Gagarin (Smolensk)

city Gagarin Гагарин flag coat of arms Federal district Central Russia Oblast Smolensk Rajon Gagarin mayor Viktor Trawkin Founded 1718 Earlier names Gschatsk (until 1968) City since 1776 surface 11.5  km² population 31,721 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 2758 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 190  m Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone code (+7) 48135 Post Code 215010 License Plate 67 OKATO 66 208 501 Website www.gagarincity.ru Geographical location Coordinates 55 ° 33 '  N , 35 ° 0'  E Coordinates: 55 ° 33 '0 "  N , 35 ° 0' 0"  E

Location in the western part of Russia

Location in Smolensk Oblast

List of cities in Russia

Gagarin ( Russian Гага́рин , or until 1968 Gschatsk , Гжатск ) is a city in Russia in the Smolensk Oblast , about 239 kilometers northeast of the regional capital Smolensk on the Moscow- Smolensk- Minsk railway . It has 31,721 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) and bears its current name in honor of the space pioneer Juri Gagarin , who was born near the city.

history

The Gschat River in Gagarin with the Annunciation Cathedral and Tikhvin Church

Kazan Church

"House of Cosmonauts" with Gagarin Museum

The original name of the city is derived from the small river Gschat from the river system of the Volga , which flows through the present city. The city owes its existence to the river at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, Tsar Peter the Great had the new Russian capital Saint Petersburg built and in this context also planned water transport routes from the central part of Russia to the new capital with the help of artificial canals that would connect the Volga with the Neva . With his decree from 1715, he decreed to set up one of the nodes for transport to the north on the river Gschat. Then in 1718 the construction of the pier began and at the same time the development of the city. The start of shipping quickly led to the development of the first industry in the area. As early as the 1720s, the new settlement was an important transshipment point for inland shipping as well as the location of a number of factories. Gschatsk only received city status on February 22, 1776.

Shortly after the city charter was granted, the state power in Petersburg had a general plan drawn up for Gschatsk, which envisaged the development of the city center around the shipping pier in the classicist style. The city experienced a building boom towards the end of the 18th century and was one of the most developed cities in the Russian province from an industrial point of view. This lasted until 1812, when the city was devastated and almost completely destroyed by the French troops in the course of the war against Napoléon . Reconstruction after the war was necessary, so in 1817 a new development plan was drawn up. Because of lack of money, the reconstruction proceeded only slowly; it would take decades before the city was able to recover from the aftermath of the war. In addition, Gschatsk noticeably lost its importance as a shipping hub in the middle of the 19th century after the railway line from Moscow to Saint Petersburg was completed and most of the cargoes were transported on this route from then on. Nevertheless, trade in the city continued to flourish until the beginning of the 20th century; In 1910 Gschatsk had around 10,000 inhabitants.

The October Revolution and the civil war that followed resulted in another low point in the history of the city: many churches were misappropriated and robbed, some even destroyed. The city's location between Moscow and Russia's western borders was also its undoing in World War II : it was devastated by the German invaders. Although reconstruction began again after the war, the old townscape of Gschatsk, which was shaped by the 19th century, was irrevocably lost.

Gschatsk gained national fame in 1961 after Yuri Gagarin, who was born near the city, became world famous for his first manned space flight. After Gagarin had a fatal accident on a training flight in 1968, a citizens' initiative was formed in Gschatsk to rename the city in honor of their famous son. The request made to the Soviet government soon after was granted, and on April 23, 1968, less than a month after Gagarin's death, Gschatsk was renamed Gagarin by decree of the Supreme Soviet. In the next few years, the city also received a Gagarin monument and a Gagarin museum.

Gagarin maintains a city ​​partnership with the German city of Ratingen .

Population development

year	Residents
1897	6.324
1939	12,085
1959	9,906
1970	15,715
1979	20,812
1989	28,867
2002	28,789
2010	31,721

Note: census data

Economy and Infrastructure

Gagarin train station

Today Gagarin is an industrial city with a mechanical engineering company, a factory for lighting technology, processing plants for agricultural products, a textile factory and several food factories. The most important sights include the Yuri Gagarin Museum, a local museum and a few church buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Annunciation Cathedral from the years 1897–1900. The city is located on the M1 trunk road ( E 30 , Moscow – Minsk) and the parallel railway line and has a train station at the latter, where local trains stop from Moscow, Moshaisk and Vyazma , among others .

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

• Yuri Wladimirowitsch Lomonossow (1876–1952), transport scientist and railway pioneer
• Peter Wladimir von Glasenapp (1882–1951), Lieutenant General, Commander of the Imperial Russian and Northwest Armies
• Andrei Nikolajewitsch Tichonow (1906-1993), mathematician
• Gennady Ivanovich Ivanchenko (* 1946), weightlifter
• Nikolai Iwanowitsch Noskow (* 1956), rock singer, composer and musician

Personalities related to Gagarin

• Yuri Alexejewitsch Gagarin (1934–1968), cosmonaut, first person in space, in 1968 the city of Gschatsk was renamed Gagarin
• Vladimir Alexandrowitsch Dschanibekow (* 1942), cosmonaut and honorary citizen of the city

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)

Web links

Commons : Gagarin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Unofficial city portal (Russian)
• Unofficial website (Russian)
• Entry about Gagarin on mojgorod.ru (Russian)
• Yuri Gagarin Museum website (Russian)