

📜 Historic site

Historical Background

Onufry Vasilyevich Potapenko came from the Don Cossacks and sold Kimry footwear at the largest fairs in Little Russia (Ukraine). In 1880, in the village of Abramovo near Kimry, he opened a factory producing Hamburg leather. The leather was very soft and supple, and shoes made from it were displayed in the best shops of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Business boomed, and in 1890 Potapenko built himself a large house in the very center of Kimry, on Ilyinskaya Street. The building is eclectic, but its lavish decor is especially notable for the Baroque oak leaves on the second-floor window frames and the molded brackets supporting the bay window.