Voronezh
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| Voronezh (English) Воронеж (Russian) |
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 View of Voronezh and Voronezh Reservoir |
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  Location of Voronezh on the map of Russia
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| Coordinates Coordinates: |
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| Coat of Arms | Flag |
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| City Day: Second Sunday of September | |
| Administrative status | |
| Federal subject In jurisdiction of Administrative center of |
Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast |
| Local self-government (as of June 2008) | |
| Charter | Charter of Voronezh |
| Municipal status | Urban okrug |
| Head | Sergey Koliukh |
| Legislative body | City Duma |
| Area | |
| Area | 590.43 km² (228 sq mi) |
| Population (as of the 2002 Census) | |
| Population - Rank - Density |
848,752 inhabitants 16th 1,437.5/km² (3,723.1/sq mi) |
| Events | |
| Founded | 1586 |
| Other information | |
| Postal code | 3940xx |
| Dialing code | +7 4732 |
| Official website | |
| http://www.voronezh-city.ru/ | |
Voronezh (Russian: Воро́неж, Russian pronunciation: [vɐˈronʲɪʂ]) is a large city in southwestern Russia, not far from Ukraine. It is located on the Voronezh River, twelve kilometers away from the spot where the Voronezh River empties into the Don. Voronezh is the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is an important railway junction (with lines to Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Kiev), as well as the center of Don Highway (Moscow—Rostov-on-Don). Population: 848,752 (2002 Census);[1] 886,844 (1989 Census);[2] 660,000 (1970); 447,000 (1959); 344,000 (1939); 120,000 (1926). The city is divided into six administrative districts: Kominternovsky, Leninsky, Levoberezhny, Sovetsky, Tsentralny, and Zheleznodorozhny.
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[edit] History
The Voronezh River was first mentioned in Hypatian Codex of 1177; the town was founded in 1585–1586 by Tsar Feodor I as a fort protecting the Russian state from the raids of Crimean and Nogay Tatars. However, settlements had been present here since the Stone Age.
In the 17th century, Voronezh became a considerable commercial and handicrafts centre. In 1648, an antifeudal insurrection took place in Voronezh. In 1695–1696, Tsar Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh, where Azov fleet was under construction for the Azov campaign (probably the first fleet ever built in Russia). During his reign Voronezh became the largest city in southern Russia and the administrative centre of the large southern region. Since 1711 Voronezh had been a centre of Azov province, since 1725 - Voronezh province, since 1779 - Voronezh namestnichestvo, since 1824 - Voronezh province. In the 18th–19th centuries Voronezh was a centre of the chernozem agricultural region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. In the 19th century a railway connected Voronezh with Rostov-on-Don (1868) and Moscow (1871).
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Russian and Wehrmacht troops. It was used by the Germans as a staging area for the attack on Stalingrad, and a key Don River crossing point.
In September 1989, there were famous UFO sightings in Voronezh, which drew attention from the press and TV. There were also reports on two strange creatures that came out of the UFO after it landed in the park.
Between 1991 and 2000, the city high in unemployment became a part of the Communist-voting region known as Russia's Red Belt. Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the so-called Black Earth Region. There are 7 theaters, 12 cinemas, 19 secondary schools in the city; it is also home to Voronezh State University. The city's large student population includes many foreigners as foreign students in Russia usually take one year of Russian language in Voronezh before moving on to universities elsewhere. This has led in the past to tension between foreign students and the indigenous population leading to a number of murders, the last one being of Peruvian student Enrique Anhelis Hurtado on October 9th 2005, a year that saw 45 reported attacks on foreigners in Voronezh.
Many famous people were born in Voronezh and the surrounding area. Among them are poets and writers such as Platonov, Bunin, Koltsov, Nikitin, Marshak, Troepolskii; painters Kramskoi, Ge, Kuprin, the physicist Cherenkov; navigator and polar explorer Valerian Albanov; gymnasts Davydova, Tkachyov; the anarchist Voline, and the surgeon Serge Voronoff. The Russian poet Osip Mandelstam was exiled to Voronezh after his arrest in 1934 and wrote a series of poems there collected under the title "Voronezh Notebooks". The famous Russian punk band Sektor Gaza was founded in Voronezh.
Not far from Voronezh is the satellite town of Novovoronezh ("New Voronezh") which serves a local nuclear power plant. Both cities are served by Chertovitskoye Airport. Voronezh is also home to Voronezh Pridacha airport, a major aircraft manufacturing facility where the the so-called Concordski Tupolev Tu-144 was built and the only operational one is still stored. Voronezh also hosts Voronezh Malshevo air force base southwest of the city, which apparently houses nuclear bombers.
[edit] Further reading
Charlotte Hobson's book, "Black Earth City", is an accessible and insightful account of life in Voronezh in the early 1990s. She wrote the book after spending a year in Voronezh as a foreign student in 1991–1992.
Nadezhda Mandelstam's Hope Against Hope, the first volume of her memoirs concerning the dreadful fate of her husband, the poet Osip Mandelstam, provides many details about life and hardship in Voronezh in the 1930s under Stalinist rule.
And from the mid-nineteenth century is the diary of a British soldier, a sergeant in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, published as "Prisoners of Voronesh (sic)". George Newman was captured in the Crimean War and then marched under a loose guard with a motley crew of PoWs, convicts, etc., to Voronezh. Published by Unwin in 1977, it is a vivid eyewitness account of life and types, instantly recognizable to anyone who has spent much time in that delightful city.
[edit] Twin cities
Brno, Czech Republic.
Wesermarsch, Germany.
Charlotte, United States.
Chongqing, China.
Sliven, Bulgaria.
León, Spain.
[edit] References
- ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000) (Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров. (All Union Population Census of 1989. Present population of union and autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and okrugs, krais, oblasts, districts, urban settlements, and villages serving as district administrative centers.) (Russian). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года (All-Union Population Census of 1989). Demoscope Weekly (website of the Institute of Demographics of the State University—Higher School of Economics (1989). Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
[edit] External links
- City portal: news, playbills, information, weather
- Voronezh (Russian)
- Voronezh.net (Russian)
- Google-based map of the restaurants in Voronezh (Russian)
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