Spassk is a town and the administrative center of Spassky District

Spassky District, Penza Oblast

Spassky District, Penza Oblast is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 27 in Penza Oblast, Russia....

 of Penza Oblast

Penza Oblast

-External links:* *...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Population:

History

In 1648, an uncultivated field was discovered in Shatsky Uyezd and was given to a nearby Savior monastery. In 1663, a village was established there, called Bogdanovo. In 1779, it was renamed Spassk and made the seat of an uyezd

Uyezd

Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...

 by a decree of Catherine the Great. However, soon it became apparent that confusion would result since several other towns in Russia shared the name (notably Spassk-Ryazansky

Spassk-Ryazansky

Spassk-Ryazansky is a town and the administrative center of Spassky District of Ryazan Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of the Lake Spasskoye southeast of Ryazan. Population:...

) and the town was officially renamed Spassk-na-Studentse.

In 1925, a party conference in the uyezd resolved that the town be renamed Bednodemyanovsk in honor of the poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 Demyan Bedny

Demyan Bedny

Demyan Bedny, was the pen name of Soviet Russian poet, Bolshevik and satirist Yefim Alekseevich Pridvorov .-Life:Efim Pridvorov was born to a poor family in Gubovka, in what is now Kirovohrad Oblast in Ukraine. He attended the village school followed by a feldsher training college in Kiev. This...

. Bedny himself never visited the town, but was said to maintain a lively correspondence with its inhabitants. Later the cumbersome name became embarrassing for the local population, and this feeling was deepened by the fact that the name was popularly shortened to Bedny, that is, 'the Poor' (which was Demyan's pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

). In 2005, the original name of the town was restored, and the district was also renamed.

External links

• Website of Spassk