Dzerzhinsk, Industrial center in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia
Dzerzhinsk is an industrial city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast that stretches 24 kilometers along the right bank of the Oka River. The city sits about 390 kilometers east of Moscow and forms a large urban area together with Nizhny Novgorod.
The settlement began in 1606 under the name Rastyapino and served at first as a rural community on the riverbank. It received its current name in 1929 in honor of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the first chief of the Soviet secret police.
The name honors Felix Dzerzhinsky, a Bolshevik official from the early Soviet period. The city today maintains connections with several partner towns across Europe, including Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Germany and Grodno in Belarus.
The Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod railway line connects the city to the national transport network and offers direct train services in both directions. Trains stop in the center and provide connections to other cities along the route.
The Shukhov Tower from 1929 stands directly on the Oka riverbank and shows a hyperboloid lattice structure made of steel. The shape results from straight steel beams arranged to form a doubly curved surface without bending any individual elements.
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