Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk
| Petrozavodsk (English) Петрозаводск (Russian) |
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 Trolleybus in Petrozavodsk |
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 Location of the Republic of Karelia in Russia |
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 Petrozavodsk
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| Coordinates: 61°47′N 34°20′E / 61.783°N 34.333°ECoordinates: 61°47′N 34°20′E / 61.783°N 34.333°E | |
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| City Day | Last Saturday of June |
| Administrative status | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Republic of Karelia |
| Capital of | Republic of Karelia |
| Administrative center of | Prionezhsky District |
| Municipal status | |
| Urban okrug | Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug |
| Head | Nikolay Levin |
| Representative body | City Council |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 135 km2 (52 sq mi) |
| Population (2010 Census, preliminary) |
263,540 inhabitants |
| - Rank in 2010 | 71st |
| Population (2002 Census) | 266,160 inhabitants |
| - Rank in 2002 | 70th |
| Density | 1,952 /km2 (5,060 /sq mi) |
| Time zone | MSD (UTC+04:00) |
| Founded | 1703 |
| Previous names | Petrovskaya Sloboda (until 1777), Petrozavodsk (until 1941), Äänislinna (until 1944) |
| Postal code(s) | 185xxx |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 8142 |
| Official website | |
Petrozavodsk (Russian: Петрозаво́дск; Karelian/Vepsian/Finnish: Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some 27 kilometers (17 mi). The city is served by Petrozavodsk Airport. Municipally, it is incorporated as Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug (Russian: Петрозаво́дский городско́й о́круг). Population: 263,540 (2010 Census preliminary results); 266,160 (2002 Census); 269,485 (1989 Census).
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History
On September 11, 1703 Prince Menshikov founded the settlement of Petrovskaya Sloboda ("Petrine Sloboda"). He did so at the behest of Tsar Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725), who needed a new iron foundry to manufacture cannons and anchors for the Baltic Fleet at the time of the Great Northern War (1700-1721). At first the foundry used the name Shuysky zavod (literally, "factory at the Shuya River"), but a decade later it became Petrovsky zavod ("Petrine factory"), after the name of the reigning monarch. From this form the present name of the city derives.
By 1717, Petrovskaya Sloboda had grown into the largest settlement in Karelia, with about 3,500 inhabitants, a timber fort, a covered market, and miniature palaces of the Tsar and Menshikov. The town's best-known landmark became the wooden church of Saints Peter and Paul, rebuilt in 1772 and renovated in 1789. The church retained its original iconostasis until this relic of Peter's reign was destroyed by fire on October 30, 1924.
After Peter's death, Petrovskaya Sloboda became depopulated and the factory declined. It closed down in 1734, although foreign industrialists maintained copper factories in the vicinity.
The industry revived in 1773 when Catherine the Great established a new iron foundry upstream the Lososinka River. Designed to provide cannons for the ongoing Russo-Turkish Wars, the foundry was named Alexandrovsky, after Alexander Nevsky, who was considered a patron saint of the region. The factory was modernised and expanded under supervision of Charles Gascoigne in 1787–96. Local pundits claim that the first railway in the world (чугунный колесопровод) was inaugurated for industrial uses of the Alexandrovsky foundry in 1788.
During Catherine's municipal reform of 1777, Petrovskaya Sloboda was incorporated as a town, whereupon its name was changed to Petrozavodsk. A new Neoclassical city center was then built, focused on the newly-planned Round Square. In 1784 Petrozavodsk was large enough to supplant Olonets as the administrative center of the region. Although Emperor Paul abolished Olonets Governorate, it was revived as a separate guberniya in 1801, with Petrozavodsk as its administrative center.
During the Finnish occupation of East Karelia in the Continuation War (1941–1944), the occupier chose to style the city Äänislinna (or Ääneslinna), rather than the traditional Petroskoi. The new name was a literal translation of Onegaborg, the name of a settlement marked on a 16th century map by Abraham Ortelius near the present-day city, Ääninen being the Finnish toponym for Lake Onega.
The city was occupied by Finnish troops for nearly three years before it was retaken by Soviet forces on June 28, 1944. The Finns set up concentration camps for the civilians which they operated until the Red Army reoccupied the area. The first camp was located at Petrozavodsk (October 24, 1940). Six such camps were set up in Petrozavodsk, with about 25,000 women, children and old people confined in them. One source estimated 4,000 people perished there, primarily because of malnourishment, most dying during the spring and summer of 1942. Before leaving the town the Finnish troops provided the inhabitants with a week's ration of food; a unique deed in military history.
Landmarks
Petrozavodsk is distinguished among other towns of North Russia by its Neoclassical architectural heritage, which includes the Round Square (1775, reconstructed in 1789 and 1839) and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (consecrated in 1832). Among the town's landmarks are the outdoor statues of Peter I (bronze and granite, Ippolit Monighetti, 1873), Gavrila Derzhavin (a Russian poet who was the governor of Olonets in the 18th century), and Alexander Nevsky (erected outside Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in 2010). The city has a fine frontage on the Gulf of Petrozavodsk. The modern embankment, inaugurated in 1994, displays an assortment of Karelian granites and marbles. It is lined with extravagant postmodernist sculptures presented by sister cities of Petrozavodsk from around the world. There is also a birch copse, where the first church of Petrozavodsk was built in 1703.
Petrozavodsk is home to the Karelia Philharmonic Orchestra (1933)[2], the Karelian Musical Theater (1955, statuary by Sergey Konenkov), National Library of Karelia (1959), Finnish-speaking National Theater of Karelia (1965), Petrozavodsk State University, a conservatory, a city museum founded in 1871, and a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Suburbs
The village of Shoksha near Petrozavodsk contains a quarry of red and pink quartzite which was used in construction of Saint Isaac's Cathedral and Lenin Mausoleum, among many other notable structures. There are also other quarries in the region excavating road aggregates (Goloday Gora – gabbro-diabase) near Derevyanka.
The suburb of Martsialnye Vody is the oldest spa in Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1714 and visited by the Tsar on four occasions. Its name means "The Waters of Mars" in Russian. Although Peter's palace at Martsialnye Vody has not survived, there is a museum devoted to the spa's history.
From Petrozavodsk harbor a hydrofoil service carries people to the island of Kizhi, a World Heritage Site with an outdoor museum of ancient wooden architecture.
Climate
Petrozavodsk experiences a continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfc) that is greatly moderated by the oceanic influence of the Baltic Sea. Winters are long and cold, though very mild for the high latitude, while summers are short and warm. Precipitation averages 581 mm (22.87 in) annually.
| Climate data for Petrozavodsk | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 5.4 (41.7) |
7.3 (45.1) |
15.5 (59.9) |
24.2 (75.6) |
29.6 (85.3) |
31.9 (89.4) |
33.5 (92.3) |
31.9 (89.4) |
28.5 (83.3) |
21.3 (70.3) |
11.1 (52) |
9.4 (48.9) |
33.5 (92.3) |
| Average high °C (°F) | -6.9 (19.6) |
-6.0 (21.2) |
-0.4 (31.3) |
5.7 (42.3) |
13.3 (55.9) |
18.6 (65.5) |
21.0 (69.8) |
18.2 (64.8) |
12.5 (54.5) |
5.8 (42.4) |
-0.7 (30.7) |
-4.3 (24.3) |
6.4 (43.52) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -13.3 (8.1) |
-12.3 (9.9) |
-7.1 (19.2) |
-2.1 (28.2) |
3.5 (38.3) |
9.1 (48.4) |
11.8 (53.2) |
10.2 (50.4) |
5.5 (41.9) |
0.7 (33.3) |
-5.4 (22.3) |
-10.1 (13.8) |
-0.79 (30.58) |
| Record low °C (°F) | -41.6 (-42.9) |
-39.3 (-38.7) |
-30.0 (-22) |
-19.3 (-2.7) |
-9.8 (14.4) |
-2.6 (27.3) |
-0.1 (31.8) |
-1.7 (28.9) |
-5.0 (23) |
-13.4 (7.9) |
-27.5 (-17.5) |
-36.8 (-34.2) |
-41.6 (-42.9) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 32 (1.26) |
24 (0.94) |
30 (1.18) |
33 (1.3) |
42 (1.65) |
62 (2.44) |
69 (2.72) |
81 (3.19) |
61 (2.4) |
56 (2.2) |
49 (1.93) |
42 (1.65) |
581 (22.87) |
| Source: Погода и Климат (Weather and Climate) | |||||||||||||
People from Petrozavodsk
- Vladimir Dratchev, biathlete
- Denis Zubko, footballer
- Sergey Katanandov, President of the Republic of Karelia in 2002–2010
Twin towns/sister cities
Petrozavodsk is twinned with:
Alytus, Lithuania
Brest, Belarus
Duluth, United States
Joensuu, Finland
La Rochelle, France, since 1973
Neustrelitz, Germany- Neubrandenburg, Germany
Nyborg, Denmark
Ōhara, Japan
Podolsk, Russia
Portomaggiore, Italy
Mo i Rana, Norway.- Tübingen, Germany
Umeå, Sweden- Varkaus, Finland
- ^ a b Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2011). "Предварительные итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года (Preliminary results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2010). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/results-inform.php. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- ^ a b 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)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/1_TOM_01_04.xls. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ The value of density was calculated automatically by dividing the 2010 Census population by the area specified in the infobox. Please note that this value may not be accurate as the area specified in the infobox does not necessarily correspond to the area of the entity proper or is reported for the same year as the population.
- ^ "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.)" (in 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. http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus89_reg.php. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ Погода и Климат (Weather and Climate)—[1]. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
- ^ "La Rochelle: Twin towns". www.ville-larochelle.fr. http://www.ville-larochelle.fr/en/decouvrir-la-ville/villes-jumelles.html. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
- ^ Petrozavodsk City Administration. Official Web site
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