About Taganrog in English

The history of Taganrog is unusual and interesting In July 1696, after the capture of the Turkish fortress Azov by Russian forces, young Tzar Peter the Great was looking for a proper place for harbour at the Azov Sea On July, 27 his expedition choose a bay near the uninhabited cape Tagan-Rog named probably due to the Tartar words "Tagan " (tnpod) and "Kog" (sandbank), in other words — "triangular cape" On September 12, 1698 the Gunner department (ancient Russian body of a State power) decreed to begin an erection of a harbour and a fortress This day is considered the official date of the Taganrog foundation

The harbour at the Azov Sea was of great importance for the Russian Navy because it provided Russia with security in this region Russia could get an outlet to the Southern seas The harbour was safely protected, from the seaside by a citadel on an artificial island and from the land by the Troitskaya fortress that was set up on the cape simultaneously with the harbour By 1709 construction works were totally completed Then the town of Troitsk on the cape Taganrog became one of the most comfortable Russian towns Who can tell how nice it could be a few years later But fate of the town was to be suffered from some severe trials

In 1710 Turkey declared war on Russia The war was over in 1711 Under the Prut Peace Treaty Russia was obliged to take away the Navy from the Azov Sea and to destroy the Taganrog For a half of a century only ruins remained about town once existed Only in 1769 Russian army was back in Taganrog and started restoration of the demolished town Under direction of the vice admiral Seniavin harbour and fortress were renewed on the former place and the Russian Navy was recreated at the Azov Sea By the end of the 18th century frontier of the Russian Empire was drawing back to the South, farther and farther, and Taganrog turned out to be at a rear area of the Russia, losing its military and strategic meaning Russian Navy was moved to the Sevastopol, the fortress was closed Its former name Troitskaya was forgotten but then commercial seaport Taganrog took its place

In 1991 division on executive and representative bodies of power was established by federal legislation of the Russian Federation After that Taganrog self-government is carrying out as followed — the head of the city executive authority Shito Sergey Ivanovich is Taganrog high official elected for four years by direct secret and equal voting He conducts the sessions of the Duma and forms an executive body of local self-government

City Duma is a representative body of power City administration is an executive-administrative body of power.

148 public organizations are registered at Taganrog, 28 of them are the parties and movements that represent practically all spectrum of the Russian political life from

left to right. Five Cossack organizations represent various tends of the Cossacks community.

Nowadays Taganrog is the key industrial and agricultural centre. Following branches of

the modern industry are presented there:

- ferrous metal industry (steel pipes, water, gas, and oil-pipes);

- mechanical engineering and metal-working industry (power engineering, grain harvester combines, driving-wheels ends, electronic equipment, ultrasonic equipment, forging presses and automobile industry);

- light industry and food processing industry;

- military-industrial complex, or defense-oriented industry (aircraft equipment, aircraft construction, hydroacoustics and radar equipment for fishing fleet, agroprocessing equipment).

- In all there are 4,000 enterprises. Inner gross output amounts to 3721.5 milliard roubles. The "Elegant" JSC, an establishment of light industry, took part in project of the European Union TACIS. This fruitful participation has resulted in creation of own style of the "Elegant", European in a full sense of word, and design of the new season collection.

- Taganrog's industry constitutes the basis of an export potential of the Rostov Region.

The joint-stock companies "Krasny Kotelshchik", "Metallurgichesky Zavod" and

"Kombainovy Zavod" are the largest exporters.

- At the present times Taganrog's industry is intensively reformed. Military-industrial

complex is reoriented on civil needs.

- 21 investment projects of Taganrog enterprises were included in the Federal Target

Programme of social and economical development of the Rostov Region until 2001.

A number of business-plannings of Taganrog enterprises were put into the First stage of realization of the Programme "Revival, building, reconstruction and restoration of Russian towns and townships which have historical meaning".

Among twelve banking structures operating in Taganrog only one is the bank in the full sense - joint-stock City bank "Taganrogbank". The others are branches of the large banks, such as Rostov branch of the RF Savings Bank, "Metracombank", "Centre-Invest", "Donkhlebbank". Moscow banks "Russian Credit", 'Incombank" and "Russian Slavic Bank" have their branches in Taganrog too.

Eight insurance companies are represented in Taganrog by their branches and the ninth is the local insurer "Taganrog Ltd". According to the amount of insurance payments, the largest are "Rosgosstrakh-Rostov", "Liter-Palis" and "Rostov-Palis".

Geoeconomical meaning of Taganrog is difficult to overestimate. When the Ukraine as an independent state has detached itself, the Russia lost a number of ports on Azov and Black Seas and the Danube.

Importance of Taganrog as a port is growing if it is remembered that a large share of Russia's producing capacity is arranged at basins of the Don and the Volga. There are commercial seaport; fishing fleet seaport; two railways branch-lines of a big carrying capacity (up to 159.9 mln cargo tons per year), Taganrog-Moscow via the Ukraine and Taganrog-Moscow via Rostov and Voronezh; highway connected Ukraine with central and east regions of Russia and countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasus; two runways adapted to all types of aircrafts; seaplanes airfield.

Once visited Taganrog, you are sure come there again. Being located in favourable climatic place, the city posesses some peculiar magic, some kind of magnetic aura. It is no mere chance that lives of so many great men of Russia were tied with Taganrog. Among we can name the generalissimus Alexander Suvorov, famous sea explorers Vitus Bering, Fyodor Ushakov, Alexander Senyavin, sculpturor Antokol'sky, the great artist Faina Ranevskaya. j

Anton Chekhov was Taganrog born, and the city is hallowed by his great name. I Generations of Taganrogers carefully keep up all places related to childhood and youth of Chekhov - the house where writer-to-be was born, his father'shop where young Chekhov went through a hard school of philistinism (which later he had to "squeeze out drop by drop"). "Chekhov's House" and "Chekhovs'Shape" became museums. The oldest in the South of Russia gymnasium (Chekhov was going there 11 years) is now Literature Museum named after the great Russian writer.

Pushkin's visit to Taganrog was limited to only one day in the summer of 1820, when disgraced poet passed through Taganrog on his way to Caucasus, place of exile, however comfortable. Only one day, but Taganrog harbour, Azov Sea, Don and Cossacs were reflected in Pushkin's verses more than once.

It is particularly remarkable that poet stayed at the same house (on Grecheskaya street) which five years later happened to be the last shelter to Alexander I, former oppressor of Pushkin.

Composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky paid flying visits to Taganrog where lived his brother, Naval offcerlppolit Tchaikovsky.

Today Taganrog is one big museum in the open air. By order of the Russian Federation government in 1981 there was founded State Literature and Historical-architectural Museum-reservation that integrated six local museums - Chekhov literature museum, Ethnographical museum, museums "Chekhov's House" and "Chekovs'Shop", Durov museum and museum "Town-building and life of Taganrog". The Museum of Ethnography, or Local Lore, deals with history of the city as it is mirrored by the history of its inhabitants - generations of Taganrogers, their lives, crafts, occupations, culture and housing. The Museum takes the most active part in the modern Taganrog, being a participant or initiator of practically all events of the city's culture life.

Taganrog born Alexander Durov was the famous circus artist, who contributed significantly to the history of Russian and world circus art, being simultaneously a clown and an animal trainer. The Durov Museum popularizes and studies the life and work of Durov and history of the Russian circus at all, especially its Southern, jovial and gleeful variety.

Three museums are dedicated to Anton Chekhov and their role in the Taganrog culture life can be hardly overestimated. These museums - Chekhov Literature Museum, museums-reservations "Chekhov House" and "Chekhov Shop" - are conducting annual Chekhov Days, musical parties, free concerts, and literature gatherings, carry out publishing activity and render methodical aid to the schools of Taganrog and the region.

Last year the oldest in the South of Russia Theatre beared the name Chekhov marked it's 170th theatrical season. Taganrog Art gallery possesses the best in the region collection of the Russian painting. Fund of the Chekhov public library numbers about 1,500,000 copies, among them books with autographes of Chekhov, Tvardovsky, Solzhenitsyn. More than 22,000 subscribers visit the library there per year.

Musical life is presented by municipal companies — chamber orchestra, chamber choir "Lik", ensemble of Russian folk instruments "Divo". Three musical schools, musical college and Art school for children, five community centres and one centre of culture and leisure - all of them are working therefor the benefits of Taganrogers.

On September 12,1998 Taganrog celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary, an event of great importance. The foundation Day of Taganrog was celebrated according to the President's decree and the RF Government's resolution.

The problem of local communication's development is very acute, being the focus of attention of the Taganrog city administration. In 1995 the Taganrog University of Radio Engineering worked out the "Conception of development of radio and digital means of communication in Taganrog". Local means of communication are developed in accordance with this program.

Presently the Taganrog phone network has 53,000 subscribers. Approximately 10,000 of them have connection via departmental operation centres. The others have phone connection via the Taganrog SCCofthe Electmsvyaz OJSC.

However, 45,000 Taganrogers wait for tlephones. To solve this problem the Taganrog city administration attracted an investor (the Infotex JSC, Moscow). Organized as result the Infotex-Taganrog-Tetecom enterprise completed the lay-out of a fiber-optic line with the installation of a digital SCC of the fifth generation (manufactured by Ericsson). As for new forms of connection, such as paging, cellular, the Internet, their providers are INIT, BeeLine, Dontelecom, Christy, , etc.

Young Taganrogers have alt opportunities to receive the best secondary, higher and professional education. There are 36 secondary schools, a number of colleges - medical, mechanical, college of civil construction, college of sea instrument-making, colleges of aviation and aircraft technology and three higher schools-Taganrog State University of Radio Engineering, Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute and Taganrog Institute of Management and Economics.

SPORT

Taganrog is a city of big sportive traditions. It possesses the first-rate basis for physical culture, training and conducting of high-level contests - Palaces of Sport "Krasny Kotelshchik" and "Pnboy", yacht-club, the "Torpedo" stadium, four cover swimming pools and one of the best in the Europe sport complex of weightlifting. Taganrog sportsmen are the permanent participants of summer Olympic games, world, Europe and Russia champions and prize-winners in boat-racing, track-and-field, scuba-diving and sailing sport.

Names of the Taganrog sportsmen and trainers are widely known — Olympic champion, multiple world and European champion in weightlifting David Rigert, multiple world champions in canoe-paddling brother and sister Tishchenko, Olympic champion Sergey Syrtsov, track-and-field athletes Tatiana Pentukova, Stanislav Tarasenko, Roman Tarasov, scuba-divers Yury Zadorozhny, Atexey Lusitsky and Galina Shuliak, world and European champion in sailing Vladimir Moiseev, basketball player Igor Kudelin, football player Vladimir Skokov, volleyball player Gennady Ivanenko, world record-holder in walking Victor Fedorovich Kortchagin.

Anatoly Tishchenko, Alexander Lebedinsky, Sergey Syrtsov, Sergey Efimenko, Sergey Belovol, Oleg Gundarev, Victor Nazarov and Victor Trakhtenberg are the Honoured trainers of Russia.

Three newspapers are published in Taganrog, one of them is the oldest in region newspaper "Taganrogskaya Pravda". Two wire radiobroadcasting companies "ATN-radio" and "Taganrog Radio" plus four local TV-channels satisfy Taganrogers' needs in information of all kinds.

Taganrog city administration elaborated the Priority Programme of creation of Taganrog free zone in an effort to improve the social-economic situation in region and with regard to the national interest in the South of Russia. The administration make all efforts to elaborate an infrastructure of would-be free zone and form necessary documents, even through realization of the Programme is held up by lack of legislative basis.

Investment projects foresee: airport and new seaport construction; development of a network of bonded and consignment warehouses; building of business-centres and hotel complex; development of a telecommunication network; foundation of forwarding companies; development of an export-oriented and export-replaced manufactures on a basis of Taganrog plants.

Taganrog is the first and as yet the only one Russian city - member of the International Black Sea Club. This Club has a status of an official observer attached to the Council of Heads of States ofBSEC (Black Sea Economical Cooperation). Members of the Club try to find their own approaches to global problems of region and estimate their possible participation in realization of such approaches.