Voronezh Воронеж
City[1]
View of Voronezh
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Voronezh
Voronezh Location of Voronezh Show map of Russia Voronezh Voronezh (Voronezh Oblast) Show map of Voronezh Oblast
Coordinates: 51°40′18″N 39°12′38″E / 51.67167°N 39.21056°E / 51.67167; 39.21056
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Voronezh Oblast[1]
Founded	1585[2] or much earlier[3]
Government
• Body	City Duma
• Mayor[4]	Gusev Alexander (acting)[4]
Area [5]
• Total	601 km2 (232 sq mi)
Elevation	154 m (505 ft)
Population  (2010 Census)[6]
• Total	889,680
• Estimate  (2018)[7]	1,047,549 (+17.7%)
• Rank	15th in 2010
• Density	1,500/km2 (3,800/sq mi)
Demonym	none
Administrative status
• Subordinated to	Voronezh Urban Okrug[1]
• Capital of	Voronezh Oblast,[1] Voronezh Urban Okrug[1]
Municipal status
• Urban okrug	Voronezh Urban Okrug[8]
• Capital of	Voronezh Urban Okrug[8]
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK [9])
Postal code(s)[10]	394000–394095
Dialing code(s)	+7 473
OKTMO ID	20701000001
City Day	Second Sunday of September
Website	www.voronezh-city.ru

Voronezh (Russian: Воронеж, IPA: [vɐˈronʲɪʂ]) is a city and the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Voronezh River, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway which connects European Russia with the Urals and Siberia, as well as the Caucasus and Ukraine). It is also the center of the M4 highway (Moscow-Voronezh-Rostov-on-Don). Population: 1,014,610 (2014 est.);^[11] 889,680 (2010 Census).^[6]

The toponym Voronezh was first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1177, but human settlement on the site is attested since the Stone Age by archeological finds. Recent findings may push the settlement's foundation date as far back as the 4th century CE.^[3] The current official version, however, states that the present city was founded in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort^[2] protecting the Russian state from the raids of Crimean and Nogay Tatars. The city is named after the river, itself named after an earlier city destroyed by the Mongol invasion, whose name in turn was borrowed from a place name in the Principality of Chernigov, derived from the Slavic personal name Voroneg.^[12]

The comparative analysis of the name "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. The comparative method involves the search for etymological sources not only in Russian, but also in other Indo-European languages: Anatolian, Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Italic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Armenian and others. According to the "nominalistic method" proposed by Max Müller, the origin of the name "Voroneg" and the name of a bird "voron" (raven) should be considered in relation to the Indo-European eponyms: Uranus, Varuna, Phoroneus, Bran the Blessed and so on. Comparative analysis suggests the origin of the Indo-European toponyms and hydronyms Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Voronezh from the Indo-European root «*var» and connects with this root the origin of names of ancient water deities.^[13]

In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizable town, especially after Tsar Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, Goto Predestinatsia. The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.

Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of the Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into the Voronezh Governorate.

In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth Region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather, and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. A railway connected Voronezh with Rostov-on-Don in 1868 and Moscow in 1871.

During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Russian and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made it a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, two BM-13 (Fighting machine #13 Katyusha) artillery installations were built at the Voronezh excavator factory. In July, the construction of Katyushas was rationalized so that their manufacture became easier and the time of volley repetition was shortened from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in a counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted the establishment of a defense committee in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was a troop parade, devoted to the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. The city was completely under Axis control by July 24. This was the opening move of Case Blue.

Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive, the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.

By 1950, Voronezh was rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. In 1950-1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical pressing, and others. In 1968, Serial production of the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic plane was established at the Voronezh Aviation factory. In October 1977, first Soviet domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built there.

In 1989, TASS published details of an alleged UFO landing in the city's park and purported encounters with extraterrestrial beings reported by a number of children. A Russian scientist that was cited in initial TASS reports later told the Associated Press that he was misquoted, cautioning, "Don't believe all you hear from TASS," and "We never gave them part of what they published",^[16] and a TASS correspondent admitted the possibility that some "make-believe" had been added to the TASS story, saying, "I think there is a certain portion of truth, but it is not excluded that there is also fantasizing".^[17][18]

Between 1991 and 2000, the city, suffering from high unemployment rates, became a part of the Communist-voting region known as Russia's "Red Belt".

In 2010, at the seminar "New technologies - the basis of modern communication systems" concern "was presented Constellation system equipment mobile broadband fourth generation« AstraMAX Group and co-production company Runcom Technologies.^[19]

From 10 to 17 September 2011, Voronezh celebrated its 425th anniversary. Anniversary of the city was given the status of a federal scale celebration that helped attract large investments from the federal and regional budgets for development.^[20]

On December 17, 2012, Voronezh became the fifteenth city in Russia with a population of over one million people.^[21]

Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the Central Black Earth Region.

Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast.^[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.^[8]

The city is divided into six administrative districts: Kominternovsky (3), Leninsky (4), Levoberezhny (6), Sovetsky (5), Tsentralny (2), and Zheleznodorozhny (1).

In the city are such companies as:Voronezh Aircraft Production Association, Sozvezdie (headquarter) ,Verofarm (pharmaceutics) ,Voronezh Excavator Plant etc

On the territory of the city district government Maslovka Voronezh region with the support of the Investment Fund of Russia is implementing a project to create an industrial park" Maslowski "to accommodate more than 100 new businesses, including transformer factory of Siemens. September 7, 2011 in Voronezh opened Global network operation center of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was the fifth in the world and first in Russia.

The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO (Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo, Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Tupolev Tu-144 (known in the West as the "Concordski"), was built and the only operational unit is still stored. Voronezh also hosts the Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.

Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow.^[22] Rail services form a part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kiev, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov.

In 1860 opened in Voronezh Telegraph Station [206], which in 1885 was equipped with an automatic transceiver equipment. In 1884 the railway was first installed office phone. In 1893, in a building on the post office Voronezh Great Gentry (now Revolution Avenue) appeared local telephone station having a capacity of 300 rooms. After some time in Malaya Gentry (now the street Friedrich Engels) was opened zemskaja telephone station. In 1926, Voronezh was included in the long-distance telephone system. In 1983 the city passed a five-digit to six-digit phone number system. In 2005, in Voronezh recorded no deficit numbers. City code "473".

In 1700, the decree of Peter I was established postal service between Voronezh and Moscow. The first letter with a personal monogram of Peter I from Voronezh to Moscow was sent Vinius AA. In 1782 the main post office was established, a building which was located on the street Great Gentry (now Revolution Avenue). Since then, the main post Voronezh management did not change its location. In 1997, for the successful automation of processes and the introduction of new services Voronezh post office received the international prize "Golden Mercury".

Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:

• Voronezh State University
• Voronezh State Technical University
• Voronezh State University of Architecture and Construction
• Voronezh State Pedagogical University
• Voronezh State Agricultural University
• Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies
• Voronezh State Medical Academy
• Voronezh State Academy of Arts
• Voronezh State Forestry Engineering Academy
• Voronezh State Institute of Physical Training
• Voronezh Institute of Russia's Home Affairs Ministry
• Voronezh Military Aviation Engineering University

and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.

Orthodox Christianity is the prevalent religion in Voronezh.^{[citation needed]}

• Nikolay Basov, physicist
• Ivan Bunin, writer
• Pavel Cherenkov, physicist
• Kirill Gerstein, musician
• Alexey Khovansky, editor
• Mikhail Tsvet, botanist
• Konstantin Feoktistov, cosmonaut and engineer
• Poets and writers such as Platonov, Koltsov, Nikitin, Marshak, Peskov, Troepolsky;
• Painters Kramskoi, Ge, Kuprin
• Valerian Albanov, navigator and polar explorer
• Alexander Litvinenko, political dissident
• Grigory Sanakoev, chess player
• Yelena Davydova and Alexander Tkachyov, gymnasts
• Yevgeny Lapinsky, Olympic volleyball player
• Valentina Popova, weightlifter
• Dmitri Sautin, diver
• Volin, anarchist
• Serge Voronoff, surgeon
• Osip Mandelstam, poet
• Vladimir Patkin, Olympic volleyball player
• Andrei Platonov, writer
• Sektor Gaza, punk band
• Mitrofan Pyatnitsky, musician
• Viktoria Komova, Olympic gymnast

Source:^[26]

Date		Sister City
1968		Brno, Czech Republic[27][28]
1989		Wesermarsch, Lower Saxony, Germany
1991		Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
1992		Chongqing, China
1995		Sliven, Bulgaria
1996		León, Castile and León, Spain[29]

• Charlotte Hobson's book, "Black Earth City", is an account of life in Voronezh at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union based on her experiences after spending a year in Voronezh as a foreign student in 1991–1992.
• Nadezhda Mandelstam's Hope Against Hope, the first volume of her memoirs concerning her husband, the poet Osip Mandelstam, provides many details about life in Voronezh in the 1930s under Stalinist rule.

• Воронежская областная Дума. Закон №87-ОЗ от 27 октября 2006 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Воронежской области и порядке его изменения», в ред. Закона №41-ОЗ от 13 апреля 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Воронежской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Воронежской области и порядке его изменения"». Вступил в силу по истечении 10 дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Молодой коммунар", №123, 3 ноября 2006 г. (Voronezh Oblast Duma. Law #87-OZ of October 27, 2006 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Voronezh Oblast and on the Procedures of Changing It, as amended by the Law #41-OZ of April 13, 2015 On Amending the Law of Voronezh Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Voronezh Oblast and on the Procedures of Changing It". Effective as of after 10 days from the day of the official publication.).
• Воронежская областная Дума. Закон №66-ОЗ от 31 октября 2005 г. «О наделении муниципального образования город Воронеж статусом городского округа». Вступил в силу по истечении 10 дней со дня официального опубликования (18 ноября 2005 г.). Опубликован: "Коммуна", №171, 8 ноября 2005 г. (Voronezh Oblast Duma. Law #66-OZ of October 31, 2005 On Granting Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the City of Voronezh. Effective as of the day which is 10 days after the official publication date (November 18, 2005).).

• Official website of Voronezh Template:Ru icon
• Unofficial website of Voronezh Template:Ru icon
• Voronezh State University
• Panoramic views of Voronezh

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