Makaryev's Fair ( Nizhny Novgorod Fair later) was the greatest Trade Fair in Imperial Russia.

Makaryev's Trade  Fair (Makarevskaya Jarmarka) was the Greatest Trade Fair in Russia held annually every July near Makaryev Monastery on the left bank of the Volga River from the mid-16th century to 1816. Following a massive fire in 1816, it was moved to Nizhny Novgorod, but for some decades thereafter it still was commonly referred to as Makariev Trade  Fair. It attracted many foreign merchants all over the World.

This is SketchUp model of the main building of NNTF.

The Nizhny Novgorod (former Makarevchkaya)Trade Fair  (NNTF) (1824).

I will quote below what  was written  about   Nizhny Novgorod Fair in 19^th century   by well-known American writer Suzanne Massie  in her remarkable book “ Land of Firebird - The Beauty of Old Russia”. Mr.  Irwin Well   wrote about this book in Chicago Tribune “ It stuns the reader with the richness, variety, and beauty of East Slavic creativity.”  

“The greatest Fair of all, the largest in Europe and, indeed, the world, was the huge fair at Nizhny Novgorod, which took place from July 15 to September 10 every year.

During the two month of the fair, the population of the city Nizhny Novgorod swelled from 40,000 to 200,000 – the daily count of additional visitors was calculated from the amount of bread sold.

The equivalent of 200 million dollars’ worth of goods was sold or exchanged in six weeks”.

The map of Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair (1890th).

In 1872 one of the visitors of Nizhny Novgorod Fair was an enterprising American, Mrs. Edna Dean Proctor, who wrote a detailed account of her   visit to the Fair.

“ From the station, we drove at once to the “Hotel Russia”….

The first floor opened to the street, where a throng of vehicles of all sorts was constantly arriving and departing. The next floor was given up to dining rooms in which  you might see all the costumes  and hear all languages of Europe….

Tanks of running water bordered by growing ferns and flowers were filled with the famous starlet of the Volga river, swimming at ease and ready to be served up at any moment to the epicurean guest….”

The Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair (1870th).

The "Chinese Rows" at the Nizhny Novgorod TradeFair.

The Main  Building of the  Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair (`1890).

The Main  Building of the  Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair (`1900).

The interior of the Main  Building of the  Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair (`1910).

Samokatskaya Square at the NNTF (1915).

The  stalls near Samokatskaya Square at the NNTF (1915).

Warehouses of Siberean wharves

The Machines Department

The first Russian automobile designed  by E.A. Yakovlev and P.A. Freze

Exposition of F. Vigand's  engineering works producion boilers

Еhe general view of the NNTF from the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin (1910).

The Main  Building of the  Nizhny Novgorod Trade Fair now (June 2012).

This information is taken from the diary of Adrian Fedorovich Timofeev (1882-1954) – the mathematician, socialist, revolutionary, financier and banker.

The full text of diary is on :

opentextnn.ru/history/familisarchives/Timofeyevs_family_Archives/Adrian_Timo