Tsaritsyn-stalingrad-volgograd

More than four hundred years Tsaritsyn-Stalingrad-Volgograd has been standing on the bank of the Volga. They say that the founders of the town named it after the brook Tsaritsa flowing into the Volga (“Sary Su” means “Yellow Water” in Tatar). According to another version it was named Tsaritsyn by the Tartars who called it “Sary Chin” (that means “Yellow Sand”).

In 1925 Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad and under this name it became known world-wide as a hero-city, which survived in the greatest battle of the history of the Second World War – Stalingrad Battle – from the 19 November 1942 till the 2 February 1943. Before the German invasion Stalingrad was a major centre of industry in the country. After the war the almost totally ruined city was built anew and most of its famous memorials still remind us of courage of the Soviet soldiers and officers who defended the city during the Battle of Stalingrad.

In 1961 Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd and now it is a beautiful modern city with a population of more than 1 million people. The city has stretched over 90 km along the right bank of the Volga. It is one of the longest cities in Europe.

Volgograd is one of the largest cities in Russia. It is a city with high buildings, schools, institutes, universities, theatres and museums. The city consists of eight districts: Tractorozavodskiy, Krasnooctyabrskiy, Centralnyi, Voroshilovskiy, Sovetskiy, Dzerzhinskiy, Kirovskiy and Krasnoarmeyskiy. It has its town-sputnik Volzhskiy. It is a centre of Volgograd Region.

The city is a great place to visit. It is rich in sights such as the Fallen Fighters’ Square, the Planetarium, the New Experimental Theatre, the Central Department Store, the Central Embankment, the Museum-Panorama of Stalingrad Battle and many others.

Volgograd is a city of rich culture. Our gifted fellow-citizens write books and paint pictures, play in symphonic orchestras and perform in theatres, astonishing the world with their talent. Songs composed with lyrics written by Margarita Agashina will stay forever in the musical treasury of Russia. Works of Volgograd sculptors Boris Scherbakov and Peter Chaplygin, painters Vladislav Koval, Andrey Vystropov, Georgy Matevosyan and Gleb Vyatkin have been recognized worldwide.

Our city is a sports centre too. Thanks to success of Volgograd sportsmen in prestigious world sports, Volgograd has won the glory of a sports capital. It was not once when athletes Elena Isinbaeva, Elena Slesarenko, Tatyana Lebedeva, a weight-lifter Alexey Petrov, swimmers Evgeniy Sadovyi, Denis Pankratov, a rover Maxim Opalev won Russian, European and world sport competitions.

Volgograd attracts a lot of tourists, especially in spring and summer due to the plenty of fruit and vegetables and because of the Volga beach.

Most of volgograders live in blocks of flats. Some of them live in their own houses.

Volgograd is a difficult city to drive in because of the heavy traffic. That is why people often use public transport: buses, trolleybuses and minibuses. They also use trams. Volgograd tram is famous for its not ordinary underground tram line where only three stations are: Komsomolskaya, Lenin Square and Pionerskaya.

Volgograders enjoy going to the cinemas and theatres. There are many of them in the city. There are also lots of restaurants and cafes where you can try various food of the world.

Football is very popular in the city. There are a lot of sport grounds and stadiums where you can not only play football but do other sports. Volgograd has its own football team called Rotor. Football matches are held in the Central Stadium. Thousands of Rotor fans don’t miss matches of their favourite team.

Volgograd has the fame of a student city. There are a lot of state and private establishments of higher education in Volgograd.

In the last few years the city has become more beautiful thanks to golden domes of reconstructed and newly built churches. The Church of All Saints in the Mamayev Hill was built in memory of soldiers who died for their Motherland.

Paying tribute to the past, Volgograd looks into the future. Exhibition and museum complex “Mercury”, modern trading centres made the city look brighter.

 

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