Tikhvin is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, 200km east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin is also an industrial and cultural center of the district, as well as its transportation hub. Population:EtymologyThe name of the town originates from a combination of two words from the Veps language: "tikh" and "vin" mean "road" and "market" respectively; i.e., road to the market. The town is located on an ancient commercial river way.HistoryIt was first mentioned in 1383 as Predtechensky pogost, when a chronicle reported that a wooden Church of the Dormition was built here. Later, in 1495-1496, Y. K. Saburov, a clerk in the Novgorod Cadastre, mentioned the "...Tikhvin parish and in it, a wooden church..."Its location at the intersection of trade routes which connected the Volga River with Lake Ladoga and the Baltic Sea ensured its rapid development. At the beginning of the 16th century it was already a widely known commerce and trade center. In 1507-1515, funded by prince Vasily III of Moscow, on the spot of the burned wooden church, Dmitry Syrkov of Novgorod constructed the monumental stone Cathedral of Dormition, which stands to this day.