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In the Chelyabinsk Oblast in the Southern Urals, there is a village named Paris
It is a home to the Nagaybaki people. They were deployed here by Emperor Nicholas I decree in order to guard the Southern borders of the Russian Empire
The Nagaybaki, despite being Tatars, are not Muslim, but Orthodox Christians. All of them were part of Cossack Force until 1920
332 Nagaybak Cossacks took part in the 1813-1814 war campaign, fighting Napoleon’s Grande Armée
Their village was named Paris in honor of the victory over Napoleon's forces at the Battle of Paris, in 1814
In 1999 Nagaybaki people was officially recognized as a specific ethnicity in the Russian Federation
The Historical Museum of Paris village keeps memories of this small nation of 7,500 people
Nagaybaki has its own language, though only the elders speak it fluently. But their culture and traditions are still alive
Why Paris? Almost everyone has asked this question. It is the actual name of our village, which exists for 170 years already
It all began in 1842, when Russian Emperor Nicholas I has ordered Nagaybaki Cossacks to settle down on this southeastern border of the country along with their families
They were entitled to protect the state's border
In the beginning, all of these 30 villages were identified just by numbers
But later Vice-general of Orenburg Cossack Force Subtelin has asked for permission to rename these villages after famous victories of Russian Imperial Army
The museum in Paris was opened in 1989
But due to repressions against Cossacks in the early years of Soviet rule, some of the facts about the Nagaybaki people were lost forever