Irbit Fair: description, history, interesting facts and reviews

The Irbit Fair for three centuries was the second in its significance and scope in Russia, second only to Nizhny Novgorod. The first mention of it refers to the 30 years of the seventeenth century. Since that time, it was held annually until 1929. The revival of the traditional fair took place in 2003. Now it is held every year at the end of August.

Irbit Fair: History and Modernity

It is officially considered that for the first time fair fairs on the Irbit River were held in 1643. Twelve years earlier, Irbit Sloboda appeared at the confluence of two rivers. In a small settlement lived 31 peasant family. Due to its successful location on the most important trade route, the settlement quickly expanded, and a small local hirch became the largest trading platform.

The Babinovsky tract, on which the Irbit Fair was located, was the most important state artery connecting the European part of the country with Siberia. A golden vein for local traders and overseas merchants, who in large quantities were pulled into a more insignificant settlement.

In those days only here it was possible to buy the most valuable Siberian furs, the finest Chinese silk and tea, skins of lambs of special manufacture from Central Asia. Moscow merchants brought jewelry and manufactory products, metals were brought from the Urals.

In different periods fair farewells lasted from two weeks to one and a half months. Usually the time of their meeting fell on the autumn-winter months. Today the fair is only four days old and moved to the last days of August.

On the "Great Tea Way"

First of all, the Irbit Fair was famous as a place where Siberian furs were bought and sold - an expensive commodity that was extremely valued in Europe. However, in the darkness of history, one more interesting fact is lost: it was here in Irbit in the eighteenth century that the first monopoly on the trade of tea was formed.

"The Great Tea Route", held along the Babinovsky tract, made a fair in a small town a monopolist in the distribution and pricing of Chinese "liquid gold".

The traditional device of the fair

Since its inception, the Irbit Fair has demonstrated the wonders of high self-organization. On the general council merchants elected commissioners, each from their own group or industry. Then the commissioners formed the fair committee and appointed its chairman. The duties of the committee were not only the decision of organizational and financial issues, but also the maintenance of order, and also the settlement of disputes between the traders themselves and between them and the buyers.

Over time, the fair has grown so much that not only independent merchants took part in it, but also large state organizations, banks, transport, and trading houses.

By the nineteenth century, the center of international trade in furs had grown from the Irbit Fair, and it itself became more like a commodity exchange than a classical fair market.

Time Corrections

Today, the brightest event of the city has a completely different program. The Irbit Fair has long lost the importance of the most important shopping center that connects two parts of the world. Its revival is, rather, a tribute to tradition, a memory of the history of the city. Today, a bright colorful event is more aimed at attracting tourists.

As before, there is an active trade in industrial goods. However, the main emphasis is still on the demonstration of traditional crafts and the sale of handicrafts.

An animated fairy tale

An integral part of fair trade has long been selling goods of folk art. Products of the masters of the Urals were famous throughout Russia. We all remember the tales of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, in which he describes the art of the Ural stone-cutters. Products from malachite and mountain gems, processed with the precise hand of the "mountain master", were valued by foreign traders along with Siberian furs and Chinese tea.

They say that the fabulous Danilo-master really existed. It is believed that the prototype of it was the legendary Ural miner Danila Zverev.

Irbit Fair: City of Masters and Other Entertainments

Carving for bone and stone, filigree casting, art painting for metal, products of the Ural lace makers and jewelers made the Irbit Fair more famous than fur and overseas goods.

Today, like a hundred years ago, the skill of Ural artisans and artists can boast Irbit. The program of the Irbit Fair every year provides for conducting master classes with the demonstration and sale of items of folk arts and crafts. The city of masters is not only an exhibition site, where they buy and sell souvenirs. Visiting it, you dive into the unique atmosphere of the art and craft workshops of the old Urals.

Here, everyone can try himself in the role of "mining master", feel all the charm of working with a stone, look into the forge, personally paint a heavy tray and make a basket of birch bark with your own hands. Do not leave anyone indifferent traditional outfits of the inhabitants of the Urals, and the opportunity to try them on yourself will help to completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the holiday.

Why go to Irbit

Of course, the main event in the life of the city is the Irbit Fair. Reviews about it are mostly positive, although it does not do, of course, without overlap and inconvenience. Some do not like crowds of tourists, someone queues for their favorite goods and souvenirs, but in general the impressions from the fair remain the most rosy.

One day is unlikely to be enough to see everything that is planned, and a rich program will not bore even for four days of the fair.

In addition, there are other sights in Irbit, the history of which is also inextricably linked with the most important for the city action. If you have enjoyed the fair in full, it is worth looking into the Irbit Museum of History and Ethnography. One of the largest collections in Russia boasts the rarest exhibits. A permanent exhibition is devoted to the history of the Irbit Fair.

Lovers of old houses "with a history" will enjoy the building of the Passage. "To be at the fair and not to visit the Passage is like being in Rome and not seeing the Pope" - the expression from the "Irbitskiy Fair" of the century before last spoke eloquently about its significance for the city. The huge structure erected in the nineteenth century was the center of the life of the Irbit Fair. The square in front of it with stone trading rows was not inferior in beauty and scope to the largest in Russia Kostroma Torg. Alas, now there is a wasteland in their place. Today, the Passage building is used for its intended purpose: it is a lively trade, although, of course, without the former scope and luxury.