Chelyabinsk

From Open Encyclopedia

Image:Tschelthea.jpg Chelyabinsk (Russian Челя́бинск; also transliterated as "Cheljabinsk", "Čeljabinsk", and "Čelyabinsk") is a Russian city just to the east of the Ural Mountains. It is the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast. As of 2002, its population was 1,078,300.

Chelyabinsk is located at 55°03′N 61°08′E to 55°19′N 61°17′E.

A 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.

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Education

There are over a dozen universities in Chelyabinsk. The main ones are Southern Ural State University, Chelyabinsk State University and Chelyabinsk Medical Academy. The oldest one is Chelyabinsk Pedagogy State University, that's founded in 1934.

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Industry

Currently (2006), Chelyabinsk is one of major industrial centers of Russia with a population of over a million. Heavy industry predominates, especially metallurgy and military machinery, notably the Chelyabinsk Metallurgy Combinate (CMK, ChMK), Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (CTZ, ChTZ).

Chelyabinsk also has several electronics plants, including "Metran", "Polyout" and "Zavod Electormachina", that serve both military and civil needs.

During World War II, Stalin decided to move a large part of Russian factory production to places out of the way of the advancing German armies — Chelyabinsk was one of the factory cities that 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. Several enormous facilities for the production of T-34 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers existed in Chelyabinsk, and it gained the town nickname "Tankograd" (Tank City).

A serious nuclear accident in 1957 at the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, 150 km north-west of the city, caused deaths in Chelyabinsk Oblast but not in the city.

As of 2004, a metro system is under construction.

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