Voronezh

Voronezh (English) Воронеж (Russian)
-  City[1]  -
View of Voronezh
Voronezh Location of Voronezh in Voronezh Oblast
Coordinates: 51°40′15″N 39°12′51″E / 51.67083°N 39.21417°E / 51.67083; 39.21417Coordinates: 51°40′15″N 39°12′51″E / 51.67083°N 39.21417°E / 51.67083; 39.21417
Coat of arms	Flag
City Day	Second Sunday of September[citation needed]
Administrative status (as of December 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Voronezh Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to	Voronezh Urban Okrug[1]
Administrative center of	Voronezh Oblast,[1] Voronezh Urban Okrug[1]
Municipal status (as of October 2005)
Urban okrug	Voronezh Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of	Voronezh Urban Okrug[2]
Head[3]	Gennady Chernushkin (acting)[3]
Representative body	City Duma[citation needed]
Statistics
Population (2010 Census)	889,680 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2010	15th
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[5]
Founded	1585[6] or much earlier[7]
Postal code(s)	3940xx[8]
Dialing code(s)	+7 473[citation needed]
Official website

Voronezh (Russian: Воронеж; IPA: [vɐˈronʲɪʂ]) is a city and the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Voronezh River, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway (connecting European Russia with Ural and Siberia, as well as Caucasus and Ukraine), as well as the center of the Don Highway (Moscow—Rostov-on-Don). Population: 889,680 (2010 Census).^[4]

A monument to Peter the Great

History [edit]

Annunciation Cathedral is the tallest church in Russia outside Moscow and St. Petersburg

Etymology and origins [edit]

The toponym Voronezh was first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1177, but human settlement on the site is attested since the Stone Age by archeological finds. Recent findings may push the settlement's foundation date as far back as the 4th century CE.^[7] The current official version, however, states that the present city was founded in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort^[6] protecting the Russian state from the raids of Crimean and Nogay Tatars. The city is named for the river, itself named for an earlier city destroyed by the Mongol invasion, whose name in turn was borrowed from a place name in the Principality of Chernigov, derived from the Slavic personal name Voroneg.^[9]

The comparative analysis of the title "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. The comparative method involves the search for etymological sources not only in Russian, but also in other Indo-European languages: Anatolian, Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Italic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Armenian, and others. According to the "nominalistic method" proposed by Max Müller, the origin of the name "Voroneg" and the name of a bird "voron" (raven) should be considered in relation to the Indo-European eponyms: Uranus, Varuna, Phoroneus, Bran the Blessed, and so on. Comparative analysis suggests the origin of the Indo-European toponyms and hydronyms Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Voronezh out of Indo-European root «*var» and connects with this root the origin of names of ancient deities of the water.^[10]

17th–20th centuries [edit]

In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizable town, especially after Tsar Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, Goto Predestinatsia. The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.

View of Voronezh in the 18th century

Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into Voronezh Governorate.

In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth 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. A railway connected Voronezh with Rostov-on-Don in 1868 and Moscow in 1871.

During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Russian and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, on Voronezh excavator factory were built two artillery installation BM-13 (Fight machine #13 Katyusha). In July, the construction of Katyusha was rationalized so that its manufacturing became easier and the time of volley repetition was shorten from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted establishment of the committee of defense in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was parade of troops devoted to anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. The city was completely under Axis control by July 24. This was the opening move of Case Blue.

Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.

1950s-1980s [edit]

By 1950, Voronezh was rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. In 1950-1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical press, and others.

Stalin-era headquarters of the South Eastern Railway

In 1968, on Voronezh Aviation factory there was established the serial production of supersonic plane Tupolev Tu-144. In October 1977, first domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built.

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 Central Black Earth Region.

Administrative and municipal status [edit]

Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast.^[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.^[2]

City divisions [edit]

The city is divided into six administrative districts: Kominternovsky, Leninsky, Levoberezhny, Sovetsky, Tsentralny, and Zheleznodorozhny.

Transportation [edit]

Air [edit]

The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO (Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo, Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Concordski, Tupolev Tu-144, was built and the only operational one is still stored. Voronezh also hosts Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.

Rail [edit]

Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow.^[13] Rail services form part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kiev, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov.

Public transportation [edit]

Buses and marshrutkas (routed taxis) provide the bulk of local public transport. There are some trolleybuses but the system has been allowed to degrade. The once extensive tramway network was finally abandoned on April 15, 2009.^[14]

Climate [edit]

Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

Education and culture [edit]

The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:

• Voronezh State University
• Voronezh State Technical University
• Voronezh State University of Architecture and Construction
• Voronezh State Pedagogical University
• Voronezh State Agricultural University
• Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies
• Voronezh State Medical Academy
• Voronezh State Academy of Arts
• Voronezh State Forestry Engineering Academy
• Voronezh State Institute of Physical Training
• Voronezh Institute of Russia's Home Affairs Ministry
• Voronezh Military Aviation Engineering University

and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.

Sports [edit]

Notable people [edit]

• Nikolay Basov, physicist
• Ivan Bunin, writer
• Pavel Cherenkov, physicist
• Kirill Gerstein, musician
• Alexey Khovansky, editor
• Mikhail Tsvet, botanist
• Konstantin Feoktistov, cosmonaut and engineer
• Poets and writers such as Platonov, Koltsov, Nikitin, Marshak, Peskov, Troepolsky;
• Painters Kramskoi, Ge, Kuprin
• Valerian Albanov, navigator and polar explorer
• Alexander Litvinenko, political dissident
• Grigory Sanakoev, chess player
• Yelena Davydova and Alexander Tkachyov, gymnasts
• Yevgeny Lapinsky, Olympic volleyball player
• Valentina Popova, weightlifter
• Dmitri Sautin, diver
• Volin, anarchist
• Serge Voronoff, surgeon
• Osip Mandelstam, poet
• Vladimir Patkin, Olympic volleyball player
• Andrei Platonov, writer
• Sektor Gaza, punk band
• Mitrofan Pyatnitsky, musician
• Viktoria Komova, Olympic gymnast

International relations [edit]

Source:^[18]

Date		Sister City
1968		Brno, Czech Republic[19]
1989		Wesermarsch, Lower Saxony, Germany
1991		Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
1992		Chongqing, China
1995		Sliven, Bulgaria
1996		León, Castile and León, Spain[20]

Further reading [edit]

Charlotte Hobson's book, "Black Earth City", is an account of life in Voronezh at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union based on her experiences 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 her husband, the poet Osip Mandelstam, provides many details about life in Voronezh in the 1930s under Stalinist rule.

From the mid-19th 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.

In 1989, Voronezh was the subject of international media attention after the TASS newspaper published a story recounting an alleged UFO landing that occurred in the city's park, and subsequent encounters between citizens and extraterrestrial beings.^[21] The account was later reported in America by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and received coverage by several other media outlets including the NBC Nightly News and the ABC Evening News. Details of the incident have been featured in several books, most notably UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat by Jacques Vallée, The UFO Encyclopedia, Volume 1: UFOs in the 1980s by Jerome Clark, and UFOs: The Secret History by Michael Hesemann.

References [edit]

Notes [edit]

Sources [edit]

• Воронежская областная Дума. Закон №87-ОЗ от 27 октября 2006 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Воронежской области и порядке его изменения», в ред. Закона №186-ОЗ от 27 декабря 2012 г. «О внесении изменения в статью 14 Закона Воронежской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Воронежской области и порядке его изменения"». Вступил в силу по истечении 10 дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Молодой коммунар", №123, 3 ноября 2006 г. (Voronezh Oblast Duma. Law #87-OZ of October 27, 2006 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Voronezh Oblast and on the Procedures of Changing It, as amended by the Law #186-OZ of December 27, 2012 On Amending Article 14 of the Law of Voronezh Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Voronezh Oblast and on the Procedures of Changing It". Effective as of after 10 days from the day of the official publication.).
• Воронежская областная Дума. Закон №66-ОЗ от 31 октября 2005 г. «О наделении муниципального образования город Воронеж статусом городского округа». Вступил в силу по истечении 10 дней со дня официального опубликования (18 ноября 2005 г.). Опубликован: "Коммуна", №171, 8 ноября 2005 г. (Voronezh Oblast Duma. Law #66-OZ of October 31, 2005 On Granting Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the City of Voronezh. Effective as of the day which is 10 days after the official publication date (November 18, 2005).).

External links [edit]

• Official website of Voronezh (Russian)
• Unofficial website of Voronezh (Russian)
• Voronezh State University
• Panoramic views of Voronezh

v t e Administrative divisions of Voronezh Oblast Administrative center: Voronezh Cities and towns Bobrov Boguchar Borisoglebsk Buturlinovka Ertil Kalach Liski Novokhopyorsk Novovoronezh Ostrogozhsk Pavlovsk Povorino Rossosh Semiluki Voronezh Districts Anninsky Bobrovsky Bogucharsky Buturlinovsky Ertilsky Gribanovsky Kalacheyevsky Kamensky Kantemirovsky Kashirsky Khokholsky Liskinsky Nizhnedevitsky Novokhopyorsky Novousmansky Olkhovatsky Ostrogozhsky Paninsky Pavlovsky Petropavlovsky Podgorensky Povorinsky Ramonsky Repyovsky Rossoshansky Semiluksky Talovsky Ternovsky Verkhnekhavsky Verkhnemamonsky Vorobyovsky