Cherepovets

Cherepovets (English) Череповец (Russian)
-  City[1]  -
Aerial view of Cherepovets
Location of Vologda Oblast in Russia
Cherepovets Location of Cherepovets in Vologda Oblast
Coordinates: 59°12′N 37°54′E / 59.200°N 37.900°E / 59.200; 37.900Coordinates: 59°12′N 37°54′E / 59.200°N 37.900°E / 59.200; 37.900
Coat of arms of Cherepovets Flag of Cherepovets
Administrative status (as of May 2006)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Vologda Oblast[2]
Administratively subordinated to	city of oblast significance of Cherepovets[2]
Administrative center of	Cherepovetsky District,[3] city of oblast significance of Cherepovets[2]
Municipal status (as of July 2008)
Urban okrug	Cherepovets Urban Okrug[4]
Mayor[5]	Yury Kuzin[5]
Representative body	City Duma[6]
Statistics
Area	120.9 km2 (46.7 sq mi)[7]
Population (2010 Census)	312,310 inhabitants[8]
- Rank in 2010	59th
Density	2,583 /km2 (6,690 /sq mi)[9]
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[10]
Founded	November 4,[citation needed] 1777[11]
City status since	1777[citation needed]
Postal code(s)[12]	162600
Dialing code(s)	+7 8202[13]
Official website
Cherepovets on WikiCommons

Cherepovets (Russian: Череповец, IPA: [tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲets]) is a city in the west of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Sheksna River, a tributary of the Volga River, and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. Population: 312,310 (2010 Census);^[8] 311,869 (2002 Census);^[14] 310,463 (1989 Census).^[15] This is the largest city in Vologda Oblast in terms of population.

Etymology

The origin of the word "Cherepovets" is a subject of much debate among the local historians. According to one version, the city supposedly received its name from the word "skull" ("cherep" in Russian). In antiquity there was a pagan sanctuary in honor of the god Veles on the hill at the confluence of the Sheksna and the Yagorba Rivers. The top of the hill was called the "skull". Another version suggests that the word "Cherepovets" originates from the name of the tribe "ves" (весь), who inhabited the Sheksna's banks. According to some legends, "Cherepovets," in the language of local indigenous Veps, means "Veps' fish hill".

Geography

The city is located in the cross-roads of major Volga-Baltic waterway, West-East railroads, and gas pipelines, and between two Russian federal cities—Moscow and St. Petersburg.

History

Restored Church of the Nativity (1789)

The foundation of Cherepovets is traditionally ascribed to the monks Feodosy and Afanasy. In 1362, they founded the Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery, in the vicinity of which a small village of Fedosyevo appeared. Historians consider the former village of Fedosyevo to be the heart of modern Cherepovets. It has developed throughout the centuries into the important regional center of trade, manufacture and transportation. Cherepovets was granted a city status in 1777 by Catherine the Great and became a center of a separate uyezd in the administrative structure of the Novgorod Governorate.

The construction of the Mariinsk canal system was one of the most significant events in the city life. The Mariinskaya system connected Cherepovets with the Volga and the Baltic Sea. But in spite of that fact the city developed very slowly. In 1863, the population of the city was only 3,300 people (as compared with more than 300,000 people nowadays). For a long time the city brickworks with only seven workers was the sole industrial enterprise in Cherepovets. That situation changed with the urbanization process that got catalyzed after the 1861 Emancipation Reform and rapid development of the shipping business the city soon became a prominent shipbuilding and logistics center tying major regional rail- and waterways. Cherepovets population surpassed the 10,000 mark by 1915.

In March 1918 eastern uyezds of the Novgorod Governorate became a separate governorate centered around Cherepovets. The new governorate existed less than ten years, in 1927 it was merged with Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Murmansk Governorates into a single Leningrad Oblast. In September 1937 most of the former Cherepovets Governorate territories (with the exception of Tikhvin district) were transferred to a newly established Vologda Oblast.

Later history of Cherepovets was closely tied with the construction of the steel works, second biggest in Russia, built during the first decade after the end of the World War II. Unlike the majority of the big Soviet centers of metallurgy Cherepovets is not located near mines or ore deposites, its development was determined by its logistic advantages in the infrastructure of Northern Russia that made possible to connect remote mining centers like Vorkuta and Olenegorsk into a single system. Rapid growth of industry drastically changed the city itself, by the early 1960s population outreached the 100,000 mark (which was three times bigger than the pre-World War II population), by 1970 it became the largest city of the Vologda Oblast ahead of Vologda itself.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Cherepovets serves as the administrative center of Cherepovetsky District,^[3] even though it is not a part of it.^[1] As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Cherepovets (one of the four in the oblast)—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[2] As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Cherepovets is incorporated as Cherepovets Urban Okrug.^[4]

Economy

Cherepovets is one of the most significant industrial centers in northwestern Russia. Frequently the name of the city is associated with the joint-stock company Severstal products, which are exported to more than fifty countries. Severstal is one of the natural resource-consuming industries in the city and one of the largest iron-and-steel plants in Russia. Other large factories exist in Cherepovets as well.

Metallurgy

The city began growing especially rapidly with the construction of the Metallurgical Works in the late 1930s. The first works' blast furnace was put into operation in 1955. The first Cherepovets iron was produced in August 1955 and steel in May 1958. In February 1959 the first ingot was rolled in a blooming mill and in November of the same year the first hot-rolled plate was produced.

Nowadays complex production processes of iron and steel making are highly mechanized and automatically operated. The works' shops have been modernized according to the latest achievements of engineering and technology of metal production. The joint-stock company Severstal is one of the global exporters of ferrous and non-ferrous metals: iron, steel, hot-rolled plates, cold roll-formed shapes, and other products.

Due to the presence of these industrial enterprises, Cherepovets is one of the most heavily-polluted cities in the world and as of 2011 ranked second only to Norilsk in Russia.^[16]

Transportation

Cherepovets is served by the Cherepovets Airport, which is home to Severstal's own airline Severstal Air Company.

Modern city

The first cable-stayed bridge in Russia (1979)

The passing years have left their mark on the city's appearance. Large scale housing and industrial construction has been carried out in the city. Over the past years hundreds of new multi-story blocks of apartments as well as detached and semi-detached houses were built in Cherepovets.

Cherepovets is not only an industrial city; it is also a center of culture, education, and sport. Professional associations of local writers, poets, actors, painters, composers, journalists function there. The displays at the Cherepovets museum of local history and arts is rather popular with the residents. Over the past few years several up-to-date movie theaters appeared in the city.

Cherepovets has a developed educational infrastructure: the Cherepovets State University, a branch of Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University (Institute for Management and Information Technology), several branches of Moscow high schools, technical and vocational schools, and more. The Cherepovets State University is the most prominent among the other educational institutions in the city.

Cherepovets is famous for its sport achievements. The joint-stock company "Severstal" regularly holds competitions in twelve types of sports. Sportspeople from Cherepovets regularly participate in the International and All-Russian competitions. "Severstal" hockey club is one of the leading hockey clubs in Russia. "Severstal" basketball team, as well as the chess players' team, are in the Russia Major League. Severstal Cherepovets is an ice hockey team based in Cherepovets, playing in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Notable residents

• Vasily Vereshchagin (1842-1904), famous battle painter, born in Cherepovets.
• Anna Demidova (1878-1918), House of Romanovs maid, murdered with Nicholas II and his family, born and raised in Cherepovets.
• Alexander Kutepov (1882-1930), White Army general, born in Cherepovets.
• Igor Severyanin (1887-1941), poet, one of the main figures of the Russian Futurist movement, grew up in Cherepovets.
• Valery Chkalov (1904-1938), aviator, studied at Cherepovets technical school.
• Nikolay Amosov (1913-2002), heart surgeon, born near Cherepovets and got his education in the city.
• Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), Nobel Prize winning poet and essayist, lived with his family in Cherepovets during the evacuation from Leningrad.
• Nikolai Noskov (born 1956), musician, former singer of Gorky Park, grew up and started his career in Cherepovets.
• Alexander Bashlachev (1960-1988), singer-songwriter, poet, born and grew up in Cherepovets.
• Leonid Parfyonov (born 1960), journalist and television host, born and grew up in Cherepovets.
• Dmitri Yushkevich (born 1970), NHL and KHL ice hockey player, born in Cherepovets, started playing in the Metallurg Cherepovets hockey school.

Geopolitical significance

In case of an international crisis that puts Moscow at risk, such as a nuclear war, Cherepovets is the primary relocation site of the Russian President, chief of FSB, Minister of Defence, and the commanding general in control of Russia's ICBM stockpile.^{[citation needed]}

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Cherepovets is twinned with:^[17]

References

Notes

Sources

• Законодательное Собрание Вологодской области. Закон №371-ОЗ от 4 июня 1999 г. «О вопросах административно-территориального устройства Вологодской области», в ред. Закона №2916-ОЗ от 7 декабря 2012 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон области "О вопросах административно-территориального устройства Вологодской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Красный Север", №124–125, 29 июля 1999 г. (Legislative Assembly of Vologda Oblast. Law #371-OZ of June 4, 1999 On the Matters of the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Vologda Oblast, as amended by the Law #2916-OZ of December 7, 2012 On Amending the Oblast Law "On the Matters of the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Vologda Oblast". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
• Правительство Вологодской области. Постановление №178 от 1 марта 2010 г. «Об утверждении реестра административно-территориальных единиц Вологодской области», в ред. Постановления №686 от 25 июня 2012 г. «О внесении изменений в некоторые Постановления Правительства области». Вступил в силу 20 марта 2010 г. Опубликован: "Красный Север", №29, 20 марта 2010 г. (Government of Vologda Oblast. Resolution #178 of March 1, 2010 On Adopting the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Units of Vologda Oblast, as amended by the Resolution #686 of June 25, 2012 On Amending Various Resolutions of the Oblast Government. Effective as of March 20, 2010.).
• Законодательное Собрание Вологодской области. Закон №1104-ОЗ от 6 декабря 2004 г. «Об установлении границ города Череповца и наделении его статусом городского округа», в ред. Закона №2809-ОЗ от 5 июля 2012 г. «О внесении изменений в отдельные Законы области, устанавливающие границы и статус муниципальных образований области». Вступил в силу через десять дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Красный Север", №242, 11 декабря 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Vologda Oblast. Law #1104-OZ of December 6, 2004 On Establishing the Borders of the City of Cherepovets and on Granting It Urban Okrug Status, as amended by the Law #2809-OZ of July 5, 2012 On Amending Various Laws of the Oblast, Establishing the Borders and the Status of the Municipal Formations of the Oblast. Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).

v t e Administrative divisions of Vologda Oblast Administrative center: Vologda Cities and towns Babayevo Belozersk Cherepovets Gryazovets Kadnikov Kharovsk Kirillov Krasavino Nikolsk Sokol Totma Ustyuzhna Veliky Ustyug Vologda Vytegra Districts Babayevsky Babushkinsky Belozersky Chagodoshchensky Cherepovetsky Gryazovetsky Kaduysky Kharovsky Kichmengsko-Gorodetsky Kirillovsky Mezhdurechensky Nikolsky Nyuksensky Sheksninsky Sokolsky Syamzhensky Tarnogsky Totemsky Ust-Kubinsky Ustyuzhensky Vashkinsky Velikoustyugsky Verkhovazhsky Vologodsky Vozhegodsky Vytegorsky