Now the city is the center of information technology and develops tourism.įoundation The Spit and the Annunciation Monastery in 1894. In Russia, the city became a political center and the capital of the Volga Federal District. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city was renamed back to Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, the German air force bombed the city for 3 years. During the World War II, the city sent to the front a huge amount of military equipment and ammunition. Then it was the industrial center of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet era, Nizhny Novgorod was renamed Gorky, in honor of the writer Maxim Gorky. In 1896, the city hosted the largest All-Russia exhibition. During the Russian Empire, in 1817 Nizhny Novgorod became the country's main trading city. Citizens organized an army to liberate Moscow from the Poles in 1611, led by Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Nizhny Novgorod was founded by Prince Yuri II of Vladimir in 4 February 1221.
