Chernyakhovsk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chernyakhovsk (English) Черняхо́вск (Russian) |
|
|---|---|
 Michajlowski Cathedral |
|
  Location of Chernyakhovsk on the map of Russia
|
|
| Coordinates Coordinates: |
|
| Coat of Arms | Flag |
.png/80px-Coat_of_Arms_of_Chernyakhovsk_(Kaliningrad_oblast).png) |
.png/125px-Flag_of_Chernyakhovsk_(Kaliningrad_oblast).png) |
| Administrative status | |
| Federal subject In jurisdiction of Administrative center of |
Kaliningrad Oblast Chernyakhovsky District |
| Local self-government | |
| Charter | |
| Municipal status | Urban okrug |
| Mayor | |
| Legislative body | |
| Area | |
| Area | n/a |
| Population (as of the 2002 Census) | |
| Population - Rank - Density |
42,400 inhabitants n/a |
| Events | |
| Founded | 1336 |
| City rights | 1538 |
| Transferred to the Soviet Union | 1945 |
| Renamed Chernyakhovsk | 1946 |
| Other information | |
| Postal code | |
| Dialing code | +7 40141 |
| Official website | |
| http://www.angrapa.ru/ | |
Chernyakhovsk (Russian: Черняхо́вск; German: Insterburg (help·info); Lithuanian: Įsrūtis; Polish: Wystruć) is a town in the centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, at the confluence of the rivers Instruch and Angrapa, forming the Pregolya. It has a population of 44,323 (2002 Census);[1] 39,622 (1989 Census).[2] and is home to the Chernyakhovsk naval air facility.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1336, after the Prussian Crusade, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Dietrich von Altenburg founded a castle called Instierburg at the site of a former Old Prussian fortification. During their campaign against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the place was devastated in 1376 and again by Polish troops in 1457. The castle had been rebuilt as the seat of a Procurator and a settlement grew up to serve it, also called Insterburg.
When Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1525 securalized the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, Insterburg became part of the Duchy of Prussia and was granted town privileges on 10 October 1583 by the Prussian regent Margrave George Frederick. The town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Because the area had been depopulated by plague in the early 18th century, King Frederick William I of Prussia invited Protestant refugees who had been expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg to settle in Insterburg in 1732.
In 1818 after the Napoleonic Wars, the town became the capital of the Insterburg District within the Gumbinnen Region. Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly died at Insterburg in 1818 on his way from his Livonian manor to Germany, where he wanted to renew his health.
Insterburg became part of the German Empire during the 1871 unification of Germany. On 1 May 1901 it became an independent city separate from the Insterburg District. After World War I, the town was separated from the rest of Weimar Germany, as the province of East Prussia had become an exclave. The football club Yorck Boyen Insterburg was formed in 1921.
During World War II, Insterburg was heavily bombed by the British Royal Air Force on 27 July 1944. The town was stormed by Red Army troops on January 21–22, 1945. With the northern part of East Prussia, Insterburg was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union after the war according to the Potsdam Conference. Its German population was either evacuated or expelled and replaced with Russians. In 1946 Insterburg was renamed Chernyakhovsk in honor of the Soviet World War II General of the army Ivan Chernyakhovsky, who was killed in the Battle of Königsberg.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain a group of people introduced the Akhal-Teke horse breed to the area and opened an Akhal-Teke breeding stable.
[edit] Notable residents
- Martin Grünberg (1665-1700s), architect
- Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786-1865), politician
- Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan (1819-1904), writer and politician
- Therese Malten (1855-1930), opera singer
- Otto Koehler (1889-1974), behaviorist
- Hans Orlowski (1894-1967), painter and woodcutter
- Alfred Gille (1901-1971), politician (GB/BHE)
- Kurt Kuhlmey (1913-1993), Bundeswehr major general
- Kurt Plenzat (1914-1998), military officer
- Fritz Vilmar (born 1929), political scientist and sociologist
- Traugott Buhre (born 1929), actor
- Harry Boldt (born 1930), Olympic champion in dressage
- Horst Ludwig Riemer (born 1933), politician (FDP)
- Ingo Insterburg (born 1934), comedian and musician
- Jürgen Schmude (born 1936), politician (SPD)
- Gerhard Grenzing (born 1942), organ builder
- Axel Marquardt (born 1943), writer
[edit] Twin towns
Brzeg Dolny, Poland- Grudziądz, Poland
Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, since 2002
Marijampolė, Lithuania- Węgorzewo, Poland, since 1996
[edit] References
- ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000) (Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров. (All Union Population Census of 1989. Present population of union and autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and okrugs, krais, oblasts, districts, urban settlements, and villages serving as district administrative centers.) (Russian). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года (All-Union Population Census of 1989). Demoscope Weekly (website of the Institute of Demographics of the State University—Higher School of Economics (1989). Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
[edit] External links
- Chernyakhovsk town website with many photos of Chernyakhovsk and Insterburg, old and new town maps, town history.
- Akhal-Teke breeding farm and dressage club "Insterburg"
- Chernyakhovsk web portal
|
||||||||||||||
