Bronnitsy

It was first mentioned in 1451 as the grand ducal village of Bronnychi. The name was formed with the help of the suffix -ichi from the reconstructed male name Brodnya ("chaloon, lazy") with the subsequent transformation of Brodnichi into Bronnichy, and by the beginning of the 18th century into Bronnitsy. The popular version that the name of the city is associated with its specialization in the manufacture of armor is not supported by historical data.

In the 17th century. the royal economic estate with a large horse factory.

Under Peter I in 1710-24, the village and the factory belonged to Prince D. I. Menshikov, then again transferred to the palace department.

County town since 1781. Economic development was aimed at servicing the Moscow-Kolomna trade route.

The city is stretched along the Ryazan highway. Bronnitsy preserved the appearance and development typical of provincial cities of the 18th century. with a characteristic rectangular network of streets. On the central square is the high five-domed Cathedral of Mikhail the Archangel (1696-1705, in the style of Moscow Baroque), with the graves of the Decembrists M.A. Fonvizin (1788-1854) and I.I. Pushchin (1798-1859), the classic Jerusalem Church (early 1840s, Arch. A. Shestakov), the Empire building of the barracks of the horse regiment (first half of the 19th century), etc.

Modern housing construction since the 1950s was carried out on the southern outskirts of Bronnitz, since 1978 - in the central part of the city.

3 km north-west of Bronnitsy, on the right bank of Moscow - the village of Markovo, which was in the 17th century. the patrimony of the Odoevsky princes. The one-headed Kazan church (1672-80) has survived. 6 km north-west of the city, on the left bank of Moscow, is the village of Krivtsy with the Smolensk Church (1708, in the Moscow Baroque style).