Viewed from the local train station, the huge, red brick factories built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in this sleepy town, only 67 kilometers southeast of Moscow, resemble ancient feudal castles.

Even before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, this small speck on the map of Russia was a famed industrial center, pumping out goods at a GDP value equal to that of some entire regions. Impressed by the fortunes being made in this discreet town and it's surrounding region, foreigners began to refer to the area as ‘Russian Klondike.'

In 1812, local farmer Semyon Labzin founded a weaving mill there that later became one of largest enterprises of its kind in Russia. At its height, it employed more than 1,500 people. After being expropriated by the communists, the factory was developed into a major kerchief production facility.

Despite wreaking havoc on western Russia, Napolean indirectly helped this town become a world leader in wool clothing: The fancy cashmere shawls brought back by the French emperor from his victorious Egyptian campaign caused a sensation, becoming a must have for aristocratic women across Europe.

Such items first began being manufactured in Russia during the 1820's, at a factory founded by Nadezhda Merlina, a landowner from Nizhny Novgorod. In 1828 her factory, which employed 60 people, produced a total of just 16 shawls and 5 kerchiefs.

Her goods cost a pretty kopek and were only affordable to Russia's wealthy. The working classes had to do without the fashion statement of the day, until Yakov Labzin, grandson of mill founder Semyon Labzin, took up the business.

Aged 21 in 1871, he founded a new enterprise. Yakov introduced a method of printing decorative patterns on woolen fabrics with the help of specially carved wooden boards. The technique had long been used by Russian peasants and though very complicated, it nonetheless allowed the production of cloth in mass quantities, at reduced costs.

Labzin's kerchiefs cost 3 rubles, a price affordable to almost everyone. From 1872 to 1892, kerchief production doubled to reach 1.2 million items a year. This revolution in Russia's textile industry made Pavlovsky Posad a capital of kerchief production and garnered it international recognition.

For his distinguished contribution to the country's industrial development, Queen Alexandra II awarded Yakov Labzin the rank of First Guild Merchant; the factory won silver medals at Russian national exhibitions in 1865, 1870 and 1882. They also won a bronze prize at a Parisian competition (1889) and the Grand Coat of Arms, Russia's highest industrial award, in Nizhny Novgorod, in 1896.

Pavlovsky Posad kerchiefs are still in high demand today both in Russia and beyond. In the 1980s, Japan started to manufacture similar kerchiefs, utilizing the Pavlovsky Posad techniques.

Besides the factories, the city of Pavlovsky Posad has many architectural gems. Adorning the city's center are the Dmitry Solunsky belfry and a huge fire-tower – both dating back to the 19th century. From the center, it is not far on foot to the Pokrov-Vasilyev Monastery – its red belfries serve as a ‘beacon' for travelers. The monastery, built in late 19th to early 20th centuries, was closed during the Soviet era, and reopened in 1991.

Stored in the monastery are the holy remains of Vasily Gryaznov, co-owner of the Labzin factory and Russia's first and only industrialist canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The idea to canonize Gryaznov - who maintained a nursing home, a hospital and a number of schools, appeared shortly before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. In an effort to extinguish the town's admiration for the successful capitalist, the local Soviet authorities began slandering the deceased Gryaznov. A preserved forensic medical certificate dating from the 1920s confirms that the remains of Vasily Gryaznov did not decompose.

One day will be enough to view the city, but if you develop a desire to get a closer look at these environs, you can drop into a hotel located not far from the railway station, on Bolshoi Zheleznodorozhny Proyezd. There is a cafe nearby, and a nice restaurant is located on the central square, opposite the Lenin statue and the district administration building.

How to get there:

Pavlovsky Posad is only 67 km from Moscow, a 60 minute ride by a local train – electrichka – from the Kursky Railway Station. The ride is 16 rubles.