The area and population of Chelyabinsk. Interesting facts about the city

In Russia it is very difficult to find a person who would not have heard of "severe Chelyabinsk" and its no less severe inhabitants. But what is this city really like? What does he live and what is interesting?

Chelyabinsk: short description

Chelyabinsk is the largest industrial, transport and cultural center of the Urals. It is the fourteenth largest city in Russia. The population of Chelyabinsk exceeds one million people. And according to this indicator the city takes the seventh place in the country.

"Chelyabinsk mosquitoes are so harsh that ..." - the Russian Internet is full of such proverbs and witty phrases. In fact, they are all very far from the true appearance of the city and its inhabitants. Chelyabinsk is not at all the same as many people imagine it. This is not a solid and faceless industrial zone, but rather a beautiful and comfortable city, with good infrastructure and interesting architecture.

The total area of Chelyabinsk is 530 square kilometers. The city is divided into seven administrative districts. It also includes a number of villages (Kashtak, Sosnovka, Pershino and others).

Time in Chelyabinsk is two hours ahead of Moscow (time zone: +05). That is, when in the Russian capital on the clock ten o'clock in the evening, in the Urals city it is already midnight.

The population of Chelyabinsk and its historical dynamics

The city on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains was laid in 1736 on the site of the old Bashkir village of Chelyab. Next year, the population of Chelyabinsk was already 379 people. And by the end of the XVIII century it had reached five thousand people.

According to the first All-Russian population census (1897), about 20,000 people lived in Chelyabinsk at that time. In the next three decades, the number of residents of the city has tripled. In the 1930s, rapid industrialization began in the USSR, which did not fail Chelyabinsk. Here, like mushrooms after the rain, dozens of factories and enterprises have grown up. For their work, of course, thousands of hands were needed. In general, for the period from 1930 to 1970 the population of Chelyabinsk increased eight times!

October 13, 1976 Chelyabinsk added to the list of millionaires of Russia. As of 2016, 1.19 million people live here.

National composition of population and migration processes

If the first settlers of Chelyabinsk were Cossacks, at the beginning of this century in the city live representatives of almost hundreds of different nationalities and ethnic groups. Leading among them, of course, Russian (86%). They are followed by Tatars (5%), Bashkirs (3%), Ukrainians (1.5%), Byelorussians, Germans, Armenians and Tajiks.

Quite sharply in Chelyabinsk is the problem of outflow of its native inhabitants. Chelyabinsk is actively moving to other, more prosperous and promising cities in the country. The main reasons for such migrations are low wages, poor ecology and a rather complex criminal situation in the city.

Administratively Chelyabinsk is divided into seven districts. The largest number of residents recorded in the Kalininsky district (222 thousand), and the smallest - in the Central (about 100 thousand).

Chelyabinsk - tourist center?

Why not! The city of Chelyabinsk has all the prospects to become a full-fledged tourist center, at least on a regional scale. Many travelers and local historians call it one of the most underestimated (in terms of tourism) cities in Russia.

What could be interesting for Chelyabinsk? First of all, it is remarkable for its beautiful architecture of the Stalin era. A popular blogger and traveler Varandey calls this city one of the best reserves of "high steel" in the entire post-Soviet space. Almost the entire center of modern Chelyabinsk is built up with monumental buildings of the 30-50s of last century. And the main monument of this architectural style in the city is certainly the building of the South Ural State University, erected in 1943.

The main tourist axis of Chelyabinsk is the famous Kirovka (local Arbat). Walking along this clean pedestrian street is incredibly pleasant and interesting. Here are preserved samples of the pre-revolutionary architecture of Chelyabinsk. They will help the tourist to imagine what the city was like in the XIX century. Another nice feature of Kirovka is her numerous sculptures. So, on this street you can meet a small shoe cleaner, a thoughtful veteran in a hat or Lefty with his flea.

Chelyabinsk is also interesting with its temples. For example, the cathedral Simeonovsky Cathedral is notable for its decorative relief panels and colorful majolica inserts on the walls. But the Alexander Nevsky Church is a classic example of a pre-revolutionary brick style. There is in Chelyabinsk and its own mosque - the most important in the entire Urals.

Interesting facts about Chelyabinsk

Finally, we offer to your attention the 10 most interesting facts about this glorious city-worker:

• The flag of severe Chelyabinsk depicts a camel.
• In the city there is a boulevard named after John Lennon.
• Chelyabinsk is one of the ten most criminal cities in Russia.
• The city is located on two different geological structures: one part is on the "granite shield", and the other is on a thick layer of sedimentary rocks.
• In February 2013, the city reminded itself of the whole world, when a fragment of a meteorite exploded directly above it. Dozens of videos from different angles captured the fall of the "Chelyabinsk meteorite".

• Chelyabinsk is the only megapolis of the country, in the center of which there is a real forest (today it is the Gagarin Park).
• The founder of the city is Tatar Murza Alexey Tevkelev.
• In Chelyabinsk, for the first time in the world, a method for treating anthrax was found.
• In 1936, local party leaders had an idea to rename the city to Kaganovichvgrad, but Joseph Stalin did not approve this initiative.
• In Chelyabinsk, for a time, lived a famous Czech writer J. Hasek, and even worked in one of the city newspapers.