Chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk (English) Челябинск (Russian)
—  Inhabited locality  —
Location of Chelyabinsk on the map of Russia
Coordinates: 55°10′N 61°24′E / 55.167°N 61.4°E / 55.167; 61.4Coordinates: 55°10′N 61°24′E / 55.167°N 61.4°E / 55.167; 61.4
Coat of arms	Flag
Holiday	13 September[citation needed]
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Chelyabinsk Oblast
In administrative jurisdiction of	Chelyabinsk Oblast[citation needed]
Administrative center of	Chelyabinsk Oblast[citation needed]
Municipal status (as of February 2008)
Municipal Status	Urban okrug
Head[citation needed]	Mikhail Yurevich[citation needed]
Representative body	Council[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	486 km2 (187.6 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2002 Census)	1,078,300 inhabitants[1]
- Rank	9th
- Density	2,219 /km2 (5,700/sq mi)[2]
Time zone	YEKT/YEKST (UTC+5/+6)
Founded	1736[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	454xxx[3]
Dialing code(s)	+7 351[4]

Chelyabinsk (Russian: Челя́бинск) is a city in Russia, located just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on Miass River. It is the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast. Population: 1,077,174 (2002 Census);^[5] 1,141,777 (1989 Census).^[6]

History

Fortress Chelyaba, from which the city takes its name, was constructed on the site in 1736; the city was incorporated in 1781. Around 1900, it served as a center for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. According to official statistics the population on 1 January 1913 was 45,000 inhabitants.

During the Soviet industrialization of the 1930s, Chelyabinsk experienced rapid growth. Several industrial establishments, including the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, were built at this time. During World War II, Joseph Stalin decided to move a large part of Soviet factory production to places out of the way of the advancing German armies in late 1941. This brought new industries and thousands of workers to Chelyabinsk—still essentially a small city. Several enormous facilities for the production of T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers existed in Chelyabinsk, which became known as "Tankograd" (Tank City). Chelyabinsk was essentially built from scratch during this time. A small town existed before this, signs of which can be found in the centre of the city. The S.M. Kirov Factory no. 185 moved here from Leningrad to produce heavy tanks — it was transferred to Omsk after 1962.

A serious nuclear accident occurred in 1957 at the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, 150 km north-west of the city, caused deaths in Chelyabinsk Oblast but not in the city. The province was closed to all foreigners until 1992.

Geography

The city is located in the north-western side of its Oblast, 210 km south of Yekaterinburg.

Education

There are over a dozen universities in Chelyabinsk. The main ones are South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk State University and Chelyabinsk Medical Academy. The oldest one is Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University, which was founded in 1934. There are 13 faculties at the University including the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Mathematics, Physics, and others.

Economy

Chelyabinsk is one of the major industrial centers of Russia. Heavy industry predominates, especially metallurgy and military machinery, notably the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Combinate (CMK, ChMK), Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (CTZ, ChTZ), Chelyabinsk Electrode plant (CHEZ), Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (CHTPZ) and Chelyabinsk Forge-and-Press Plant (ChKPZ).

Chelyabinsk also has several electronics plants, including Metran, Polet and Zavod Electromashina, that serve both military and civil needs.

Transport

The planned metro network

"Chelyabinsk City", the tallest building in Chelyabinsk.

Chelyabinsk Metro

Chelyabinsk started construction of a 3-line subway network in 1993. It is proceeding slowly using the New Austrian Tunneling method. Pending financing, the opening of the first section is scheduled for 2010.

Tramway and trolleybus

Chelyabinsk has a tramway (since 1932) and trolleybus (since 1942). The fare for tramway and trolleybus - ~$0.28 (10 rubles). Also for passengers available "social cards" and "transport card", these cards provide discounts.

Airport

The city is served by Chelyabinsk Balandino Airport.

Famous people from Chelyabinsk

Politicians

• Viktor Khristenko - politician, the Industry and Energy Minister since March 9, 2004. Prior to that, held a number of government posts, including a brief stint in 2004 as an acting Prime Minister (from February, 24 to March, 5)
• Nelly Rokita - adviser of Polish President Lech Kaczyński, wife of politician Jan Rokita
• Galina Starovoytova - political activist

Musicians

• Maksim Bugrov - World champion violinist 2005, Actor, Professional theater tech.

Scientists

• Makhmut Gareev — General of the Army, a historian, and a military scientist

Composers

• Lera Auerbach — one of the most widely performed composers of the new generation

Software Developers

• Eugene Roshal — Developer of the RAR and WinRAR compression utilities and FAR Manager.

Sportsmen

Ice hockey

• Sergei Makarov — former Traktor Chelyabinsk, CSKA Moscow, Soviet national team, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and Dallas Stars hockey player. One of the greatest players in the history of international hockey, "M" in the famous KLM line of the late 1970s — early 1980s (together with Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov)
• Sergei Babinov and Sergei Starikov — 2 former USSR national team defencemen.
• Vyacheslav (Slava) Bykov - former Traktor Chelyabinsk, CSKA Moscow and Soviet national team hockey player. Since August 10, 2006 - head coach of the Russian national hockey team
• Dmitri Kalinin — New York Rangers and former Buffalo Sabres ice hockey Player
• Sergei Gonchar — Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey Player
• Andrei Nazarov — former Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes player of the National Hockey League. Currently employed as the head coach of Traktor Chelyabinsk
• Evgeny Davydov — retired Russian professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League for the Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators

Speed Skating

• Svetlana Bazhanova — Olympic champion 1994 in speed skating
• Lidiya Skoblikova — four times awarded Olympic champion 1964.

Chess

• Evgeny Sveshnikov — Latvian International Grandmaster of chess

Weightlifting

• Mikhail Koklyaev — six time Russian National Weightlifting champion

Cycling

• Sergei Valeryevich Ivanov - Six time Russian National Cycling champion (1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2008 and 2009) and winner of two stages (2001 and 2009) in the Tour de France

Volleyball

• Yekaterina Gamova - a famous Russian female volleyball player, currently playing for Fenerbahçe Acıbadem and the Russian National volleyball team.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Chelyabinsk is twinned with:

• Changchun, China.
• Columbia, South Carolina, United States.
• Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom.
• Ramla, Israel.^[7]
• Ürümqi, China.

See also

• Chelyabinsk Metro

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chelyabinsk

• Website about Chelyabinsk (Russian)
• Chelyabinsk news (English)
• Chelyabinsk city portal (Russian)
• Chelyabinsk News Agency (Russian)
• Chelyabinsk news portal (Russian)
•  "Chelyabinsk". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

v • d • e Cities and towns in Chelyabinsk Oblast Administrative center: Chelyabinsk Asha · Bakal · Chebarkul · Karabash · Kartaly · Kasli · Katav-Ivanovsk · Kopeysk · Korkino · Kusa · Kyshtym · Magnitogorsk · Miass · Minyar · Nyazepetrovsk · Ozyorsk · Plast · Satka · Sim · Snezhinsk · Troitsk · Tryokhgorny · Ust-Katav · Verkhneuralsk · Verkhny Ufaley · Yemanzhelinsk · Yuryuzan · Yuzhnouralsk · Zlatoust