I've looked at a bunch of websites about Ivanovo and they've all said the same thing: "it's the city of textiles" and also "the city of brides," since apparently most of the textile workers are women. Makes me imagine huge industrial complexes and smokestacks and Rosie the Riveter types wearing white veils...but I don't know if that's accurate or not since there seems to be very little of actual substance (that's not written in Russian) about Ivanovo on the web.

Here's the Wikipedia article on Ivanovo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanovo

Here's a pretty good social-studies textbook type article in the Kommersant (Russia's Daily Online) about Ivanovo. I guess it's not all factories and women factory workers. Here's a bit of what they say about the city:

Today, Ivanovo is a large administrative, industrial, and cultural center with a population of about 700 000. The seven higher educational institutions with tens of thousands of students from all over Ivanovo Region and neighboring regions and Ivanovo's largest libraries (the regional science library on Engels Avenue, the Gorki central city library on Bogaev Square, and the regional library for children and youth on Krutitskaya Street) are a major source of intellectual and scientific potential. The city's museums preserve objects from the historical past (e.g., the Burylin Association of Historical and Regional Museums, formed several years ago from a union of the local history, calico, First Soviet, and art museums).

Ivanovo is a city with rich theatrical traditions. Four professional theaters and several amateur theater studios operate here.

The article also says that Ivanovo has a favorable ecological rating, but elsewhere I read that it's quite polluted and the Kommersant article also admits that the rivers and streams are so polluted there aren't many fish...but I guess everything's relative.

Here is the link to Karen's Adoption Links' address and contact information for the two orphanages in this area: http://www.karensadoptionlinks.com/rorphanage.html#iva. One is in the city of Ivanovo and the other in the city of Shuya.

Here is an account of the adoption of Dinar, a 10-year old from Ivanovo. This is a nice read.

This is the website of the Reeds, a family of 8 who added to more from Ivanovo in 2005.


It's my hope that this blog can become a database of sorts for regional information. Please feel free to add to this blog entry by posting in the comments section or by e-mailing me at adoptrussiablog@adoptionmail.com. I'm also looking for information about the other regions in Russia, so please feel free to e-mail me information or experiences about the region you visited as well.