| Arkhangelsk (English) Архангельск (Russian) |
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View of Arkhangelsk at night |
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Location of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia |
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Arkhangelsk
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| City Day | Last Sunday of June[2] |
| Administrative status | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Arkhangelsk Oblast |
| Administratively subordinated to | Arkhangelsk Town of Oblast Significance[3] |
| Administrative center of | Arkhangelsk Oblast, Primorsky District[1] |
| Municipal status | |
| Urban okrug | Arkhangelsk Urban Okrug[4] |
| Administrative center of | Primorsky Municipal District[4] |
| Mayor[5] | Viktor Pavlenko[5] |
| Representative body | City Council of Deputies[6] |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 294.42 km2 (113.68 sq mi)[7] |
| Population (2010 Census, preliminary) |
348,716 inhabitants[8] |
| - Rank in 2010 | 50th |
| Population (2002 Census) | 356,051 inhabitants[9] |
| - Rank in 2002 | 48th |
| Density | 1,184 /km2 (3,070 /sq mi)[10] |
| Time zone | MSD (UTC+04:00)[11] |
| Founded | 1584[12] |
| Postal code(s) | 163000-163071[13] |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 8182[14] |
| Official website | |
Arkhangelsk (Russian: Архангельск; IPA: [ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk]), formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over 40 kilometers (25 mi) along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval Russia, until 1703. It is served by Talagi Airport and the smaller Vaskovo Airport. The city is located at the northern end of a 1,133 km (704 mi) long railroad, connecting it to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl. Population: 348,716 (2010 Census preliminary results);[8] 356,051 (2002 Census);[9] 415,921 (1989 Census).[15]
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The area where Arkhangelsk is situated was known to the Vikings as Bjarmaland. Ohthere from Hålogaland told from his travels circa 800 of an area by a river and the White Sea with many buildings. This was probably the place later known as Arkhangelsk. According to Snorri Sturluson there was a Viking raid on this area in 1027, led by Tore Hund.
In 1989, an unusually rich silver treasure was found by the mouth of Dvina, right next to present day Arkhangelsk. It was probably buried in the beginning of the 12th century, and contained articles that may have been up to 200 years old at that time.
Most of the findings are made up by a total of 1.6 kg (3.53 lb) of silver, mostly coins. Jewelry and pieces of jewelry hail from Russia or neighbouring areas. Most coins were German, but there was also a smaller number of Kufan, English, Bohemian, Hungarian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian coins.
It is hard to place this find historically until further research is completed. There are at least two possible interpretations. It may be a treasure belonging to the society outlined by the Norse source material. Generally such finds, whether from Scandinavia, the Baltic area or Russia, are closely tied to well-established agricultural societies with considerable trade activity.
Alternatively, like the Russian scientists who published the find in 1992, one may see it as an evidence of a stronger force of Russian colonisation than previously thought.
In the 12th century, the Novgorodians established the Archangel Michael Monastery in the estuary of the Northern Dvina.
The main trade center of the area at that time was Kholmogory, located 75 km (46.60 mi) southeast of Arkhangelsk, up the Dvina River, about 10 km (6.21 mi) downstream from where the Pinega River flows into the Dvina. Written sources indicate that Kholmogory existed early in the 12th century, but there is no archeological material to illuminate the early history of the town. It is not known whether this settlement was originally Russian, or if it goes back to pre-Russian times. In the center of the small town (or Gorodok) that is there today is a large mound of building remains and river sand, but it has not been archeologically excavated.
Arkhangelsk came to be important in the rivalry between Norwegian and Russian interests in the northern areas. From Novgorod, the Russian interest sphere was extended far north to the Kola Peninsula in the 12th century. However, here Norway enforced taxes and rights to the fur trade. A compromise agreement entered in 1251 was soon broken.
In 1411, Yakov Stepanovitch from Novogorod went to attack Northern Norway. This was the beginning of a series of clashes, and in 1419 Norwegian ships with 500 soldiers entered the White Sea. The "Murmaners", as the Norwegians were called (cf. Murmansk), plundered many Russian settlements along the coast, among them the Archangel Michael monastery.
Novgorod managed to drive the Norwegians back. However, in 1478 the area was taken over by Ivan III and passed to Muscovy with the rest of Novgorod Republic.
Three English ships set out to find the Northeast passage to China in 1553; two disappeared, and one ended up in the White Sea, eventually coming across Arkhangelsk. Ivan the Terrible found out about this, and brokered a trade agreement with the ship's captain. Trade privileges were officially granted to English merchants in 1555, leading to the founding of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, which began sending ships annually into the estuary of the Northern Dvina. Dutch merchants also started bringing their ships into the White Sea from the 1560s. Scottish and English merchants also traded in the 16th century; however, by the 17th century it was mainly the Dutch that sailed to the White Sea area.
In 1584, Ivan ordered the founding of New Kholmogory (which would later be renamed after the nearby Archangel Michael Monastery).
At the time access to the Baltic Sea was still mostly controlled by Sweden, so while Arkhangelsk was icebound in winter, it remained Moscow's almost sole link to the sea-trade. Local inhabitants, called Pomors, were the first to explore trade routes to Northern Siberia as far as the trans-Urals city of Mangazeya and beyond.
In 1693, Peter I ordered the creation of a state shipyard in Arkhangelsk. A year later the ships Svyatoye Prorochestvo (Holy Prophecy), Apostol Pavel (Apostle Paul) and the yacht Svyatoy Pyotr (Saint Peter) were sailing in the White Sea. However he also realized that Arkhangelsk would always be limited as a port due to the five months of ice cover, and after a successful campaign against Swedish armies in the Baltic area, he founded St. Petersburg in 1704.
In 1722 Peter I decreed that Arkhangelsk should no longer accept goods more than it was sufficient for the town itself (for the so-called domestic consumption). It was due to the tsar's will to shift all international marine trade to St. Petersburg. This factor contributed a lot to the deterioration of Arkhangelsk that continued up to 1762 when this decree was canceled.
Arkhangelsk declined in the 18th century as the Baltic trade became ever more important. In the early years of the 19th century, the arrest and prolonged detention by the Russian authorities of John Bellingham, an English export representative based at Arkhangelsk, was the indirect cause of Bellingham later assassinating British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
Arkhangelsk's economy revived at the end of the 19th century when a railway to Moscow was completed and timber became a major export. The city resisted Bolshevik rule from 1918 to 1920 and was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army supported by the military intervention of British-led Entente forces along an Allied expedition, including a North American contingent known as the Polar Bear Expedition.[16]
During both world wars, Arkhangelsk was a major port of entry for Allied aid. During World War II, the city became known in the West as one of the two main destinations (along with Murmansk) of the Arctic Convoys bringing supplies to assist the Russians who were cut off from their normal supply lines. During Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Archangelsk was one of two cities (the other being Astrakhan) selected to mark the envisaged eastern limit of Nazi control. The military operation was to be halted at this A-A line, but never reached it in reality as the German forces failed to capture either of the two cities as well as Moscow.
Today, Arkhangelsk remains a major seaport, now open year-round due to improvements in icebreakers. The city is primarily a timber and fishing center.
On March 16, 2004, 58 people were killed in an explosion at an apartment block in the city.
Mikhail Lomonosov came from a Pomor village near Kholmogory. A monument to him was installed to a design by Ivan Martos in 1829. A monument to Peter I was designed by Mark Antokolsky in 1872 and installed in 1914.
A maritime school, technical university and a regional museum are located in the city. After its historical churches were destroyed during Joseph Stalin's rule, the city's main extant landmarks are the fort-like Merchant Yards (1668–84) and the New Dvina Fortress (1701–05). The Assumption Church on the Dvina embankment (1742–44) was rebuilt in 2004.
A remarkable structure is also Arkhangelsk TV Mast, a 151 meters (495 ft) tall guyed mast for FM-/TV-broadcasting built in 1964. This tubular steel mast has six crossbars equipped with gangways, which run in two levels from the mast structure to the crossbars. On these crossbars there are also several antennas installed (image).
An unusual example of local "vernacular architecture" was the so-called Sutyagin house (Небоскрёб Сутягина, 'Sutyaguin's skyscraper'). This 13-story, 44-metre (144 ft) tall[17][18] residence of the local entrepreneur Nikolai Petrovich Sutyagin was reported to be the world's, or at least Russia's, tallest wooden house. Constructed by Mr. Sutyagin and his family over 15 years (starting in 1992), without formal plans or a building permit, the structure deteriorated while Mr. Sutyagin spent a few years in prison on racketeering charges. In 2008 it was condemned by the city as a fire hazard, and the courts ordered it to be demolished by February 1, 2009.[17][19] On December 26, 2008, the tower was pulled down,[20][21] and the remainder of the building was dismantled manually by early February 2009.[22][23]
Arkhangelsk experiences a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc).
| Climate data for Arkhangelsk | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 5.0 (41.0) |
6.2 (43.2) |
12.1 (53.8) |
25.3 (77.5) |
30.2 (86.4) |
32.1 (89.8) |
34.4 (93.9) |
33.4 (92.1) |
27.7 (81.9) |
18.3 (64.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
9.1 (48.4) |
34.4 (93.9) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −9.6 (14.7) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
4.1 (39.4) |
10.8 (51.4) |
17.6 (63.7) |
20.9 (69.6) |
18.3 (64.9) |
11.5 (52.7) |
3.9 (39.0) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−6.6 (20.1) |
4.8 (40.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −13.1 (8.4) |
−12 (10.4) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
12.8 (55.0) |
16.1 (61.0) |
14.1 (57.4) |
8.4 (47.1) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−4.7 (23.5) |
−9.9 (14.2) |
1.0 (33.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −16.6 (2.1) |
−15.6 (3.9) |
−11.7 (10.9) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
1.9 (35.4) |
7.9 (46.2) |
11.2 (52.2) |
9.8 (49.6) |
5.2 (41.4) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−13.2 (8.2) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −45.2 (−49.4) |
−41.2 (−42.2) |
−37.1 (−34.8) |
−27.3 (−17.1) |
−13.7 (7.3) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
−4.1 (24.6) |
−7.5 (18.5) |
−21.1 (−6.0) |
−36.5 (−33.7) |
−43.2 (−45.8) |
−45.2 (−49.4) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 33 (1.3) |
27 (1.06) |
26 (1.02) |
31 (1.22) |
42 (1.65) |
54 (2.13) |
61 (2.4) |
68 (2.68) |
60 (2.36) |
61 (2.4) |
53 (2.09) |
44 (1.73) |
560 (22.05) |
| Avg. rainy days | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 92 |
| Avg. snowy days | 21 | 17 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 21 | 26 | 125 |
| Source: Pogoda.ru.net[24] | |||||||||||||
Administratively, Arkhangelsk is incorporated as a town of oblast significance (one of the six in Arkhangelsk Oblast). It also serves as the administrative center of Primorsky District, by which it is completely surrounded but is not administratively a part of. Municipally, it is incorporated as Arkhangelsk Urban Okrug.[4]
Administratively, Arkhangelsk is divided into nine city territorial okrugs,[1]
Nordavia (formerly Aeroflot Nord), an airline, has its head office on the grounds of Talagi Airport in Arkhangelsk.[25]
Archangelsk is home to the following education institutes:
The cultural life of Archangelsk includes:
Russian North, and, in particular, Arkhangelsk area is an area notable for its folklore. Until the middle of 20th century, fairy tales and bylinas were still performed on the daily basis by performers who became professionals. Starting from 1890s, folkloric expeditions have been organized to the White Sea area, and later to other areas of the Arkhangelsk Governorate, in order to write down the tales and the bylinas, in particular, in Pomor dialects. In 1920s, mostly due to the efforts of Anna Astakhova, these expeditions became systematic. By 1960s, the performing art was basically extinct. These folkloric motives and fairy tales inspired the literary works of Stepan Pisakhov and Boris Shergin, who were both natives of Arkhangelsk.
Bandy is the biggest sport in the city and is considered a national sport in Russia.[26] Vodnik nine times became the Russian champion (1996–2000 and 2002–2005). Arkhangelsk hosted the Bandy World Championships in 1999 and 2003.[27] The 2011-2012 season Russian Bandy League final will be played here 25/3.[28]
Arkhangelsk is twinned with:[29]
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