Arkhangelsk

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Arkhangelskaya_Oblast :: Arkhangelsk

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Arkhangelsk (), formerly called Archangel in English, is a city in and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the far north of European Russia, at . Arkhangelsk was the chief sea port of medieval Russia. Population: 356,051 (2002 Census).

History

The area where Arkhangelsk is situated was known to the Vikings as Bjarmaland. In the 12th century, the Novgorodians established the Archangel Michael Monastery in the estuary of the Northern Dvina. In 1478 the area passed to Muscovy with the rest of Novgorod Republic. The main trade centre of the area at that time was Kholmogory, located slightly upstream.

At the time access to the Baltic Sea was still controlled by Sweden, so while Arkhangelsk was icebound in winter, it remained Moscow's only link to the sea. Local inhabitants, called pomors, were the first to explore trade routes to Northern Siberia as far as trans-Ural city of Mangazeya and beyond.

In 1683, Peter I took power at the age of ten, and in 1693 he ordered the creation of a state shipyard in Arkhangelsk. A year later the ships Svyatoye Prorochestvo (Holy Prophesy), Apostol Pavel (Apostle Paul) and the yacht Svyatoy Pyotr (Saint Peter) were sailing in the White Sea. However he also realized that Arkhangelsk would always be limited as a port due to the five months of ice cover, and after a successful campaign against Swedish armies in the Baltic area, he founded Saint Petersburg in 1704.

Arkhangelsk city declined in the 18th century as the Baltic trade became ever more important, but its economy revived at the end of the 19th century when a railroad to Moscow was completed and timber became a major export. During World War I and World War II Arkhangelsk was a major port of entry for Allied aid.

The city resisted Bolshevik rule during 1918 to 1920 and was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army, supported by the military intervention of Entente forces.

On 16 March 2004, 58 people were killed in an explosion at an apartment block in the city.

The modern city

Mikhail Lomonosov came from a Pomor village near Kholmogory. A monument to him was installed to a design by Ivan Martos in 1829. A monument to Peter I was designed by Mark Antokolsky in 1872 and installed in 1914.

A maritime school, technical university, and a regional museum are located in the city. The city's main historic landmarks are the fort-like Merchant Yards (1668-84) and the New Dvina Fortress (1701-05).

Today Arkhangelsk remains a major seaport, now open year-round due to improvements in icebreakers. The city is primarily a timber and fishing center.

Miscellaneous

The James Bond movie GoldenEye begins at a dam by a chemical facility near Arkhangelsk, although the scenes themselves were actually shot at the Verzasca dam in Switzerland - tall mountains as seen in the background cannot be found anywhere near the Arkhangelsk region.

British author Robert Harris's novel Archangel centres on a plot to restore Communism in Russia through a son of Stalin, who is taken to the wilderness and hidden near the town as a young boy by the KGB. In 2005 it was made into a two-part television drama by the BBC.

External links

Cities and towns in Arkhangelsk Oblast | Coastal cities

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Arkhangelsk

History

The modern city

Miscellaneous

See also

External links