Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the
Republic of KareliaThe Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...
,
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...
. It stretches along the western shore of the
Lake OnegaLake Onega is a lake in the north-west European part of Russia, located on the territory of Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of Baltic Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and is the second largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga...
for some 27 kilometres (16.8 mi). The city is served by
Petrozavodsk AirportPetrozavodsk Airport is a joint civil-military airport in Russia located northwest of Petrozavodsk in Besovets, Shuya Rural Settlement . It services small airliners. It is a minor airfield with 12 parking stands and a small amount of tarmac space.The airfield has seen military use as an...
. Municipally, it is incorporated as
Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug . Population:
History
On September 11, 1703
Prince MenshikovAleksandr Danilovich Menshikov was a Russian statesman, whose official titles included Generalissimus, Prince of the Russian Empire and Duke of Izhora , Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel. A highly appreciated associate and friend of Tsar Peter the Great, he was the de facto ruler of...
founded the settlement of Petrovskaya Sloboda ("Petrine
SlobodaSloboda was a kind of settlement in the history of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be vaguely translated as "free settlement"....
"). 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 FleetThe Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...
at the time of the
Great Northern WarThe Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
(1700-1721). At first the foundry used the name
Shuysky zavod (literally, "
factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
at the
Shuya RiverThe Shuya River is a river in the Republic of Karelia in Russia. The length of the river is 194 km. The area of its basin is 10,100 km². The Shuya flows out of Lake Suoyarvi and flows through Lake Logmozero into Lake Onega. It freezes up in November - January and stays icebound until April - first...
"), 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
KareliaKarelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
, with about 3,500 inhabitants, a timber fort, a
covered marketGreat Gostiny Dvor is a vast department store on Nevsky Avenue in St Petersburg.This Gostiny Dvor is not only the city's oldest shopping centre, but also one of the first shopping arcades in the world...
, 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
iconostasisIn Eastern Christianity an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church...
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 NevskyAlexander Nevsky was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military...
, who was considered a patron saint of the region. The factory was modernised and expanded under supervision of
Charles GascoigneCharles Gascoigne was a British industrialist at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. He was a partner and manager of the Carron Company ironworks in its early years, but left in 1786, before the company's success became obvious, to reorganise the production of iron and cannon in Russia...
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
NeoclassicalNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
city center was then built, focused on the newly-planned Round Square. In 1784 Petrozavodsk was large enough to supplant
OlonetsOlonets is a town and the administrative center of Olonetsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, situated on the Olonka River, to the east from Lake Ladoga. Population: -History:...
as the administrative center of the region. Although Emperor Paul abolished
Olonets GovernorateThe Olonets Governorate or Government of Olonets was a guberniya of north-western Imperial Russia, extending from Lake Ladoga almost to the White Sea, bounded W. by Finland, N. and E. by Arkhangelsk and Vologda, and S. by Novgorod and St. Petersburg...
, it was revived as a separate
guberniyaA guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...
in 1801, with Petrozavodsk as its administrative center.
During the
Finnish occupation of East KareliaFinnish military administration in Eastern Karelia was an interim administrative system established in those areas of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union which were occupied by the Finnish army during the Continuation War. The military administration was set up on July...
in the
Continuation WarThe Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter 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 Orteliusthumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) (April 14, 1527 – June 28,exile in England to take...
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 campEast Karelian concentration camps were special internment camps in the areas of the Soviet Union occupied by Finnish military administration during the Continuation War. These camps were organized by the armed forces supreme commander Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim...
s 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.
Landmarks
Petrozavodsk is distinguished among other towns of North Russia by its
NeoclassicalNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
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 MonighettiIppolit Antonovich Monighetti was a Russian architect of Swiss descent who worked for the Romanov family.Monighetti attended the Stroganov Art School and then studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Alexander Brullov, matriculating in 1839 with a gold medal...
, 1873), Gavrila Derzhavin (a Russian poet who was the governor of Olonets in the 18th century), and
Alexander NevskyAlexander Nevsky was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military...
(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)
http://www.marius-stravinsky.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=10, the Karelian Musical Theater (1955, statuary by
Sergey KonenkovSergey Timofeyevich Konenkov was a famous Russian and Soviet sculptor. He was often called "the Russian Rodin".-Early life:...
), 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 SciencesThe Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
.
Suburbs
The village of Shoksha near Petrozavodsk contains a quarry of red and pink quartzite which was used in construction of
Saint Isaac's CathedralSaint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city...
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
spaA destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...
in
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...
, 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
hydrofoilA hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
service carries people to the island of
KizhiKizhi is an island near the geometrical center of the Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia , Russia. It is elongated from north to south and is about 6 km long, 1 km wide and is about 68 km away from the capital of Karelia, Petrozavodsk.Settlements and churches on the island were...
, a
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
with an outdoor museum of ancient wooden architecture.
Climate
Petrozavodsk experiences a
continental climateContinental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
(
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
Dfc) that is greatly moderated by the oceanic influence of the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. 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.
People from Petrozavodsk
- Vladimir Dratchev
Vladimir Petrovich Dratchev is former Soviet, Russian and Belarusian biathlete. He formerly had Russian citizenship and started for Russia until 2002. Dratchev has four world championship titles in his career...
, biathleteBiathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...
- Denis Zubko
Denis Ivanovich Zubko is an association football player playing striker. Currently, he plays for FC Rotor Volgograd.-International career:...
, footballer
- Sergey Katanandov
Sergey Leonidovich Katanandov , was the President of the Republic of Karelia in Russia in 2002-2010.Katanandov was born in 1955, in the Karelian capital of Petrozavodsk. Educated in civil engineering and law, Katanandov served as Mayor of Petrozavodsk from 1990 to 1998, and became Chairman of the...
, President of the Republic of Karelia in 2002–2010
Twin towns/sister cities
Petrozavodsk is
twinnedTwin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
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