Rylsk, Russia

For the village in Poland, see Rylsk, Łódź Voivodeship.

Rylsk (Russian: Рыльск) is a town and the administrative center of Rylsky District in Kursk Oblast, western Russia, located on the right bank of the Seym River (Dnieper's basin) 124 kilometres (77 mi) west of Kursk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 15,069 (2021 Census);^[6] 15,671 (2010 Census);^[2] 17,603 (2002 Census);^[7] 19,472 (1989 Soviet census);^[8] 19,000 (1974).

Rylsk Рыльск
Town[1]
View of Rylsk
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Rylsk
Rylsk Location of Rylsk Show map of Kursk Oblast Rylsk Rylsk (European Russia) Show map of European Russia Rylsk Rylsk (Russia) Show map of Russia
Coordinates: 51°34′N 34°40′E
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Kursk Oblast[1]
Administrative district	Rylsky District[1]
Town of district significance	Rylsk[1]
First mentioned	1152
Elevation	160 m (520 ft)
Population  (2010 Census)[2]
• Total	15,671
Administrative status
• Capital of	Rylsky District,[1] town of district significance of Rylsk[1]
Municipal status
• Municipal district	Rylsky Municipal District[3]
• Urban settlement	Rylsk Urban Settlement[3]
• Capital of	Rylsky Municipal District,[3] Rylsk Urban Settlement[3]
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK [4])
Postal code(s)[5]	307370, 307371, 307373, 307374, 307379
OKTMO ID	38634101001
Website	administracia.rylsk.ru

History

St. Nicholas Monastery in c. 1912

Rylsk was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1152 as one of the Severian towns.^[9] It had become the seat of an appanage principality by the end of the 12th century before coming into the hands of Lithuanian rulers sometime in the late 13th or early 14th century.^[9] The Polish king Casimir IV made a grant of it to Dmitry Shemyaka's son Ivan, who had settled in Lithuania. Ivan's son Vasily defected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, but Lithuanians held the town until 1522.

During the Time of Troubles, it was one of the first towns to welcome False Dmitry I as the Tsar. After Ukraine's integration into the Russian Empire, Rylsk capitalized on the trade between Little Russia and Great Russia. Numerous merchants resided in the town. Today its population is the same as it had been about a century before.

Soviet authority in Rylsk was established in November 1917. In mid-1918, at the end of the first Ukrainian–Soviet War, Rylsk briefly became part of the Ukrainian State. It was retaken by the Soviets at the start of the second war.^[10]

During World War II, the town was occupied by the German Army from October 5, 1941 to August 31, 1943.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Rylsk serves as the administrative center of Rylsky District.^[1] As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Rylsky District as the town of district significance of Rylsk.^[1] As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Rylsk is incorporated within Rylsky Municipal District as Rylsk Urban Settlement.^[3]

Attractions

Uspensky Cathedral

The town does not retain many marks of antiquity. Its oldest buildings are three churches of the monastery of St. Nicholas, all erected in the mid-18th century. Some of the most prominent buildings in the town were commissioned by the Shelikhov merchants who traded with Alaska Natives in North America in the late 18th century, the most famous of whom, Grigory Shelekhov, was born in the town. A monument was erected to his memory on the central square. The foremost of the town's churches are the Uspensky Cathedral (1811) and the Pokrovsky Cathedral (1822), both designed in a vernacular Neoclassical idiom and furnished with very lofty belltowers.