Merchants from all over the Russian land and the east gathered for the Kazan Fair on the 24th. This fair was organized on the Arekom floor and always took place in the presence of the very kings of Kazan, who were pompous in specially arranged tents, not in the world feasted on the occasion of the market, and not in the mfr who were committing outrages. In 1528, Magmet-Amin ordered to slaughter the Russian Nupts during the fair and take away their goods. Vasil T\u, in view of such atrocity, forbade the Russians to go to the Kazan Fair and instead ordered them to gather in VasilsurekV. But the fair took root here poorly and barely eked out its existence.
With the conquest of Kazan and the establishment of peace throughout the middle Volga region, the need for fairs began to be felt even stronger. Perhaps partly a religious feeling pointed it out for bargaining near the Makaryevsky Monastery on the Volga, not far from Lake “Yellow Waters,” where many pilgrims flocked to the 25th Ponya even without the fair. At first it was a one-day trade, but, gradually developing, it gradually turned into a fair, which was called “Makaryevskaya”. It was first mentioned as a completely official institution in 1641 in the royal charter, which gave the monastery the right to take a duty from traders for one day of trading (25 pons), and the rest of the days they could trade duty free. The monastery set up barns and shops, and the fair quickly developed. In 1667, by decree of Tsar Alexzya Mikhailovich, it was allowed to trade duty-free for the first five days, and after five days it was ordered to collect 5/0 from the value of the imported goods into the treasury; At the same time, the monastery received only payment for the premises and a special reward. But in 1681, the situation changed: the monastery secured the entire duty in its favor, and the treasury began to receive nothing. It would seem that the monastery’s affairs were on the mend, but what turned out to be wrong: the local authorities, not pleased by the monastery, began to press the merchants who were close to Makar to such an extent that the fair began to decline quickly; already in 1697, the value of all goods brought to the fair did not exceed 80 thousand rubles.
Peter Velivy, by decree in 1700, ordered all duties, without exception, to be taken from the fair to the treasury, and the fair itself to be transferred to the authorities of civil institutions. The fair began to develop rapidly again and in 1741 we are already faced with a huge figure for that time for the value of all the goods brought at 489 thousand rubles, with the treasury income that year amounting to 86,517 rubles.
The reign of Catherine II had an unfavorable effect on the development of the fair, since it was farmed out twice (in 1761 and 1790). Alexander 1 destroyed the taxation and ordered all the fairgrounds to be bought for the treasury; the previous dilapidated buildings were repaired, new ones were erected, and although the treasury initially spent up to 600 thousand rubles on this, the costs paid off very quickly, since the income from the premises extended annually to 125 thousand rubles.
But behind all the darkness, the fact was constantly felt that Makarl’s terrain was not chosen entirely well: in the spring it was flooded with water, and the rest of the time it was surrounded by deep shifting sands, which made it extremely difficult to transport goods from the shore. What added to this was the fact that the sometimes capricious Volga, having changed its course at the end of the last century, began to press on the left bank and destroy it in every possible way. Both the authorities and the local population, in a word, everyone, by the beginning of this century, began to clearly realize that Nizhny Novgorod should be the real destination for the fair. There were difficulties in only one respect: a lot of money was spent on organizing the fair at Makary.
Nizhny Novgorod - marina.
Kan, as usual, natural forces came to the rescue: in August 1816, a huge fire destroyed the entire Makaryevskaya fair to the ground; Then the hesitation came to an end and it was decided to move the marketplace to Nizhny Novgorod to the cape formed by the junction of the Oka and Volga. At first they traded in temporary wooden booths; Having convinced themselves that this time the location had been chosen successfully, they began construction of buildings at the expense of the treasury in 1817.