Volgograd

Volgograd, formerly called Tsaritsyn (1589–1925) and Stalingrad (1925–1961) is an industrial city of great importance, and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is 80 km long, north to south, on the western bank of the Volga River and has a population of over 1.011 million people. The city was made famous for its heroic resistance and bloody siege during the Battle of Stalingrad taking place during World War II.

Volgograd Волгоград
City[1]
Counterclockwise: The Motherland Calls, the railway station, Planetarium, The Metrotram, Panorama of the City, Gerhardt Mill, Mamayev Kurgan
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: none[2]
Location of Volgograd
Volgograd Location of Volgograd Show map of Russia Volgograd Volgograd (Volgograd Oblast) Show map of Volgograd Oblast
Coordinates: 48°42′N 44°31′E
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Volgograd Oblast
Founded	1589[3]
City status since	the end of the 18th century[1]
Government
• Body	City Duma[4]
• Head[4]	Alexander Chunakov[source?]
Area
• Total	859 km2 (332 sq mi)
Elevation	80 m (260 ft)
Population  (2010 Census)[5]
• Total	1,021,215
• Estimate  (2025)[6]	1,012,219 (−0.9%)
• Rank	12th in 2010
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
Administrative status
• Subordinated to	city of oblast significance of Volgograd
• Capital of	Volgograd Oblast, city of oblast significance of Volgograd
Municipal status
• Urban okrug	Volgograd Urban Okrug
• Capital of	Volgograd Urban Okrug
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK [7])
Postal code(s)[8]	400000–400002, 400005–400012, 400015–400017, 400019–400023, 400026, 400029, 400031–400034, 400036, 400038–400040, 400042, 400046, 400048–400055, 400057–400059, 400062–400067, 400069, 400071–400076, 400078–400082, 400084, 400086–400089, 400093, 400094, 400096–400098, 400105, 400107, 400108, 400110–400112, 400117, 400119–400125, 400127, 400131, 400136–400138, 400700, 400880, 400890, 400899, 400921–400942, 400960–400965, 400967, 400970–400979, 400990–400993
Dialing code(s)	+7 8442
OKTMO ID	18701000001
City Day	Second Sunday of September[1]
Twin towns	Coventry, Ostrava, Kemi, Liège, Dijon, Turin, Port Said, Chennai, Hiroshima, Reinickendorf, Chemnitz, Ruse, Jilin City, Kruševac, Tiraspol, Płońsk, Sandanski, Orlando, Olevano Romano, Cleveland, Toronto, Chengdu, Yerevan, İzmir, Ortona, Cologne, Constanța, Qujing, Kyiv
Website	www.volgadmin.ru

History

Coat of Arms of Tsaritsyn(1857)

Volgograd developed from the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589. The fortress was at the meof the Tsaritsa and Volga Rivers. During the Russian Civil War the city was the scene of heavy fighting. Bolshevik forces occupied it during 1918, but were attacked by White forces. It was renamed as Stalingrad in 1925.

Under Stalin, the city became heavily industrialized as a centre of heavy industry and trans-shipment by rail and river. During World War II, Stalingrad became the center of the Battle of Stalingrad as well as a turning point in the war against Germany. Essentially, the German offensive was stopped at Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 21, 1942 to February 2, 1943, where 1.7 million to 2 million Axis and Soviet soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, in addition to over 40,000 civilians killed. The city was reduced to rubble during the fierce fighting, but reconstruction began soon after the Germans were expelled from the city.

Nikita Khrushchev renamed the city because of de-Stalinization in 1961.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

As of 2008, Volgograd has 21 sister cities:^[9]

• Coventry, England, United Kingdom (1943)
• Ostrava, Czech Republic (1948)
• Kemi, Finland (1953)
• Liège, Belgium (1959)
• Dijon, France (1959)
• Turin, Italy (1961)
• Port Said, Egypt (1962)
• Chennai, India (1966)
• Hiroshima, Japan (1972)^[10]
• Cologne, Germany (1988)
• Chemnitz, Germany (1988)
• Cleveland, Ohio, United States (1990)
• Toronto, Canada (1991)
• Jilin, China (1994)
• Yerevan, Armenia (1998)
• Chengdu, China (1998)
• Kruševac, Serbia (1999)
• Ruse, Bulgaria (2001)^[11]
• Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States (2003)
• Orlando, Florida, United States (2008)
• Baku, Azerbaijan (2008) ^[12]

A number of communities in France and Italy have streets or avenues named after Stalingrad, hence Place de Stalingrad in Paris and the Paris Métro station of Stalingrad.

Gallery

• 
  Volgograd from Space
• 
  Map of Volgograd's City Districts
• 
  Underground station of Volgograd metrotram — Lenin's Square
• 
  Volgograd State Medical University (left) and New Experimental Theater of Volgograd