Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

Kemerovo Oblast Kemerovo Oblast — Kuzbass (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть — Кузба́сс, translit=Kemerovskaya oblast — Kuzbass, ), also known simply as Kemerovo Oblast (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, label=non ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and

Tom River The Tom ( rus, Томь, p=tomʲ, cjs, Том) is a river in Russia, a right tributary of the Ob in Central Siberia. Its watershed lies within the Republic of Khakassia, Kemerovo Oblast, and Tomsk Oblast.coal mining region of the

Kuznetsk Basin The Kuznetsk Basin (russian: Кузнецкий угольный бассейн, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of aroun ...

. Population: The city was known as ''Shcheglovsk'' until March 27, 1932.

History

Kemerovo is an amalgamation of, and successor to, several older Russian settlements. A waypoint named Verkhotomsky ''ostrog'' was established nearby in 1657 on a road from

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a n ...

Kuznetsk fortress Novokuznetsk ( rus, Новокузнецк, p=nəvəkʊzˈnʲɛt͡sk; literally: "new smith's", cjs, Аба-тура, ''Aba-tura'') is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in south-western Siberia, Russia. It is the second largest city in the obla ...

. In 1701, the settlement of

Shcheglovsk Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk B ...

was founded on the left bank of the Tom; soon it became a village. By 1859, seven villages existed where modern Kemerovo is now: Shcheglovka (or Ust-Iskitimskoye), Kemerovo (named in 1734), Yevseyevo, Krasny Yar, Kur-Iskitim (Pleshki), Davydovo (Ishanovo), and Borovaya. In 1721, coal was discovered in the area. The first coal mines were established in 1907, later a chemical plant was established in 1916. By 1917, the population of Shcheglovo had grown to around 4,000 people. The area's further development was boosted by the construction of a railway between

Yurga Yurga (russian: Юрга́) is a town in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Population: History It was founded in 1886. Work settlement status was granted to it in 1942; town status was granted ...

and Kolchugino (now Leninsk-Kuznetsky) with a connection between

Topki Topki (russian: Топки) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Topki (town), Kemerovo Oblast, a town in Kemerovo Oblast; ;Rural localities * Topki (rural locality), Kemerovo Oblast, a '' selo'' in Topkinska ...

and Shcheglovo. Shcheglovo was granted town status on May 9, 1918, which is now considered to be the date of Kemerovo's founding;Charter of Kemerovo, Article 1 and was later known as Shcheglovsk. The town became the central location for the

Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony The Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony was an experiment in workers' control in the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1926 during the New Economic Policy. It was based in Shcheglovsk, Kuzbass, Siberia. History Creation of the Autonomous Industrial C ...

which was established there in 1921. 650 workers from 20 countries settled there and set up what became the

Kemerovo Coke Chemical Plant Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk B ...

. Some of their descendants visited the modern factory in 2011. On May 27, 1932, Shcheglovsk was renamed Kemerovo and became the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast in 1943. In 2018, 60 people were killed by a fire in a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

. In 2022, at least 20 people were killed by a fire in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

Etymology

The city was named after the village of Kemerovo, named after the surname of the first settlers of the Kemerovs. The ending "ovo" suggests a toponymic transition through a personal name. The village gave its name to the Kemerovo mine that arose under it. In 1925, the city of Scheglovsk was formed from two neighboring villages Kemerovo and Scheglovo, which in 1932 was renamed to Kemerovo after the name of the mine. According to another version, the name is based on the Turkic word ''kemer'' - "cliff, coast, cliff". The inhabitants of the city are called: Kemerovochanin, Kemerovochanka, Kemerovochane.

Administrative and municipal status

Kemerovo is the

of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom of ...

Charter of Kemerovo Oblast, Article 2 and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of

Kemerovsky District Kemerovsky District (russian: Ке́меровский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the nineteen in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.Law #215-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Kemerovsky Municipal District.La ...

, even though it is not a part of it.Law #215-OZ As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Kemerovo City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Kemerovo City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Kemerovsky Urban Okrug.Law #104-OZ

Economy

The industrialization of Kemerovo was driven and underpinned by coal mining and by the heavy industry based on the availability of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

. It remains an important industrial city, built up during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

period, with important

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

and machinery based manufacturing plants along with chemical,

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, and other manufacturing industries. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the city's industries have experienced a severe decline, creating high levels of unemployment. Major companies based in the city include Siberian Business Union.

Transportation

Public transport

The public transport network of Kemerovo consists of 70 city bus routes (including 6 seasonal), 63 suburban (including 35 seasonal), 53 public taxi routes (including 2 seasonal), 5 tram, and 9 trolleybus routes. 686 transport units enter the streets of the city every day, including: * 201 buses of city and suburban routes; * 364 units of route taxis; * 121 units of electric transport. The fare in public transport is 20 rubles, in express buses - 21 rubles, in fixed-route taxis - 22 rubles (as of March 24, 2019). Free Wi-Fi was used in all Kemerovo trams to attract passenger traffic.

Air transportation

The city is served by

Kemerovo International Airport Kemerovo International Airport (russian: Международный Аэропорт Кемерово) , also known as Alexei Leonov Airport, is one of 2 major airports in Kemerovo Oblast area (russian: Кемеровская область, Kem ...

that reside 2.5 kilometres to the south-east of the city. It has one runway with artificial turf of class B that length is 3200 meters. The airport is named after the Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, a native of Kuzbass. There are two bus routes to the airport - 101 and 126.

Railway transportation

Kemerovo is linked to western Russia by a branch of the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

and has the Kemerovo Railway station. File:Nefaz-5299 Y814HE 20070731.JPG, NefAZ-5299 bus File:KemerowoTrolleybus.jpg, BTZ-52761 trolleybus File:Трамвай. г. Кемерово.jpg, KTM-19 tram File:Kemerovo station.jpg, Kemerovo railroad station

Education

Six higher education institutions are located in Kemerovo:

Kemerovo State University The Kemerovo State University (russian: Ке́меровский госуда́рственный университе́т) (KemSU) was established in 1973 as a successor to Kemerovo Pedagogical Institute. It is a leading educational and scienti ...

Kuzbass State Technical University Kuzbass State Technical University (KuzSTU) is one of higher schools which trains specialists for the economy of Kuzbass, Russia. History At first it was the Mining Institute founded on the basis of Kemerovo Mining Construction College (the ord ...

Kemerovo Institute of Food Industry (University) Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk ...

, Kemerovo State Medical Academy,

Kemerovo State Institute of Culture Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk B ...

, Kemerovo Agricultural Institute and

Kuzbass Economy and Justice Institute Kuzbass (sometimes spelled Kuzbas) is short for Kuznetsk Basin. It may refer to: * Kuznetsk Basin * Kuzbass Region, another name for the Kemerovo Oblast * Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony * Metallurg-Kuzbass, a Russian football club from Novok ...

Sports

The public interest for bandy is widespread in Russia. 26,000 watched the opening game of the 2011–12

Russian Bandy League The Russian Bandy Super League (russian: Чемпионат России по хоккею с мячом — Суперлига), is a men's professional bandy league in Russia, the top division of Russian bandy. There is no definite rule which t ...

when local club Kuzbass played against

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

and Kuzbass is among the very best in the

. The

2007 Bandy World Championship The 2007 Bandy World Championship was held in Kemerovo, Russia, 27 January – 4 February 2007. Men's national teams from 12 countries participated in the 2007 tournament: Belarus, Finland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia, Sweden (group A) and Estonia ...

was held in the city. Female bandy only exists in a few places in Russia. Now Kemerovo is about to start it up. Moscow already had two multi-use indoor arenas where bandy can be played. Kemerovo got the first one in Russia specifically built for bandy (today also Khabarovsk and

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population: The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...

have it). Kuzbass plays the matches in the league at Khimik Stadium because of the big public interest. That arena has a capacity of 32000. As it also is equipped with artificial ice, Kemerovo has the best infrastructure for developing bandy in Russia. Since 2013 there has been a "bandy on boots" tournament for national diasporas living in Kuzbass.

Climate

Kemerovo's position gives it a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfb'') with warm summers and long, severely cold winters. Its average temperatures vary from in January to in July. It has fairly low precipitation of around annually.

City symbols

Coat of arms

The heraldic description of the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo is the following: in the crossed scarlet and black field, there is a narrow golden belt in the form of two diverging heads of grain ears, behind them there is a golden cogwheel that goes down; there is a silver retort in the middle, its neck tilted to the right. The figures of the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo symbolize the historically established main directions of the industrial development of the city: * retort - chemical industry; * cogwheel - mechanical engineering; * ears of corn - the fertility of the land associated with the use of mineral fertilizers produced at the chemical enterprises of the city. The colors used in the coat of arms symbolize: * scarlet (red) - work, courage, energy, and strength; * black color - wisdom, as well as the main wealth of the region, the center of which is the city of Kemerovo, - coal; * silver (white) - pure thoughts, reliability, and kindness; * gold (yellow) - wealth and prosperity.

Flag

The flag of the city of Kemerovo is based on the city's coat of arms and repeats its symbolism. It is a rectangular double-sided panel with a width to length ratio of 2:3. It displays figures from the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo. The colors used are red, black, yellow, and white.

Emblem

The emblem of Kemerovo displays the monument of Mikhailo Volkov, the discoverer of coal in the area. The sculpture of Mikhailo Volkov displayed on the pedestal fragment styled like a rock. Behind the monument, there is a black triangle that symbolizes a

spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quant ...

. The inscription of the city's name ("Кемерово" in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

) resides on the diagonal from the left bottom side of the triangle. In the black part of the triangle, the year of the foundation of the city is displayed - "1918".

Numismatics

In 2018

Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

issued into circulation the commemorative silver coin in denomination of 3 rubles "Centenary of the Foundation of Kemerovo" which displays the statue of Mikhailo Volkov.

Notable people

Yuri Arbachakov Yuri Yakovlevich Arbachakov (russian: Юрий Яковлевич Арбачаков; born October 22, 1966) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 1997. He held the WBC flyweight title from 1992 to 1997. Amateur care ...

, boxer * Maria Barakova, mezzo-soprano; winner of Glinka and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

classical music competitions * Andreas Beck, association football player * Diana Borisova, rhythmic gymnast * Julia Chernogorova, Great British Bake Off contestant * Marina Domashenko, opera singer * Vyacheslav Ivanenko, retired race walker * Alexei Leonov, cosmonaut; honorable citizen of Kemerovo *

Alexandra Merkulova Alexandra Sergeyevna Merkulova (russian: Алекса́ндра Серге́евна Мерку́лова; born 25 November 1995) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2010 Youth Olympic Games champion and the 2012 Euro ...

, retired rhythmic gymnast *

Slava Mogutin Slava Mogutin (full name Yaroslav Yurievich Mogutin, b. April 12, 1974, Kemerovo) is a New York-based Russian artist and author, who works across different media, including photography, video, text, installation, sculpture, and painting. Life ...

, artist * Wladimir Sukhatsky, TV producer *

Aman Tuleyev Amangeldy Gumirovich "Aman" Tuleyev (russian: Амангельды (Аман) Гумирович Тулеев, kk, Амангелді Молдағазыұлы Төлеев, ; born 13 May 1944) is a Russian statesman. He served as governor of Ke ...

, governor of Kemerovo Oblast * Nikolai Knyzhov, NHL player for the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

Artem Vakhitov Artyom Olegovich Vakhitov ( rus, Артё́м Оле́гович Вахитов; born April 4, 1991) is a Russian Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Having begun practicing Muay Th ...

, kickboxer *

Yuliya Karimova Yuliya Karimova (russian: Юлия Каримова; born in Kemerovo, Russia) is a Russian-born Azerbaijani volleyball player that plays for Azerrail Baku and Azerbaijan women's national volleyball team as a libero. Clubs * Azerrail Baku ...

, Russian-born Azerbaijani volleyball player

Twin towns – sister cities

Kemerovo is twinned with: *

Salgótarján Salgótarján (; sk, Šalgotarján) is city with county rights in Hungary, the capital of Nógrád county, north-eastern Hungary, making it the third smallest county capital based on population. The nearby Salgó castle is a well-known tourist ...

, Hungary

Gallery

File:Kemerovo3.jpg File:Kemerovo4.jpg File:Kemerovo5.jpg File:Kemerovo2.jpg File:Kemerovo6.jpg File:Kemerovo raduga.jpg File:Kemerovo park-pobedy-dandelions.JPG, Victory Park (Парк Победы) or

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

's Park (Парк имени Жукова) in Kemerovo]

References

Notes

Sources

* * * *

External links

Official website of Kemerovo

Kemerovo Business Directory
{{Use mdy dates, date=November 2011 1701 establishments in Asia Cities and towns in Kemerovo Oblast Populated places established in 1701