Chelyabinsk

 

Chelyabinsk, city (1989 pop. 1,142,000), capital of Chelyabinsk region, W Siberian Russia, in the southern foothills of the Urals and on the Mias River. It also lies on the Trans-Siberian RR.

 

One of the major metallurgical and industrial centers of Russia, Chelyabinsk produces steel, zinc, metal alloys, heavy chemicals, and agricultural machinery. The city has many industrial and scientific institutes, but severe pollution makes it one of the least attractive Russian cities.

 

Founded in 1736 as a Russian frontier outpost, it was chartered in the 1740s and grew into an agricultural and coal-trading town. Its industrial growth began with the building of its first steel plant in 1930.

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.

 

During the Soviet industrialization of the 1930s, Chelyabinsk experienced a fast 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 built essentially from scratch at 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.

- Dimitri Kalinin - Buffalo Sabres Ice Hockey Player

- Eugene Roshal - Developer of the WinRAR compression utility

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 Pedagogy State University, which was founded in 1934.

As of 2007, Chelyabinsk is one of the major industrial centers of Russia.

 

Heavy industry predominates, especially metallurgy and military machinery, notably the Chelyabinsk Metallurgy Combinate (CMK, ChMK), Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (CTZ, ChTZ) and the Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (CHTPZ).

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