- Saratov
Saratov (audio-ru|Сара́тов|Ru-Saratov.ogg) is a major city in southern
Russia . It is the administrative center ofSaratov Oblast and a major port on theVolga River . Population: ru-census|p2002=873055|p1989=904643 In addition to ethnicRussians , the city also has many Tatar, Ukrainian, Jewish and German residents.History
The Legend of Saratov:
Gelonus , a legendaryScythia n city and the northernmost Greek colony, may be conjectured to have been situated in the locality of present-day Saratov. Gelonus is mentioned in Book 6 of the Histories ofHerodotus , according to whom in 512 B.C. the city was burnt down by the EmperorDarius I of Persia .A more certain ancestor city of Saratov was
Ukek .During the reign of
Tsar Feodor Ivanovich several settlements were built in order to fortify the state borders. During the summer of 1586 the fortress of Samara was founded. In 1589, the fortress of Tsaritsyn (later called Stalingrad and now calledVolgograd ) was built in the region where the Volga and the Don come closest to each other. Saratov was built in 1590 midway between Samara and Tsaritsyn at the instigation of countGrigory Zasekin . The buildings were constructed of wood in the upper reaches of the Volga one year prior to the foundation "in situ" of the city. In spring the constructions were disassembled, every log marked, and all the town was delivered to the pre-defined place. Such a method allowed the town to be built in its entirety within several weeks.The name Saratov may be conjectured to derive from the Turkic words "Saryk Atov" which means ‘hawks' island’.Another version of the name origin is "Sary Tau" (Сары Тау) meaning Yellow Mountain in
Tatar language as the city is surrounded by a few sandy hills.Saratov became an important shipping port in the 1800s, and developed industrially after a
railroad linking it toMoscow was finished in 1870.From Soviet times until 1991, Saratov was a "closed city", strictly off limits to all foreigners. Situated on the Volga River, this was a major military aircraft manufacturing site, the home of the first man in space,
Yuri Gagarin , and a vital part of the Soviet space programme.German community
Saratov was also the home of the
Volga Germans . Until 1941, Pokrovsk, known today asEngels, Russia , and located just across the Volga from Saratov, was the capital of a separate German republic. The Volga Germans numbered 800,000 in the early 20th century.The Volga Germans included industrialists, scientists, musicians and architects, including those who built Saratov's university and Conservatory. At the outbreak of
World War II , half of the Volga Germans were exiled toSiberia andKazakhstan , and few ever returned to the region. Beginning in the 1980s, many emigrated toGermany , but the Roman Catholic St. Klementy Cathedral on Nemetskaya Street (seat of theDiocese of Tiraspol , founded in 1848) is a reminder of Saratov's German past, though it was converted in the 1960s into a movie theatre.Modern Saratov
The Saratov region is rich not only in natural and industrial resources. The region is also famous for being one of the largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia. In Saratov there are six
institute s affiliated with theRussian Academy of Sciences , 21 research institutes, 19 project institutes,Saratov State University and many scientific and technological laboratories attached to the largest industrial enterprises.Saratov is served by
Saratov Tsentralny Airport , and also hosts the general aviation airfieldSaratov West and the aerospace manufacturing siteSaratov South airport.ightseeing, arts, and culture
One of the city's most prominent landmarks is the 19th century neo-Gothic Conservatory. When it was built in 1912, the Conservatory was Russia's third such institution (after Moscow and St. Petersburg). At the time (1912), Saratov, with a population of 240,000, was the third-largest city in present-day Russia.
The dramatic theatre in Saratov was founded in 1802 and is one of Russia's oldest. It is one of Russia's national theatres. In Soviet times, it used to be named after Karl Marx, but now it carries the name of
Ivan Slonov (1882-1945), an actor, theatre director and teacher, who was born in the city. The full name in Russian is "Саратовский государственный академический театр драмы имени И. А. Слонова" (I.A.Slonov Saratov State Academic Theatre).Saratov is also famous for its
Radischev Art Museum , named afterAlexander Radishchev . It contains more than 20,000 exhibits, including works by some of the finest Russian painters, fromRussia nicon s toAleksandra Ekster ,Pavel Kuznetsov ,Aristarkh Lentulov ,Robert Falk ,Pyotr Konchalovsky ,Martiros Saryan ,Fyodor Rokotov .Famous people
The Saratov region was birthplace or hometown, at one time or other, to:
*Politician Pyotr Stolypin
*Biologist Nikolai Vavilov
*painterMikhail Vrubel
*Aircraft designerOleg Antonov
*Writer Mikhail Bulgakov
*Sisters ofVladimir Lenin
*Philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky
*Architect Fyodor Shekhtel
*Chemist Nikolai Zinin
*Geometrician Jean-Victor Poncelet
*Writer Konstantin Fedin
*PainterViktor Borisov-Musatov
*poet Gavrila Derzhavin
*composer sAlfred Schnittke andLeonid Sobinov
*writer Aleksandr Radishchev
*writer Lev Kassil
*painterKuzma Petrov-Vodkin
*painterPavel Kuznetsov
*chemist Nikolay Semyonov
*painter and creator ofRadishchevskiy Museum in SaratovAleksey Bogolyubov
*actor Oleg Tabakov
*actor Oleg Yankovskiy
*actor Boris Andreyev
*actor Alexander Mikhailov
*actor , directorBoris Babochkin
*Russian folk singerLidiya Ruslanova
*Pop singerValeriya
*cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
*hockeystar Andrei Lulin
*poet Dorion Edev
*poet Rachel Bluwstein
*billionaire businessmanRoman Abramovich
*writer Konstantin Paustovsky
*politician andwriter Eduard Limonov
*Herwarth Walden , German expressionist artist, publicist and gallerist, fled 1933 from Nazi-Germany to the Sovjet Union and died in 1941 as a political prisoner in Saratov.
*Gottlieb Nathaniel Bonwetsch , German Protestant theologain, born on Norka near Saratov ( [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/b/bonwetsch_n.shtml] )References
External links
* [http://www.saratau.ru Saratov]
* [http://www.saratov.ru Saratov.Ru]
* [http://saratov.ms/old/ Old photos of a city of Saratov ]
* [http://www.radmuseumart.ru/ Radischev Art Gallery]
* [http://www.sgu.ru/ogis/katalog/ Catalogue of the Radischev Gallery]
* [http://saratoff.ru/?ch
]
* [http://saratov-kultura.ru/ Culture of city of Saratov]
* [http://www.saratov-digital.com/presentation/present/eng_index.html- Virtual City. Internet - presentation of Saratov]
* [http://www.turizmsaratov.ru Tourism Saratov Турфирмы Саратова (rus)]
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