Sevastopol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Sevastopol (disambiguation).
| Sevastopol | |
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| Севастополь Севастополь Aqyar |
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| Region of Crimea: | Севастополь |
| Location: | |
| Altitude: | ~100 m |
| Area: | 864 km² |
| Population: | 328,600 (2001) |
| Density: | 393.97 /km² |
| Postal codes: | 99000 — 99699 |
| Phone prefix: | +380-692 |
| Time zone: | EET: UTC+2 |
| Previous name: | Aqyar (Akhtiar) till 1784 |
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| official web-site | |
Sevastopol (Ukrainian and Russian: Севастополь; Crimean Tatar: Aqyar), formerly known as Sebastopol, is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean peninsula. It has a population of 328,600 (2004).[citation needed] The city, formerly the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, is now a naval base shared by the Russian Navy and Ukrainian Navy.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours make Sevastopol a strategic important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the CIS countries.
The trade and shipbuilding importance of Sevastopol's Port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and piers.
Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology research. In particular, studying and training of dolphins has been conducted in the city since the end of World War II, initially as a secret naval program to use these animals for special undersea operations.
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[edit] Political status and subdivision
Administratively, Sevastopol is a municipality excluded from the surrounding Autonomous Republic of Crimea (see Subdivisions of Ukraine for more details). The territory of the municipality (in yellow on the map) is further subdivided into four districts, or raions. Besides the City of Sevastopol proper, it also includes 3 towns - Balaklava, Inkerman and Kacha, and 29 villages.
[edit] History
Sevastopol rivals Kronstadt and Gibraltar as the most famous naval citadel in Europe. It was founded in 1783, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. It became an important naval base and later a commercial port. In 1797 under an edict issued by the Emperor Pavel I the military stronghold was renamed Akhtiar after a small Tatar settlement on the North Shore of the Inlet. Finally, on April 29 (May 10), 1826, the city was returned its original name - Sevastopol.
The bloody Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855) carried out by the British, French, Sardinian and Turkish troops during the Crimean War lasted for 11 months. Despite its heroic efforts, the Russian army had to leave its stronghold and evacuate over a pontoon bridge to the North Shore of the Inlet. The Russians had to make an incredibly tough decision to sink its entire fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy and at the same time to block the entrance of the Western ships into the Inlet. When the enemy entered Sevastopol, it was faced with the ruins of a formerly glorious city. A panorama created by Franz Roubaud and restored after its destruction in 1942 is housed in a specially constructed circular building. It portrays the situation at the height of the siege, on 18 June 1855. This masterpiece combining enormous paintings and artefacts like cannons and period furniture is a must-see for every visitor to the City of Russian Glory.
During World War II Sevastopol withstood bombardment by the Nazis in 1941–1942, during the Axis siege that lasted for 250 days. The City of Russian Glory was liberated by the Red Army on May 9, 1944 and was awarded the honour title of a Hero City a year later.
In 1954, the city along with the rest of the Crimea was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation under the authority of the Ukrainian SSR. According to the Supreme Soviet Decree, the handover was caused by the region's close geographic, economic, and cultural ties with the Ukrainian SSR. The transfer by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was also supposed to serve as a symbolic gesture to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav.
During the Soviet era, Sevastopol, a city of enormous strategic significance for the military, was a so-called "closed city". This meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. It was directly subordinate to the republican authorities rather than the local oblast, initially Russian and later of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic administration.
In 1957, the town of Balaklava was incorporated into Sevastopol.
Like the rest of the Crimea, Russian remains the predominant language in the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there have been some attempts of Ukrainization that had very little success.
[edit] Etymology of the name
The name of Sevastopolis (Greek: Σεβαστόπολις), or currently Sevastopol, was originally chosen in the same etymology trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of two Greek nouns, σεβαστός (sebastós, Modern sevastós) "venerable, reverend" and πόλις (pólis) "city". σεβαστός is the traditional Greek translation of the honourable Roman title Augustus "venerable, august", originally given to the first emperor of the Romane Empire, C. Julius Caesar Octavianus and later awarded as a title to his successors (see Augustus).
Despite its Greek origin, the name is not old. The city was probably named after the Empress (= "Augusta") Catherine II of Russia who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Jozef II, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries. The royal guests were very much impressed by the look of the new city.
West of the city are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city Chersonesos founded in the 5th c. BC. The name means "peninsula" reflecting its location and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula, Chersonēsos Taurikē ("the Taurian Peninsula").
[edit] Sights and monuments
After the World War II, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt in its former glory after its total destruction by the Nazis. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets features beautiful, mostly Mediterranean-style, typically three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th c. (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the gorgeously eclectic Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its lovely Marine Boulevard. Visiting the Central Hill with its 19th c. classical-style houses, walking down its cobblestone streets under old shady trees is a treat for any visitor to this romantic seaside city with its often dramatic history.
Due to its military past, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its glorious past.
[edit] Russian naval base and a dispute between Ukraine and Russia over the Black Sea Fleet
According to the 1997 treaty, the Russian naval base is declared to be "located in Sevastopol" on the terms of lasting rent, following a long diplomatic and political dispute between Russia and the newly independent Ukraine. At first, Moscow refused to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast, arguing that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic due to its military base status. This was later resolved by the bilateral "Peace & Friendship" treaty stating that Sevastopol belongs to Ukraine. A separate treaty establishes the terms of a long-term lease of land and resources in Sevastopol by Russia.
Despite that, the status of the Black Sea Fleet has a strong influence over the city's business and cultural life. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives have never accepted the loss of Sevastopol, the city that has a tremendous symbolic and historic meaning for every Russian, and tend to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland. The Moscow city authorities under the current Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov continue their sponsorship of pro-Russian social (primarily housing), educational and cultural programs in Sevastopol, especially those related to Russian Navy servicemen and their families. These activities are intended to strengthen the city's independence from the rest of Ukraine. Ukrainian-appointed authorities retain formal control of Sevastopol's life (such as of taxation and civil policing) and try to avoid any confrontation with the base command and pro-Moscow groups. A few years ago, the Communist-dominated city council rejected a EBRD loan to renovate Sevastopol's poor sewage system, declaring that the project was intended to increase the city's dependence on the Ukrainian government and the West.
The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet with all its facilities was divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy after a continuous, sometimes violent struggle. Two navies now share some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or put under control by either country. Sevastopol remains the home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval HQ also based in the city. A judicial row continues over the naval hydrographic infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses used in civil navigation support).
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- (English)/(Ukrainian)/(Russian) Official website
- (English) Satellite picture by Google Maps
- (English) Sevastopol Internet portal
- (English) Sevastopol tour overview
- (English) BBC News reports on WWII bomb destroyed in Sevastopol
- (English) BBC News reports on Russian Navy in Sevastopol:[1][2][3][4]
- (Russian) Unofficial city website: sevastopol.info
- (English)/(Ukrainian)/(Russian) Sevastopol — Urban Information Center
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Subdivisions of Sevastopol, Ukraine |  |
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Raions: Balaklavskyi Raion | Haharinskyi Raion | Leninskyi Raion | Nakhimovskyi Raion |
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Villages: Andriivka | Dalnie | Frontove | Fruktove | Honcharne | Kamyshly | Kolkhozne | Kyzylove | Novobobrivske | Orlivka | Orlyne | Osypenko | Ozerne | Pavlivka | Peredove | Pidhirne | Poliushko | Povorotne | Pyrohovka | Rezervne | Ridne | Rodnykivske | Rozcoshanka | Shyroke | Soniachnyi | Ternivka | Tylove | Verkhnyosadove | Vyshneve |
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Ukraine | |
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| Subdivisions of Ukraine: Cherkasy Oblast | Chernihiv Oblast | Chernivtsi Oblast | Autonomous Republic of Crimea | Dnipropetrovsk Oblast | Donetsk Oblast | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | Kharkiv Oblast | Kherson Oblast | Khmelnytskyi Oblast | Kiev City | Kiev Oblast | Kirovohrad Oblast | Luhansk Oblast | Lviv Oblast | Mykolaiv Oblast | Odessa Oblast | Poltava Oblast | Rivne Oblast | Sevastopol City | Sumy Oblast | Ternopil Oblast | Vinnytsia Oblast | Volyn Oblast | Zakarpattia Oblast | Zaporizhia Oblast | Zhytomyr Oblast |
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| Administrative centers of subdivision units: Cherkasy | Chernihiv | Chernivtsi | Dnipropetrovsk | Donetsk | Ivano-Frankivsk | Kharkiv | Kherson | Khmelnytskyi | Kiev | Kirovohrad | Luhansk | Lutsk | Lviv | Mykolaiv | Odessa | Poltava | Rivne | Sevastopol | Simferopol | Sumy | Ternopil | Uzhhorod | Vinnytsia | Zaporizhia | Zhytomyr |
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| Hero Cities of the former Soviet Union |
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Leningrad | Odessa | Sevastopol | Stalingrad | Kiev | Brest Fortress | Moscow | Kerch | Novorossiysk | Minsk | Tula | Murmansk | Smolensk |
