Cherepovets

 city, second-level administrative division, district center

City in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 312,310, making it the most populous city in the oblast.
Among the local historians there have been a lot of debates upon the origin of the word "Cherepovets". According to one of the versions the town supposedly received its name from the word "skull" ("cherep" in Russian). In antiquity there was a pagan sanctuary in honor of God Veles on the hill at the confluence of the Sheksna and the Yagorba. The top of the hill was called "skull". Another version suggests that the word "Cherepovets" originates from the name of the tribe "ves" (весь), who inhabited the Sheksna banks. According to some legends, "Cherepovets", in the language of local indigenous Veps, means "Veps' fish hill".

The foundation of Cherepovets is traditionally ascribed to the monks Feodosiy and Afanasiy. In 1362 they founded the Resurrection Cathedral, near which a small village Fedosyevo appeared. The historians consider the former village of Fedosyevo to be the heart of modern Cherepovets. It has developed throughout the centuries into the important regional center of trade, manufacture and transportation. It was given the official town status in 1777 by the order of Empress Catherine the Great. In 1811 Cherepovets was granted a coat of arms.

The construction of the Mariinskaya system was one of the most significant events in the city life. The Mariinskaya system connected Cherepovets with the Volga and the Baltic Sea. But in spite of that fact the city developed very slowly. In 1863 the population of the city was only 3,300 people (as compared with more than 300,000 people nowadays). In the 19th century the city brickworks with only seven workers was the sole industrial enterprise in Cherepovets.