Shurab (; ) is a town in the

Sughd Region Sughd Province, also referred to as the Sogdia Region, and Leninabad before 2001, is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces that make up Tajikistan. Centered in the historical Sogdiana, it is located in the north ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

. It is part of the city of

Isfara Isfara (; ) is a city in Sughd Region in northern Tajikistan, situated on the border with Kyrgyzstan. The city was the seat of the former Isfara District. There are currently territorial disputes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan over the area ...

. The population was about 2,900 in 2020. The town was established in 1952 in

Tajik SSR The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan, the Tajik SSR, TaSSR, or simply Tajikistan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1929 to 1991 in Central Asia. The Tajik Re ...

. In Soviet time it had a population of 8,400 (1991), most people worked in

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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry. There were several factories, Palace of Culture, a stadium, a library, a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, a park, etc. The town was supplied by

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, wages of local people were higher than in many other Tajik towns, and housing there was considered prestigious by many citizens of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991, most of the coal mines, factories, culture institutions were closed and the town lost about a half of its population. As of 2003, the town, with many buildings went to ruins, looked as if there were

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

, water supply system was almost broken, water was supplied to people for about ten minutes a day, a three-room flat there cost about 150

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

). Frantz, Douglas
"Rich Slice of Soviet Asia, Left to a Lonely Despair"
''The New York Times'', December 19, 2000* Rotar, Igor
"Living shadows ghost town: Living in the Russian Tajik Shurab adrift"
''

Novye Izvestia ''Novye Izvestia'' () is a daily newspaper published in Moscow, Russia. History It was founded in 1997 by a group of journalists who left ''Izvestia'' newspaper with the financial backing of Boris Berezovsky. After Vladimir Putin's election as P ...

'', August 4, 2003 (archived 2007)

Notable residents

* Shurab is the birthplace of the decorated gold medal Soviet gymnast

Nellie Kim Nellie Vladimirovna Kim (Russian: , also transliterated Nelli, born 29 July 1957) is a retired Soviet and Belarusian gymnast of Sakhalin Korean and Tatar descent who won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Mon ...

Transport

Shurab was the terminus of a branch railway of the former

Soviet Railways The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

system.

References

Populated places in Sughd Region Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1952 1952 establishments in the Soviet Union {{Sughd-geo-stub