Akhtubinsk

Akhtubinsk is a city (since 1959) in the Astrakhan region of Russia, the administrative center of the Akhtubinsky district. Located in the northern part of the region on the left bank of the river Akhtuba (the arms of the Volga), 292 km north of Astrakhan.

Population

37,883,000 people (2017).

The territory of the city is 17 square kilometers. Railway stations Vladimirovka and Akhtuba on the branch Volgograd - Upper Baskunchak. Cargo and passenger river port on the river Akhtuba. The road Volgograd - Astrakhan.

Climate

Dry, average temperature in the year + 13 C. The average temperature in January is 6.8 C, July + 25.3 C.

Businesses

Akhtuba Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant, brick, cannery, dairy, meat processing plant, bakery.

Akhtubinsk is a transshipment point of the Bassol enterprise; from here, salt extracted from Lake Baskunchak is sent by water along Akhtuba and the Volga.

History

The city arose in 1959 as a result of the unification of the village of Vladimirovka (district center) with the settlements of Petropavlovka and Akhtuba.

In the "Historical Note" on the Astrakhan region, published in 1903, it is mentioned that already in 1793 there was a church in the name of Vladimirov Icon of the Mother of God, this is where the name of the Vladimirov sloboda comes from. The inhabitants of Vladimirovka were engaged in the cultivation of bread and livestock. The settlers assigned to the salt business became serfs, and they were taken with grain and salt, which had to be transferred to the specified place. On the pier of Mana (the territory of the modern conservatory plant) salt warehouses were built, where salt was delivered from Lake Baskunchak. During the spring season, river vessels approached the pier along the Akhtuba River, loaded with salt and went to Volga along the streams. Further, the ships moved down the Volga to Astrakhan, fishing, or up to Tsaritsyn, Saratov and further. By 1819, the second church, Michael the Archangel, was rebuilt.

On the territory of the district by that time there were 2 brick plants, eleven cousins, 4 drinking establishments, windmills, a men's school. The population of the village was 7000 people. By 1862, there were already 5 schools in the village, including the Kazakh one; 180 children of both sexes were trained in them. The history of Petropavlovka takes its beginning in 1867, when in 3 kilometers south-west of the Vladimirovka settlement on the left bank of the Volga, in the hollow, where the Akhtuba River flows (and its Murnya tributary), Vladimirovka pier was laid for loading salt on river vessels. Already in the XIX century in the village of Petropavlovka there was a church in the name of Peter and Paul, where the name actually came from. In 1882, an iron road joined the stream, connecting Lake Baskunchak with the salt warehouses of the Mana pier. Akhtuba railway station has been put into operation from the depot for preventive remont of steam locomotives and wagons. In 1910 in Petropavlovka, the Ocean excision company organized a shipyard, which eventually grew into a shipyard (in March 1966, the plant was renamed from Vladimirovsky to Akhtubinsky). In 1912, the construction of a railway bridge across the Akhtuba River was completed. In the 1920s-1930s, in connection with the development of new branches of agriculture, processing industries were also developing in the Vladimirovka complex: the cannery plant, oilseed, meat processing plant. A network of clubs, schools, workshops has been built.

The district center received intensive development in 1959, in connection with the assignment of the city status and the name Akhtubinsk. There was a further development of solothink, shipbuilding and railway transport, active construction of the housing fund, social and household and medical institutions.

The next impetus for the development of the city received after the placement in 1960 on the adjacent territory of the Chkalov Research Institute (due to GLITS) - a large aviation test complex. In a short time in the city were built: the House of officers, Lenin Square (where military parades took place), the memorial complex "wing of Icarus" (dedicated to the pilots who died during the tests of aircraft), the cinema "October", the stadium "Volga", the city park, the military hospital and the Central District Hospital. On the territory of Akhtubinsk there are many schools, as well as branches of 2 large universities: MAI and VolSU.

The annual popular non-official event in Akhtubinsk is the Torn Parade, when school graduates dress up accordingly and walk around the city before the holiday of the last bell.

Tourism

Akhtubinsk is a favorite place of recreation for fishermen, in the Akhtuba River you can catch pikes, woblu, galls, breams; if a sturgeon is caught, it must be released by law. August - September - the season of catching crayfish comes, they are taken out by nets, buckets, banks.

Towards the end of summer in Ahtubins comes the season of the sweetest watermelons and melons.

In the vicinity of Akhtubinsk there is the Bogdinsko-Baskunchak Reserve, its main attractions are Mount Bogdo (there is a legend that it was consecrated by the Dalai Lama) and Lake Baskunchak. The reservoir is called the Russian Dead Sea - it stores the main reserves of domestic salt. On Lake Basunchak you can swim - lie in salt water, it alleviates skin diseases, there are deposits of healing clay nearby, mud baths are taken in them.