On June 16, 1870, the city councils started to function in accordance with the “City Statute”. The chairman of the city duma and council, as a regulatory and executive body, was the mayor, an elected representative of the merchant class, often an honorary citizen. At first, the mayor was elected for three, later (from the second half of the 19th century) for four years, with the possibility of staying on for a second and third terms.
A city duma consisted of 41 members: 35 councilors, 4 acting councilors and two representatives of ministries. Each of the councilors on taking office gave a “Pledge” under oath, confirming their readiness “to serve the Emperor faithfully and without hypocrisy”.
In 1905, Belgorod mayor Ivan Gavrilovich Muromtsev succeeded in securing a petition for Belgorod to be separated from Belgorod Zemstvo, allowing the city “to spend for its needs the money that it pays annually and quite unproductively to the Zemstvo”. It was the council’s responsibility to draw up estimates of the city’s revenues and expenditures. The revenues consisted of the proceeds from the city’s real estate, dues from trade and industrial production, transportation and bank profits, and also city subsidies. The expenditures were divided into two categories: mandatory (maintenance of governing bodies, fire brigades, police, prisons, financing of military accommodation commissions, improvement of the city) and non-mandatory (public education, health care and culture). The prices of foodstuffs were also calculated here.
A two-story stone house at the corner of Korochanskaya and Magistratskaya Streets was built for the Belgorod City Council. The maintenance of the council cost the city 25,000 rubles annually. Part of the sum was used to cover the life insurance of all the employees. This building also housed a public library, which was maintained partly on town subsidies, partly on user’s fees (20-50 kopecks per month or 2-5 rubles per year). Readers had access to about 5,000 printed publications. The ground floor was occupied by the district treasury, archives and fire insurance society. The first floor was occupied by the public Chumichev bank: deposits and bills of exchange were accepted there, money was lent against a pledge of property and goods. The post of director belonged for life to Nikolay Nikolaevich Slatin, a merchant of the 2nd guild.
The copy was taken from the original postcard published at A.A. Weinbaum’s printing house in the early 20th century. The original postcard was given to the museum for copying by a Belgorod collector Anatoly Tkachenko.
A city duma consisted of 41 members: 35 councilors, 4 acting councilors and two representatives of ministries. Each of the councilors on taking office gave a “Pledge” under oath, confirming their readiness “to serve the Emperor faithfully and without hypocrisy”.
In 1905, Belgorod mayor Ivan Gavrilovich Muromtsev succeeded in securing a petition for Belgorod to be separated from Belgorod Zemstvo, allowing the city “to spend for its needs the money that it pays annually and quite unproductively to the Zemstvo”. It was the council’s responsibility to draw up estimates of the city’s revenues and expenditures. The revenues consisted of the proceeds from the city’s real estate, dues from trade and industrial production, transportation and bank profits, and also city subsidies. The expenditures were divided into two categories: mandatory (maintenance of governing bodies, fire brigades, police, prisons, financing of military accommodation commissions, improvement of the city) and non-mandatory (public education, health care and culture). The prices of foodstuffs were also calculated here.
A two-story stone house at the corner of Korochanskaya and Magistratskaya Streets was built for the Belgorod City Council. The maintenance of the council cost the city 25,000 rubles annually. Part of the sum was used to cover the life insurance of all the employees. This building also housed a public library, which was maintained partly on town subsidies, partly on user’s fees (20-50 kopecks per month or 2-5 rubles per year). Readers had access to about 5,000 printed publications. The ground floor was occupied by the district treasury, archives and fire insurance society. The first floor was occupied by the public Chumichev bank: deposits and bills of exchange were accepted there, money was lent against a pledge of property and goods. The post of director belonged for life to Nikolay Nikolaevich Slatin, a merchant of the 2nd guild.
The copy was taken from the original postcard published at A.A. Weinbaum’s printing house in the early 20th century. The original postcard was given to the museum for copying by a Belgorod collector Anatoly Tkachenko.
