Kirovsk is a town and the administrative center of
Kirovsky DistrictKirovsky District, Leningrad Oblast is an administrative district , one of the 17 in Leningrad Oblast, Russia....
of
Leningrad OblastLeningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position...
,
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, located on the left bank of the
Neva RiverThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...
, 33 kilometres (20.5 mi) east of
St. PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Population:
It was founded in 1929 as
Nevdubstroy settlement by
Sergey KirovSergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
. It was renamed after Kirov and received town status in 1953. The town consists of the Old Town built in the 1950s and Ladoga, the part built during the Soviet construction boom of the 1980s. The main industries suffered severely during the catastrophic era of
YeltsinismYeltsinism is a term sometimes used to denote the political and economic policies of Boris Yeltsin, after he became the effective ruler of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. The term "Yeltsinism" is most often used with a negative connotation...
. Most people try to find work in the nearby
St. PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
.
The nearest settlements include
MgaMga is an urban locality in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: The name is almost certainly from the identically named river Mga on which it lies ; the suggestion that it comes from the initials of the owner of the land in the 19th century, Maria Grigorievna Apraksin Mga ...
, Pukholovo,
SinyavinoSinyavino is an urban locality in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located east of St. Petersburg and east from Kirovsk. Population: It was founded in 1930....
, Molodtsevo (formerly known as Molochny Complex),
ShlisselburgShlisselburg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga, east of St. Petersburg. From 1944 to 1992, it was known as Petrokrepost...
(formerly Petrokrepost), Pavlovo, and
OtradnoyeOtradnoye is a town in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located east of St. Petersburg on the left bank of the Neva River, at its confluence with the Tosna River...
.
Kirovsk has four high schools, a music school, and a hospital, but no maternity ward. The main employers are: the Ladoga plant (which manufactured Soviet nuclear submarine equipment until it switched to machine parts and electronics), Dubrovsky Zavod, 8th Power Station. Because of these industries, Kirovsk was considered a
closed cityA closed city or closed town is a settlement with travel and residency restrictions in the Soviet Union and some of its successor countries. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" ....
Kirovsk is home to the Diorama, which is housed inside the
Ladozhsky BridgeLadozhsky Bridge is uppermost bridge across the Neva River. It is located in Leningrad Oblast, near Kirovsk. It is a part of Murmansk Highway ....
over the
Neva RiverThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...
. The site, otherwise known as "The Road of Life", commemorates Kirovsk's role as being the sole entry point for goods destined to
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
(formerly known as
LeningradLeningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
) when Nazi troops had
blockadeThe Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
of the city during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.