Zaporizhia

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Запоріжжя
Zaporizhzhia
City of regional significance
Над проспектом Металургів.jpg
Панорама Січі.jpg
Башта та заводи.jpg
Metalurhiv Avenue, Khortytsya island and Zaporizhstal
Flag of Запоріжжя  Zaporizhzhia
Flag
Coat of arms of Запоріжжя  Zaporizhzhia
Coat of arms
Zaporizhia Oblast (yellow) with the City of Zaporizhia (orange).
Zaporizhia Oblast (yellow) with the City of Zaporizhia (orange).
Zaporizhia is located in Ukraine
Zaporizhia
Zaporizhia
Location of Zaporizhia in Ukraine
Coordinates: 47°50′0″N 35°10′0″E / 47.83333°N 35.16667°E / 47.83333; 35.16667Coordinates: 47°50′0″N 35°10′0″E / 47.83333°N 35.16667°E / 47.83333; 35.16667
Country  Ukraine
Oblast  Zaporizhia Oblast
Municipality Zaporizhia Municipality
Founded 952
City rights 1806
Raions
Government
 • Mayor Volodymyr Buriak[1] (Independent)[2]
Area
 • Total 334 km2 (129 sq mi)
Population (2015)
 • Total 757,650 [2]
 • Density 2,365.2/km2 (6,126/sq mi)
 • 2001[3] 817,900
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code 69xxx
Area code(s) +380 61(2)
Climate Dfa
Website http://www.meria.zp.ua/

Zaporizhia (Ukrainian: Запорі́жжя, translit. Zaporižžja [zɑpoˈriʒːɑ]; Russian: Запоро́жье, translit. Zaporоž'je Russian pronunciation: [zɐpɐˈroʐjɪ]) is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast (province). Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance and serves as an administrative center of Zaporizhia Raion, though it does not belong to the raion. Currently the city is the sixth largest in Ukraine. Population: 757,650 (2015 est.)[4].

Etymology[edit]

Until 1921 the city carried the name of Aleksandrovsk after the name of a fortress that was part of the Dnieper Defense Line.

After the establishment of the Soviet regime in Ukraine, in 1921 the name was changed to Zaporizhia (Zaporozhye), after the historical region Zaporizhia.

Itself Zaporizhia literally means Trans-Rapids or beyond the rapids, alluding to the rapids which used to exist on the Dnieper River (Dnieper Rapids) at the time, before the construction of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in 1932.[5]

History[edit]

Pre foundation history[edit]

Archaeological finds in the area suggest that Scythian nomads were living there two to three thousand years ago. The Scythians were replaced in time by Khazars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Tatars, and Eastern Slavs. The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks passed through Khortysia island in old times.

In 1552 Dmytro Vyshnevetsky erected wood-earth fortifications on the island Mala Khortytsia in the Dnieper River near the island Khortytsia. These fortifications were a prototype of the Zaporizhian Sich. The Sich was a stronghold of the Cossacks who lived south of the rapids of the Dnieper on the border of the Polish–Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita and the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Foundation of Aleksandrovsk[edit]

Plan of Alexandrovsk, 1823
View of Alexandrovsk at the end of the 19th century

The modern city was established in 1770 as the fortress of Aleksandrovskaya (Александровская) in a vicinity the old Ukrainian village Voznesenka that existed since at least 1596. It is uncertain for whom the fortress was named some consider General Aleksander Golitsyn,[5] others Prince Aleksandr Vyazemskiy[7][8] or Alexander Rumyantsev.[9] The fortress was designed to protect the southern territories from Turkish threats as part of the Dnieper Defense Line.[7]

After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire in 1783, The Dnieper Defense Line lost its significance along with the Aleksandrovskaya Fortress. In 1806, it became a town and was named Aleksandrovsk (Александровск).[5]

German settlers[edit]

In 1789, Mennonites from Prussia accepted an invitation from Catherine the Great and settled in what became the Chortitza Colony (Khortitsa volost) in a vicinity of Khortytsia island. The colony included several rural settlements. Mennonite-owned mills and factories were built in Alexandrovsk and later expropriated by the Communist government.[10] After the Russian Revolution many Mennonites emigrated, fled as refugees, or were deported from the area. Currently few Mennonites live in Zaporizhia. Mennonite buildings still exist in the area and in the other main Mennonite colony center, current day Molochansk.[11]

The ferry[edit]

In 1829, it was proposed to build a rope ferry to transport across the Dnieper; this was built to a design that the Tsar had approved for use all over the Russian empire, and could carry a dozen carts. The ferry closed when the Kichkas Bridge replaced it in 1904.[12]

Establishment of railway and Kichkas Bridge[edit]

The original railway bridge over the Dnieper was the Kichkas (Кичкасский) Bridge, which was designed by Y.D. Proskuryakov and E.O. Paton. Construction was supervised by F.W. Lat. The bridge had a span of 336 m, and crossed the river with single arch of 190 m span. The upper tier carried a double-track railway line, whilst the lower tier was a road bridge with pedestrian walkways either side of the bridge. It was built at the narrowest part of the Dnieper river known as Wolf Throat. Construction started in 1900, and it opened for pedestrian traffic in 1902. The official opening of the bridge was 17 April 1904; though railway traffic on the bridge only commenced on 22 January 1908.[12] The opening of the Kichkas Bridge led to the industrial growth of Alexandrovsk before the communist revolution.[12]

During the World War I in 1916 from Saint Petersburg was transferred the aviation engines plant of DEKA Stock Association that today is better known as the Motor Sich.[13]

Civil war[edit]

The Kichkas Bridge was of strategic importance during the Russian Civil War, and carried troops, ammunition, the wounded and medical supplies. Because of this bridge, Alexandrovsk and its environs was the scene of fierce fighting from 1918 to 1921 between the Red Army and the White armies of Denikin and Wrangel, Petliura and German-Austrian troops, and after their defeat, the struggle with insurgents led by Grigoriev, and Makhno. The bridge was closed a number of times because of damage. The most serious damage was inflicted by Makhno's troops when they retreated from Alexandrovsk in 1920 and blew a 40 m wide gap in the centre of the bridge.[12]

People's Commissar of Railways Dzerzhinsky ordered the repair of the bridge. The metallurgic plant of Bryansk joint-stock company(RU) (Petrovsky plant at present) in Dnipropetrovsk built a replacement section, which was raised into place. The Kichkas Bridge reopened on 14 September 1921.[12] On 19 October 1921, the Soviet Council of Labour and Defence (chaired by Lenin) awarded the Yekaterininsky railroad the Order of the Red Banner of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic for the early restoration of the Kichkas Bridge.[12]

Industrialization in the 1920s and 1930s[edit]

Residential district-"SotsGorod". Buildings at Sobornyi Avenue (architect Lavrov, built in 1936)

In the early 20th century, Zaporizhia was a small unremarkable town of the Russian Empire, which acquired industrial importance during the socialist industrialization of the 1930s.

In the 1929–1932 master plan for city construction was developed. At 10 km from the old town Alexandrovsk at the narrowest part of the Dnieper river was planned to build the hydroelectric power station, the most powerful in Europe at that time. Close to the station should be a new modern city and a giant steel and aluminum plants. Later the station was named "DnieproHES", the steel plant – "Zaporizhstal'" (Zaporizhia Steel Plant), and the new part of the city – "Sotsgorod".[14] (Socialist city)[15][16] Production of the aluminum plant ("DAZ"- Dnieper Aluminium Plant) according to the plan should exceed the overall production of the aluminum all over Europe at that time.[17]

State Institute for Design of Metallurgical Plants(RU) (GIPROMEZ) developed a project of creation of the Dnieper Industrial Complex. GIPROMEZ consulted with various companies, including the Freyn Engineering Company of Chicago (USA), which participated in the design and construction of the blast furnaces.

In the 1930s the American United Engineering and Foundry Company built a strip mill, which produced hot and cold rolling steel strip. This was a copy of the Ford River Rouge steel mill. Annual capacity of the mill reached 600,000 tons. Strip width was 66 inches.[18] There was a second section that used a Soviet copy of the Demag AG strip mill that produced 45 inch wide strip steel.[18]

The hydro-electric dam, DniproHES[edit]

Dnieper hydroelectric power plant

The turning point in the history of the city was the construction of the hydro-electric dam (DniproHES), which began in 1927 and completed in 1932. The principal designer of the project was I. G. Alexandrov(RU), the construction manager – A. V. Vinter(RU), the chief architect – V. A. Vesnin and the chief American advisor – Hugh Cooper. According to the project, the installed generating capacity was 560 megawatts, the length of a convex dam was 760 m, the width was 56 m, the height was 60 m.[citation needed] Eight water turbines and five generators were designed and manufactured in the United States; the other three generators were made at the Leningrad factory Electrosila. As a result of commissioning of the station the Dnieper rapids were flooded and the river became navigable from Kiev to Kherson. In 1980, DniproHES power was increased to 1,388 megawatts.[citation needed]

Sotsgorod[edit]

Hospital in District #6 (SotsGorod), Zaporizhia, built in 1932

Between the hydroelectric dam and industrial area in 10 km from the center of the old Alexandrovsk was established residential district #6, which was named "Sotsgorod". In 20th doctrinaire idealistic enthusiasm of the architects was reflected in the intense debate about the habitation of the socialist community. The architects believed that by using new architectural forms they could create a new society. District #6 was one of the few implementations of urban development concepts. The construction of the district began in 1929 and finished in 1932. The main idea guiding the architects was the creation of the garden city, the city of the future. Multi-storey houses (not more than 4 floors) with large, roomy apartments were built in Sotsgorod with spacious yards planted with grass and trees around the buildings. Nikolai Kolli,[19] V.A.Vesnin, G.M.Orlov, V.G.Lavrov and others designed the DniproHES and SotsGorod. Le Corbusier visited the town few times in the 1930s. The architects used the ideas of the constructivist architecture.

The known ring house (at #31 "40 years of Soviet Ukraine" Street) was designed by V.G. Lavrov. Families of the Soviet and American engineers, advisers, and industry bosses lived in Sotsgorod at that time. Most of the workers during the construction of the hydro-power station and plants lived in dugouts at 15th and Aluminum districts.[citation needed] The district border is limited by Verkhnya Ulitsa (Upper Street) on the south and by the hydroelectric power on the north. At the intersection between Sobornyi Avenue and Verkhnya Street, architect I.L. Kosliner set a tower with seven stories. The tower supposedly indicates the entrance in the Sotsgorod from the south (from Alexandrovsk). Closer to the dam, the second tower was raised (architects I.L. Kosliner and L.Ya. Gershovich). These two towers point out a straight line of the central street of the district.

The names of the streets have changed several times. The original name of Metallurgist Avenue was Enthusiasts Alley.[citation needed] This road leads to the factories. At that time, they believed that people going to the plant had only positive feelings like joy, pride, and enthusiasm. At the end of the road stands a 1963 sculpture of the metallurgist by sculptor Ivan Nosenko. During the German occupation, it was named Shevchenko Avenue. Later it was renamed Stalin Avenue; and after his death, it got present name of Metallurgist Avenue. Sobornyi Avenue originally had the name Libkhnet Avenue. "Forty Years of Soviet Ukraine" Street was once called Sovnarkomovska Street and during the German occupation Hitler Alley.

Big Zaporizhia

District #6 is a small part of the global project called Big Zaporizhia. This project was designed for the city, to enable a half-million people to live in seven different areas: Voznesenka, Boburka, Kichkas, Alexandrovsk, Pavlo-Kichkas, Island Khortitsa, and (omitted). Each district must be independent of the others and yet part of а united city. The city line should be stretched along the banks of the Dnieper River for 22 km.[20]

Dnieper railway bridges[edit]

The location of the Kichkas Bridge was in the flood zone upstream of the hydroelectric dam. Initially, it was planned to disassemble it and rebuild it in another location. But expert advice was that this was not cost-effective as it was cheaper to build a new bridge.[12]

The building of the hydroelectric dam meant that a new bridge was required to take the railway over the Dnieper. Instead of having a single bridge, as before, it was decided to take the railway over the island Khortytsia. The wide part of the river between Khortytsia and the city is known as the New Dnieper, and the narrower part between Khortytsia and the suburbs on the right bank of the river is known as the Old Dnieper.[12] The New Dnieper was crossed by a three-arch two-tier bridge. Each of the arches spans 140 m. When the approach spans are included the total length is 715 m weighing 8,480 tons.[12] The Old Dnieper was crossed by a single-span arch bridge with a total length of 370 m; the arch spans of 224 m and was then the largest single-span bridge in Europe. This bridge weighed 5,220 tons.[12] Both bridges were designed by Professor Streletsky. They were made of riveted steel, and had two tiers: the upper tier for rail traffic and the lower tier for road traffic and pedestrians. They were assembled by a combination of Czechoslovakian and Soviet workers under the direction of a Soviet engineer named Konstantinov. The arches are steel made by the Vitkovetskom steel plant in Czechoslovakia, other steelwork was made at the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant. The new bridges opened on 6 November 1931. The Kichkas Bridge was demolished afterwards.[12]

Great Patriotic War (Eastern Front of World War II)[edit]

Red Army soldier near the Dnieper hydro-electric dam

German occupation[edit]

The war (World War II) between the USSR and Germany began on 22 June 1941. In the USSR this war was called the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945.

After the outbreak of the war, the Soviet government started evacuating industrial equipment from the city to Siberia before the Germans reached the city.[21] The NKVD shot political prisoners in the city.[22] On 18 August 1941, elements of the German 1st Panzergruppe seized the outskirts of Zaporizhia on the right bank and the island Khortytsia.[21][23]

The Red Army blew a 120m x 10m hole in the Dnieper hydroelectric dam (DniproHES) at 16:00 on 18 August 1941, producing a flood wave that swept from Zaporizhia to Nikopol, killing local residents as well as soldiers from both sides.[21] "Since no official death toll was released at the time, the estimated number of victims varies widely. Most historians put it at between 20,000 and 100,000, based on the number of people then living in the flooded areas".[24] After two days, the city defenders received reinforcements, and held the left bank of the river for 45 days.[21] During this time people dismantled heavy machinery, packed and loaded them on the railway platform, marked and accounted for with wiring diagrams.[21] Zaporizhstal alone exported 9,600 railway cars with the equipment.[21] Zaporizhia was taken on 3 October 1941.[12][25]

The German occupation of Zaporizhia lasted 2 years and 10 days.[21] During this time the Germans shot over 35,000 people, and sent 58,000 people to Germany as forced labour.[21] The Germans used forced labor (mostly POWs) to try to restore the Dnieper hydroelectric dam and the steelworks.[21] Local citizens established an underground resistance organisation in spring 1942.[21]

The DonbassStalingrad and Moscow – Crimea railway lines through Zaporizhia were an important supply line for the Germans in 1942–43, but the big three-arch Dnieper railway bridge at Zaporizhia was blown up by the retreating Red Army on 18 August 1941, with further demolition work done during September 1941.[12] and the Germans did not bring it back into operation until summer 1943.[26][27] "As a result all goods had to be reloaded and tank-wagons carrying petrol could not go through to the front."[26]

When the Germans reformed Army Group South in February 1943, it had its headquarters in Zaporizhia. The loss of Kharkiv and other cities caused Adolf Hitler to fly to this headquarters on 17 February 1943, where he stayed until 19 February and met the army group commander Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, and was persuaded to allow Army Group South to fight a mobile defence that quickly led to much of the lost ground being recaptured by the Germans in the Third Battle of Kharkov.[28][29] Hitler visited the headquarters in Zaporizhia again on 10 March 1943, where he was briefed by von Manstein and his air force counterpart Field Marshal Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen.[30][31] Hitler visited the headquarters at Zaporizhia for the last time on 8 September 1943.[32] In mid-September 1943 the Army Group moved its headquarters from Zaporizhia to Kirovograd (now called Kropyvnytskyi).[27]

Both the big railway bridge over the New Dnieper and the smaller one over the Old Dnieper were damaged in an air raid by a group of eight Ilyushin Il-2s led by Lieutenant A Usmanov on 21 September 1943.[12]

Liberation[edit]

In mid-August 1943, the Germans started building the Panther-Wotan defence line along the Dnieper from Kiev to Crimea, and retreated back to it in September 1943. The Germans held the city as a bridgehead over the Dnieper, with elements of 40th Panzer and 17th Corps.[33] The Soviet Southwestern Front, commanded by Army General Rodion Malinovsky, attacked the city on 10 October 1943.[33] Whilst the defenders held against the attacks, the Red Army reinforced its troops and launched a surprise night attack at 22:00 on 13 October,[21][34] "laying down a barrage of shellfire bigger than anything... seen to date (it was here that entire 'divisions' of artillery appeared for the first time) and throwing in no fewer than ten divisions strongly supported by armour",[27] the Red Army broke into the bridgehead forcing the Germans to abandon it on 14 October.[21] The retreating Germans destroyed the Zaporizhstal steel plant almost completely;[21] they demolished the big railway bridge again,[27] and demolished the turbine building and damaged 32 of the 49 bays of the Dnieper hydro-electric dam.[21] The city has a street between Voznesenskyi and Oleksandrivskyi Districts and a memorial in Oleksandrivskyi District dedicated to Red Army Lieutenant Yatsenko(RU) who commanded the tank, which first entered the city; he and his crew were killed in the battle for the city.[21][35]

The Red Army did not recapture the parts of the city on the right bank until 1944.[21]

The rebuilding of the Dnieper hydro-electric dam commenced on 7 July 1944; the first electricity was produced from the restored dam on 3 March 1947.[21]

In independent Ukraine[edit]

Modern Zaporizhya

During the 2014 Euromaidan regional state administration occupations protests against President Viktor Yanukovych were also held in Zaporizhia.[36] On 23 February 2014 Zaporizhia's regional state administration building was occupied by 4,500 protesters,[37] Mid-April 2014 there were clashes between Ukrainian activists and pro-Russians.[38] The Ukrainian activists outnumbered the pro-Russian protesters.[39][40]

Geography[edit]

The city is located in south-eastern Ukraine and lies along banks of the Dnieper river now. The city covers 334 km2 at an elevation of 50 m above sea level.[41]

In the middle of the city there is the 12 km × 2 km (7.5 mi × 1.2 mi) island of Khortytsia, which splits the river into two streams called the New and Old Dnieper. The New Dnieper is about 800 m (2600 feet) wide and the Old Dnieper is about 200 m (650 feet). There are also several small rivers in the city, which enter the Dnieper: Sukha and Mokra Moskovka, Kushuhum, and Verkhnia Khortytsia.

The flora of Khortytsia island is unique and healthy because of dry steppe air and a lot of fresh water around which protects the island from the polluted air of the heavy industrial city . Khortytsia Island is a national park with a large number of large ravines called "balka", hiking routes and historical monuments. The island is a very popular recreational area for both kids and adults and has a large number of sanatoriums, resorts and health centers. There are comfortable sand beaches for swimming and other water activities here as well: RU [42]

Climate[edit]

Climate data for Zaporizhya
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 12.2
(54)
17.1
(62.8)
24.0
(75.2)
31.4
(88.5)
35.9
(96.6)
36.5
(97.7)
39.0
(102.2)
40.2
(104.4)
35.9
(96.6)
35.0
(95)
20.9
(69.6)
15.0
(59)
40.2
(104.4)
Average high °C (°F) −0.4
(31.3)
0.4
(32.7)
6.4
(43.5)
15.3
(59.5)
21.9
(71.4)
25.7
(78.3)
28.3
(82.9)
27.9
(82.2)
21.8
(71.2)
14.3
(57.7)
5.8
(42.4)
0.8
(33.4)
14.0
(57.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −3.1
(26.4)
−2.9
(26.8)
2.2
(36)
9.9
(49.8)
16.2
(61.2)
20.1
(68.2)
22.5
(72.5)
21.8
(71.2)
16.1
(61)
9.4
(48.9)
2.5
(36.5)
−1.8
(28.8)
9.4
(48.9)
Average low °C (°F) −5.7
(21.7)
−5.9
(21.4)
−1.5
(29.3)
4.9
(40.8)
10.4
(50.7)
14.6
(58.3)
16.7
(62.1)
15.8
(60.4)
10.9
(51.6)
5.2
(41.4)
−0.3
(31.5)
−4.3
(24.3)
5.1
(41.2)
Record low °C (°F) −29.3
(−20.7)
−26.1
(−15)
−25
(−13)
−8.2
(17.2)
−2
(28)
5.0
(41)
8.2
(46.8)
3.9
(39)
−3
(27)
−8.9
(16)
−18.6
(−1.5)
−26.2
(−15.2)
−29.3
(−20.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 42
(1.65)
35
(1.38)
36
(1.42)
36
(1.42)
43
(1.69)
62
(2.44)
46
(1.81)
39
(1.54)
36
(1.42)
35
(1.38)
44
(1.73)
44
(1.73)
498
(19.61)
Average rainy days 10 8 11 12 13 13 10 8 10 11 13 11 130
Average snowy days 14 14 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 58
Average relative humidity (%) 87 84 78 66 62 65 62 59 66 76 86 88 73
Source: Pogoda.ru.net[43]

Governance[edit]

Zaporizhia Regional Administration building
Building of the Zaporizhia city council

Zaporizhia is a regional seat of Zaporizhia Oblast and a city of regional significance meaning that it has a form of self-rule within the oblast (region).

Administrative subdivision[edit]

The city is divided into 7 administrative raions.

  1. Oleksandrivsky
  2. Zavodsky
  3. Komunarsky
  4. Dniprovsky
  5. Voznesenivsky
  6. Khortytsky
  7. Shevchenkivsky
Raions of Zaporizhia city

    Demographics[edit]

    City population[edit]

    Zaporizhia Population Chart
    Year Population Source
    1781 329 [13]
    1795 1,230 [13]
    1804 2,500 [13]
    1824 1,716 [10]
    1859 3,100 [10]
    1861 3,819 [13][44]
    1864 4,354 [10]
    1870 4,601 [45]
    1885 6,707 [46]
    1894 16,100 [47]
    1897 16,393 [48]
    year Population Source
    1900 24,196 [49]
    1902 35,000 [10]
    1910 38,000 [50]
    1913 63,000 [13]
    1915 about 60,000 [10]
    1916 72,900 [13]
    1917 58,517 [51]
    1926 55,744 [52][53]
    1937 243,148 [53]
    1939 289,188 [54][55]
    1943 120,000 [54][56]
    year Population Source
    1956 381,000 [50]
    1959 449,000 [55]
    1970 658,000 [57]
    1971 676,000 [55]
    1979 781,000 [58]
    1989 897,600 [59]
    1991 896,600 [60]
    2001 815,300 [3]
    2010 776,918 [61]
    2011 775,678 [62]
    2015 757,650 [3]

    Ethnic structure[edit]

    According to the 2001 census, Zaporizhia had the following ethnic structure:[63]

    Total(thousand) Ukrainians Russians Belorussians Bulgarians Jews Georgians Armenians Tatar Azeris Roma (Gypsies) Poles Germans Moldavians (Romanians) Greeks
    815.3 573 207 5.5 3.6 3.4 3.11 3.08 2.2 1.2 0.92 0.78 0.76 0.72 0.6
    100% 70.28% 25.39% 0.67% 0.44% 0.42% 0.38% 0.38% 0.27% 0.15% 0.11% 0.1% 0.09% 0.09% 0.07%

    Zaporizhia residents speak mostly in Russian.[64][not in citation given] For official government business Ukrainian is used.

    Religion[edit]

    The following religious denominations are prominent within Zaporizhia:[65]

    Christianity
    Orthodox church

    Most citizens are Orthodox Christians, either under the Moscow Patriarchate or the Kiev Patriarchate. The main Orthodox church in the city is the Church of the Intercession (under the Moscow Patriarchate).

    Among the other Orthodox churches in the city are St. Nicholas Church and St. Andrew's Cathedral.

    Protestantism

    Protestantism is represented by:

    Catholicism

    Catholicism is represented by:

    The biggest catholic church is Church of God, the Father of Mercy

    Judaism

    Orthodox Judaism is represented by one union and six communities.

    Islam

    In the Zaporizhia district there are five communities which are part of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine and four independent Muslim communities.

    Hinduism

    The city hosts a branch of the Vedic Academy.

    Economy[edit]

    Industry[edit]

    Industry and river port

    Zaporizhia is an important industrial center of Ukraine, the country's main car manufacturing company, the Motor-Sich world-famous aircraft engine manufacturer. Well supplied with electricity, Zaporizhia forms, together with the adjoining Donets Basin and the Nikopol manganese and Kryvyy Rih iron mines, one of Ukraine's leading industrial complexes.

    The city is also a home of the Ukraine's main automobile production center which is based at the Zaporizhia Automobile Factory ZAZ producing such Ukrainian car brands like Zaporozhets and Tavria.

    After the end of the Russian Revolution, the city became an important industrial center. The presence of cheap labor and the proximity of deposits of coal, iron ore, and manganese created favorable conditions for large-scale enterprises of the iron and mechanical engineering industries. Today Zaporizhia is an important industrial center of the region with heavy industry (particularly metallurgy), aluminium, and chemical industry. In the city cars, avia motors, radioelectronics are manufactured. The port of Zaporizhia is an important place of transshipment for goods from the Donbas.

    Zaporizhstal, Ukraine's fourth largest steel maker, ranks 54th in the world and is based in the city.

    Electricity generation[edit]

    Zaporizhia has a big electricity generating complex catering to industrial demand. The city is a home for the hydroelectric power plant known as "DniproHES" Dnieper Hydroelectric Station located inside the city. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant is located near the Enerhodar, around 60 km from Zaporizhia. Also there are the biggest thermal power station in Ukraine. Zaporizhia generates about 25% of the whole Ukrainian electricity.

    Culture[edit]

    'Fountain of Life' in Zaporizhia (built in 2004) with the daily exhibition of Zaporizhzhian artists.

    The cultural background of Zaporizhia is creating by philharmonic, a number of museums, theaters, libraries. Among them are:

    There are a number of small amateur groups, folk music and song bands, art galleries in Zaporizhia. The city regularly holds festivals and feasts, competitions of the Cossack martial arts and art exhibitions.

    Zaporizhia has an open-air exhibition-and-sale of Zaporizhzhia city association of artists «Kolorit» near the 'Fountain of Life' at the Mayakovskoho square. A daily exhibition of artists' organizations of the city is a unique place in Zaporizhzhia, where people can communicate with craftsmen and artists, watch classes of carving, embroidery, beading and other creative works, receive lessons from professional artists, designers, and cartoonists.

    Some attractions[edit]

    Zaporizhia at night

    The 12 km (7.5 mi) x 2 km (1.2 mi) island Khortytsia is located in the geographical center of the city. The city embraces the island by banks of the New and Old Dnieper streams. Two concrete bridges connect the Island to the city. They have been designed and constructed by the engineer Boris N. Preobrazhensky in 1952. Two level bridges have height about 54 meters. High level of the bridges is intended for rail and bottom – for cars and pedestrians.

    The historical and cultural museum "Zaporizhian Sich" is placed on the northern rocky part of the island Khotritsa. The museum is the reconstructed stronghold of the Zaporizhian Cossacs. All features of the military cossack's camp life and their lifestyle are presented in the museum.

    The smaller islands are located between the dam and the island Khortytsia. Each of these islands has its own legend. On one of them named Durnya Scala (Rock of the Fool) Tzar Peter the Great punished the Cossacks by flogging for their betrayal on the side of Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden.

    The another small island, named Stolb (Pillar), has a geological feature, which looks like a large bowl in granite slabs, its diameter equals 1,4 м, the depth – 1 м. This bowl is named Cossack's bowl. People say that in summer days under the hot sun, it is easy to boil water in this "bowl" and the Cossacks used it for cooking galushki (boiled dough in a spicy broth)[66]

    The panoramic view of the DnieproHES from Khortytsia island is very impressive. The straight and long Sobornyi avenue (10 km) ends in the SotsGorod near the Dam, which built up of the constructivist architecture of the 20th century.

    Infrastructure[edit]

    The city of Zaporizhia is an important transportation hub in Ukraine and has deeply developed transportation system that includes roadway, rail, river and air options for passenger, freight as well as public utilities transit. Public city transport includes buses, minivans, trams, trolleybuses and railways.

    On the eastern outskirts of Zaporizhia passes a major national highway M-18 that connects Kharkiv with Simferopol. Three other national highways terminate in Zaporizhia, one H-23 which starts in Kropyvnytskyi and through Kryvyi Rih ends in Zaporizhia; the second H-08 which starts in Kiev and travels along Dnieper all the way south passing through number of important cities such as Kremenchuk, Kamianske, Dnipro, and others; and the other highway H-15 which arrives to Zaporizhia from Donetsk.

    There are four road bridges over Dnieper and two rail bridges. All bridges but one connect the city with Khortytsia island. The other bridge goes over the river dam of DniproHES.

    The Zaporizhia city has two railway stations, Zaporizhia-the-First and Zaporizhia-the-Second. The First is the central station. It is located in the southern part of the city and is a part of the "north-south" transit route Simferopol-Kharkiv. The line of the Zaporizhia-the-Second station connects the Donbas coalfield with Kryvyi Rih iron ore site.

    The city's two river ports are part of the national water transportation infrastructure that connects Kiev to Kherson along Dnieper river and utilizes some freight ships as well as cutter boats to travel between Zaporizhia and nearby villages. The big Khortytsia island splits river Dnieper into two branches (channels) the main branch that passes the island on its eastern side and the alternative branch also known as Startyi Dnipro (Old Dnieper) that passes the island on its western side.

    The city's sole airport that is located to the east of the city (left-bank of Dnieper) includes both domestic and international flights. To the west of the city (right-bank of Dnieper) is located smaller airfield Shyroke.

    Education[edit]

    Gallery[edit]

    Notable people[edit]

    In popular culture[edit]

    Zaporizhia is an important setting in two Axis victory in World War II short fictions by Harry Turtledove: "Ready for the Fatherland" (1991) and "The Phantom Tolbukhin" (1998). Turtledove always uses the Zaporozhye spelling.

    Twin towns and sister cities[edit]

    Zaporizhia Square in Oberhausen, named after Oberhausen's twin city Zaporizhia

    Zaporizhia has an agreement about sister city relations with:[67][68]

    In addition, in 1969 the city renamed one of its streets "Wrocław", the Wrocław communist government acknowledging that they should honour the Ukrainian city in a similar way and a part of the Sudecka – Grabiszyńska street towards the square of the Silesian Insurgents – was renamed to Zaporoska street. It is about 1.3 km long.[71]

    References[edit]

    Notes[edit]

    1. ^ (in Ukrainian) CVU Chairman: Klitschko won the most votes among the mayors of cities, Espreso TV (18 November 2015)
    2. ^ SUMMARY: Klitschko in the lead of Kyiv mayoral election, Filatov likely to become Dnipropetrovsk mayor – exit polls, Interfax-Ukraine (16 November 2015)
    3. ^ a b The size and composition of the population of Zaporizhia region up to the Ukrainian population census 2001 (Численность и состав населения Запорожской области по итогам Всеукраинской переписи населения 2001 года). (in Russian)
    4. ^ "Чисельність наявного населення України (Actual population of Ukraine)" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Retrieved 1 July 2016. 
    5. ^ a b c Pospelov, pp. 25–26
    6. ^ This image of the kurgan stelae has been taken in Kharkiv, but one may find similar statues at Khortytsia Island
    7. ^ a b Я. П. Новицкий. История города Александровска, (Екатеринославской губ.) в связи с историей возникновения крепостей Днепровской линии 1770—1806 г. – Екатеринослав: Типография Губернского Земства, 1905. – 176 с. (in Russian)
    8. ^ Віталій Бондар, Ірина Козлова. (25 September 2010). Таємниці унікальних документів (in Ukrainian). Запорізька правда. 
    9. ^ З історії Олекс��ндрівська (in Ukrainian)
    10. ^ a b c d e f Natalia Ostasheva Venger (2003). "The Mennonite Industrial Dynasties in Alexandrovsk". Journal of Mennonite Studies. V21. Dnepropetrovsk National University. pp. 89–110. 
    11. ^ Friesen, R. Building on the Past: Mennonite Architecture, Landscape and Settlements in Russia/Ukraine. Raduga Publications, 2004.
    12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The bridges of Zaporozhye (Мосты Запорожья), by L Adelberg (Адельберг Л), pub RA Tandem st, Zaporizhia, 2005. (in Russian)
    13. ^ a b c d e f g Official Portal Zaporizhia city authorities, History (Офіційний портал, Запорізької міської влади, Історія міста), accessed 11 April 2011. (in Ukrainian)
    14. ^ Советская архитектура, Выпуск 18
    15. ^ New world review, p40
    16. ^ Меерович М. Г. Соцгород – базовое понятие советской градостроительной теории первых пятилеток Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
    17. ^ http://photoalbum.zp.ua/history/history/part2.htm
    18. ^ a b The Soviet economy and the Red Army, 1930—1945, by Walter Scott Dunn, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995 ISBN 978-0-275-94893-1, page 13.
    19. ^ http://bse.sci-lib.com/article062845.html
    20. ^ V.E. Alyeshin, Dissertation, (Алёшин В. Э., Глава III. Практическое воплощение теоретический идеи в градостроительстве Украины в период индустриализации и первой пятилетки. Развитие представления о социалистическом поселении в градостроительстве Украины в 1920–х – начале 1930–х годов (Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата архитектуры)) [1]
    21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q The Great Patriotic War on the territory of Zaporizhia (Великая Отечественная война на территории Запорожья) (in Russian)
    22. ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume IV The Attack on the Soviet Union, by Horst Boog, Jürgen Förster, Joachim Hoffmann, Ernst Klink, Rolf-Dieter Müller, Gerd R. Ueberschär, pub Clarendon Press, 1998, ISBN 0-19-822886-4, p 909.
    23. ^ The Eastern Front, Timeline 1941
    24. ^ Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Ukrainian Activists Draw Attention To Little-Known WWII Tragedy , by Dmytro Moroz and Claire Bigg, 23 August 2013.
    25. ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume IV The Attack on the Soviet Union, p 607 says that Zaporizhia was captured on 1 October 1941.
    26. ^ a b Lost Victories, by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein, pdf version p263.
    27. ^ a b c d Lost Victories, by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein, pdf version p 301 says that the Germans finished repairing the railway bridge only a few months before they lost the city in October 1943.
    28. ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume VI The Global War, by Horst Boog, Werner Rahn, Reinhard Stumpf, and Bernd Wegner, pub Clarendon Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-822888-0, p 1184–1193.
    29. ^ Lost Victories, by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein, translated by Anthony G Powell, pdf version p267-270.
    30. ^ Lost Victories, by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein, pdf version p 274.
    31. ^ There are photographs of Hitler's meeting at HQ Army Group South taken by Heinrich Hoffmann in the Bavarian State Library; the library records show them as taken on 10 March 1943. The following instructions will find the photos on the site:
      Special collections->Image archive->Start search->Freie suche-> type Manstein ->click "Suchen" -get results-> Look at photos 28–43.
      The German Federal Archive has one of these photos, but recorded under the date 18 March 1943.
    32. ^ Lost Victories, by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein, pdf version p290-2.
    33. ^ a b The Eastern Front, Timeline 1943
    34. ^ Moscow-Stalingrad-Berlin-Prague, Memories of Army Commander ("Москва-Сталинград-Берлин-Прага". Записки командарма), by Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko (Лелюшенко Дмитрий Данилович), pub Nauka, Moscow, 1987, chapter 4.
    35. ^ Lieutenant Nikolai Lavrent'evich Yatsenko (Яценко Николай Лаврентьевич) (1923–1943) was a platoon commander in 39 Tank Brigade (23rd Tank Corps, South-Western Front); early on 14 October 1943 his tank entered the city and destroyed three enemy tanks in street fighting; Yatsenko was killed. He was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944. His crew members were: Sergeant Varecun (driver), Lebedev (gunner), and Shepelev (radio-operator). See Zaporizhia Streets – The Mirror of History: brief biographical directory and lists of streets, alleys, boulevards, avenues and streets of the town (Вулиці Запоріжжя – дзеркало історії: довідник і короткі бібліографічні списки про вулиці, провулки, проспекти, бульвари та майдани міста), by Uklad O Dutova (Уклад О Дутова), pub Дике Поле, 2008. (in Ukrainian)
    36. ^ Ukraine protests spread to Yanukovich heartland
    37. ^ "В Запорожье участники Майдана опечатали кабинеты руководства Запорожской ОГА : Новости УНИАН". Ukrainian Independent Information Agency. Retrieved 24 February 2014. 
    38. ^ Ukraine Tensions Escalate as Russia, U.S. Exchange Barbs Archived 15 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
    39. ^ Ukraine crisis: What is happening where?, BBC News (15 April 2014)
    40. ^ Armed, pro-Russian separatists lay siege to Donetsk Oblast; at least three dead (VIDEOS, UPDATES)
    41. ^ photoalbum.zp.ua Краткая историческая справка
    42. ^ The interactive map of island of Khortitsa (Russian)
    43. ^ "ПОГОДА в Запорожье" (in Russian). Погода и климат. Retrieved 3 August 2016. . Snow days have been taken to mean days on which it snowed, not days with snow cover on the ground.
    44. ^ Collection of scientific works of graduate students (Збiрник наукових праць аспірантів), by T H Shevchenka, pub Vyd-vo Kyïvsʹkoho University, 1963, p87 gives the 1861 population as 3,729. (in Ukrainian)
    45. ^ The American Cyclopaedia edited by George Ripley and Charles A Dana, pub D Appleton and Co (New York), 1879, p292.
    46. ^ Brockhaus and Efron's Encyclopedia (Энциклопедический Словарь Ф.А.Брокгауза и И.А.Ефрона), edited by Professor IE Andreevskago, and K. Arseniev, pub FA Brockhaus (Leipzig) and IA Efron (St Petersburg), 1890–1907, entry for Aleksandrovsk in Yekaterinoslavskaya province (Александровск, уездный город Екатеринославской губернии). (in Russian)
    47. ^ Universal Calendar for 1898 (Всеобщий календарь на 1898 год), pub Hermann Hoppe (St Petersburg), 1898, p217 List of the populated areas of the Russian Empire, Abakan – Alekseevskoe (Роспись населённых местностей Российской империи, Абаканское – Алексеевское). (in Russian)
    48. ^ Large Encyclopedia (Большая Знциклопедія) Volume I, pub Prosveshechenie (St Petersburg), 1903, p323. pdf version (in Russian)
    49. ^ Russian Calendar for 1906 (Русский календарь на 1906 г.), pub A. Suvorina (St Petersburg), 1906, p108 List of the populated areas of the Russian Empire, Abbas-Tuman – Belev (Список городов и других населённых пунктов Российской империи, Аббас-Туман – Белев). (in Russian)
    50. ^ a b Ukrainian SSR (Украинская ССР), pub Economic Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1958, p87.
    51. ^ Sergina V. "City Z:1921-199", film "Year 1926" Сергина В. Город Z: 1921–1991 (Невыдуманные истории): Исторически–познавательный ТВ проект для любой зрительской аудитории. – К., 2005.- 1 компакт – диск. Фильм "Год 1926"
    52. ^ Economic geography of the USSR by S S Balźak, V F Vasyutin, Ya G Feigin, pub Macmillan, 1956.
    53. ^ a b Half a century classified as 'Secret': All-Union census in 1937 (Полвека под грифом 'секретно': Всесоюзная перепись населения 1937 года) Archived 25 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine., by Valentina B Zhiromskaya, I Kiselev, Yu A Polyakov, pub Nauka, 1996. This gives the 1926 population as 55,295.(DJV-ZIP – requires DjVu viewer software) (in Russian)
    54. ^ a b The emergency evacuation of cities: a cross-national historical and geographical study, by Wilbur Zelinsky, Leszek A. Kosiński, pub Rowman & Littlefield, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8476-7673-6.
    55. ^ a b c The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Большая Советская Энциклопедия), entry for Zaporizhzhya – Zaporizhia oblast center (Запорожье – центр Запорожской обл), 3rd edition, pub 1969 to 1978. (in Russian)
    56. ^ Sergina V. "City Z:1921-199", film "Year 1942" (Сергина В. Город Z: 1921–1991 (Невыдуманные истории): Исторически–познавательный ТВ проект для любой зрительской аудитории. – К., 2005.- 1 компакт – диск. Фильм "Год 1942") said the population for 1942 was 103,400.
    57. ^ The Ukrainian quarterly, Volumes 26–27, pub Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 1970, p223.
    58. ^ The population of the USSR: According to the Proc. Census 1979 (Население СССР: По данным Всесоюзной переписи населения 1979 г.), pub Politizdat (Moscow), 1980 – table: USSR, the Soviet population in 1979, cities with a population of 100 thousand and more people (СССР, население СССР на 1979 год, Население союзных и автономных республик). (in Russian)
    59. ^ www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie L’Encyclopédie en ligne entry for Zaporojie. (in French)
    60. ^ Rand McNally atlas of world geography, pub Rand McNally Company, 1996, p38.
    61. ^ Population on 1 August 2010 (Чисельність населення на 1 серпня 2010 року), press release No 1377 issued by the State Department of Statistics in the Zaporizhia oblast (Держкомстат. Головне управління статистики у Запорізькій області), 16 September 2010. (in Ukrainian)
    62. ^ Population on 1 March 2011 (Чисельність населення на 1 березня 2011 року), press release No 1163 issued by the State Department of Statistics in the Zaporizhia oblast (Держкомстат. Головне управління статистики у Запорізькій області), 18 April 2011. (in Ukrainian)
    63. ^ Лозовой Н. (2011-01-17). "Этнические войны: украинская версия". Истеблишмент. 
    64. ^ Why has Ukraine become disillusioned with the Orange Revolution?, BBC News (9 March 2011)
    65. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2011.  \\ «Остров Свободы»
    66. ^ Galina and Maxim Ostapenko, History of our Khortytsia (Галина и Максим Остапенко История нашей Хортицы) Archived 31 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
    67. ^ a b c d e f g h i Міста-побратими м. Запоріжжя [Twin Cities Zaporozhye]. City of Zaporizhia (in Ukrainian). Шановні відвідувачі і користувачі сайту. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-07. 
    68. ^ Беляева Л. Города-побратимы Запорожья // Правда. – 2011. – № 16. – С. 9.
    69. ^ "Belfort – Les Relations Internationales" [Belfort – International Relations]. Belfort Mairie (in French). Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 2013-12-21. 
    70. ^ Zachert, Uwe; Annica Kunz. "Twin cities". Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg [City of Magdeburg]. Archived from the original on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-07. 
    71. ^ Wrocław, ul. Zaporoska – Dolny.Slask.org.pl

    Sources[edit]

    • Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Имена городов: вчера и сегодня (1917–1992). Топонимический словарь." (City Names: Yesterday and Today (1917–1992). Toponymic Dictionary." Москва, "Русские словари", 1993.

    External links[edit]