Cherkessk, Russia

Черкесск

Transportation

Hotels, motels and where to sleep

 

Description of Cherkessk

Cherkessk is a city in the south of Russia, the capital of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Forms the municipality of the Circassian urban district. It is the main industrial, economic and cultural center of the republic. Most of the tourist flow is directed to the mountain resorts of the Caucasus, which are located in the southern part of Karachay-Cherkessia, the most famous of which is Dombai. Thus, Cherkessk is only a transit point for most travelers.

Cherkessk is located in the northern part of the republic on the banks of the Kuban River. The surrounding terrain - flat, foothill, from the east and south of Cherkessk stretch hilly ridges with a height of about 700 meters above sea level, while the city itself is located at an altitude of 530-540 meters above sea level. The climate is mild, the winter is warm with temperatures around 0 ..- 5 degrees Celsius, in summer up to + 30..35 degrees.

 

Sights

Russian Orthodox Church
Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God
Temple of St. Sergius of Radonezh the Wonderworker
House Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh St. Sergius Orthodox Lyceum
Chapel of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George
St. Sergius Orthodox Gymnasium

Islam
Central Cathedral Mosque
City mosque of Cherkessk
Mosque in Yubileiny microdistrict
Armenian Apostolic Church
Church of St. George (opened in 2008)

Protestantism
Evangelical Christian Church "God's Ark"
Church "Christian Mission"

18 km from Cherkessk - Batalpashinsky lakes (turned into a reservoir, the so-called Circassian Sea), which are a reserve of drinking water for the resort cities of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, receiving water from the Big Stavropol Canal in the summer during the snowmelt period, giving water through a pumping station . To the south of Cherkessk, near the city of Ust-Dzhegut, there are burial mounds of the Bronze Age (3rd-2nd millennium BC), in which bronze ornaments and ceramics with carved ornaments were found.

Research Institute of Economics, History, Language and Literature
North Caucasian State Academy (formerly KChGTA/SKGGTA)
Republican Russian Drama and Comedy Theater of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
Karachay Drama Theater named after Sh. M. Aliyev
Karachay-Cherkess Historical, Cultural and Natural Museum (until 1988 Regional Museum, founded in 1918)
Karachay-Cherkess Islamic Institute named after Imam Abu-Khanif
Karachay-Cherkess Medical College (KChMK)
International Open College of Modern Management named after M. M. Abrekov
Karachay-Cherkess State College of Culture and Arts. A. A. Daurova
Branch of the Rostov State University of Economics (RINH)
Branch of the Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy"
Circassian Drama Theater named after M. O. Akov
Ophthalmological center. Opened February 2013

Art Gallery of Cherkessk

 

Other

Batalpashinsky lakes

 

Transportation

Getting here

By plane
The nearest airports to Cherkessk are in Mineralnye Vody (90 km) and Stavropol (110 km). The preferred airport for arrival is Minvody, there is a high intensity of flights and it is easier to get to the city.

From Mineralnye Vody Airport: Although air travel is the most accessible and frequently used way to get to Cherkessk, there are no cheap transfer options, such as public transport. A taxi transfer will cost about 2000 rubles, it is possible to agree at the exit from the airport (with Circassian taxi drivers, it can be more expensive), or order a transfer in advance through the Uber app (more expensive) or Maxim (cheaper). Travel time is about 1.5 hours. On the return trip, it is better to leave 2 hours in advance, as on two-lane roads there is a danger of getting stuck in traffic behind slowly crawling trucks.

By train
There is an electric train from Nevinnomyssk twice a day.

 

Hotels, motels and where to sleep

There are few hotels in Cherkessk, limited demand for visiting the city does not contribute to the development of the industry. At the same time, there may be a steady shortage of rooms during the tourist season, especially budget ones.

1  Cherkessk Hotel.
2  Kuban Hotel.
3  Hotel Europe. ✉ One of the most comfortable hotels in the city. It is declared as 3 *, which is basically true. At the same time, the luxurious marble of the interiors is adjacent to the very standard decoration of the rooms. The disadvantages include the relative distance from the city center and the noise from the street in the rooms, and the advantages of the food court next to the hotel, where locals and even from neighboring regions come to eat delicious barbecue.
4  Hotel "Grand Caucasus".
5  Hotel and restaurant complex "Edelweiss".

 

History of Cherkessk

19th century
The city was founded in 1825 as the village of Batalpashinskaya on the site of the Russian military fortification (redoubt) of the same name on the Kuban border line (part of the Caucasian line). In turn, the Batal-Pashinsky redoubt was built at the mouth of the Ovechka River in 1804. The redoubt, and then the village, got their names in honor of the brilliant victory in 1790, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, of the 4,000th Russian army under the command of Major General I. I. German over the 25,000th army of the Turkish commander Batal Pasha (Fight at the Abaza). Thus, the name "Batalpashinskaya" is the rarest case when the settlement was named after not the winner, but the vanquished. However, the inhabitants themselves did not accept this name, and in everyday life the village was called "Pashinka".

In the autumn of 1825, apparently, only the marking of the land for the future village was carried out. The immediate arrangement and settlement of Batalpashinskaya, as well as other newly formed villages of the Khopersky regiment (Nevinomysskaya, Belomechetskaya, Barsukovskaya, Karantinnaya (modern Suvorovskaya) and Bekeshevskaya), probably began no earlier than the spring of 1826. For various reasons, the settlement was slow (until 1828 and beyond) and was carried out from two sources:

The Cossacks of the Kuban Regiment (by origin - the Don), resettled from the disbanded village of Vorovskolesskaya, resettled 2 officers and 90 Cossack households, as well as clergymen.
The Cossacks of the Khopersky regiment, resettled from the village of Stavropolskaya (founded by the Cossacks-Khoportsy at the fortress of Stavropolskaya, modern Stavropol, in 1777-1778) - 141 yards were assigned for resettlement.

The resettlement of the thieves took place by the spring of 1827, while the Khopers, for the most part, ended up in the new village only after the harvest in the fall of 1827.

The surviving archival materials, in particular, the Confessional painting of the Nikolaevsky prayer house of the newly formed village for 1827, contain almost complete lists of the Cossacks-first settlers of Batalpashinskaya.

Along with the functions of a military settlement, Batalpashinskaya played a significant role in establishing trade and cultural ties with the mountain peoples. In exchange for salt, bread and fabrics, merchants, industrialists and Cossacks exported cattle, dry skins, cloaks, hats, Circassians and many other goods from the mountainous regions.

In 1860, Batalpashinskaya became one of the county centers of the formed Kuban region. By 1868, a men's brigade (formed from two regimental schools opened earlier in 1864) and a women's school (opened on September 1, 1865) (4 KKV brigades) were already operating in the village. In 1868, at the expense of the army treasury, the first military hospital with 48 beds was built here. By the decree of Alexander II on December 30, 1869, the village was transformed into the city of Batalpashinsk. However, this decision was never implemented, and Batalpashinskaya remained a stanitsa until Soviet times. Since 1888, it has become the administrative center of one of the seven departments of the Kuban region. In Batalpashinskaya, grain and cattle were traded; sawmill operated.

20th century
In the fall of 1918, the village of Batalpashinskaya was occupied by white troops under the command of General Shkuro. Having occupied the village, he announced mobilization into Denikin's army. On January 5, 1919, Shkuro's army captured Kislovodsk, knocking out the Reds from there. Having recruited specialists and equipment in Kislovodsk, Shkuro organized in Batalpashinsk the production of shells, cartridges, cloth, leather boots, cloaks and fur coats for the needs of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. In the spring of 1920, the village of Batalpashinskaya came under the rule of the Bolsheviks.

Since 1922, the village has been the center of the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region, since 1926 - the center of the Circassian National District, from 1928 to 1943 - the Cherkess Autonomous Region.

In 1931, the settlement was given the status of a city and the name Batalpashinsk.

In 1934, Batalpashinsk was renamed Sulimov by the name of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR D. E. Sulimov. In 1937, Sulimov was arrested and shot, after which the city was renamed Yezhovo-Cherkessk, in honor of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs N. I. Yezhov. In 1939, after the arrest of the latter, the settlement was renamed again, and only its second part, Cherkessk, was preserved in the name.

Since 1957, Cherkessk has been the center of the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region, since 1991, the capital of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

During the Great Patriotic War, thousands of citizens - representatives of all the peoples of the republic went to the front, Circassian and regional partisan detachments were formed. In honor of war heroes:
I. Lobodina,
H. Bogatyreva,
I. Laara,
O. Kasaeva,
D. Starikova and others.

the streets of the city are now named. The memorial "Fire of Eternal Glory" in Victory Park is dedicated to the memory of the defenders and liberators of the fatherland.

During the days of the occupation of the city by the German 17th Army (Richard Ruoff) and the 1st Panzer Army (Ewald von Kleist, Eberhard von Mackensen) (August 11, 1942 - January 17, 1943), an underground organization was created and operated to fight the enemy. It was a group of 14-17-year-old boys that had not been led by anyone.

 

Geography

The city is located in the northern part of Karachay-Cherkessia, on the right bank of the Kuban River. It borders on the Abaza region in the west, the Adyge-Khablsky region in the north, the Prikuban region in the east and southwest, and the Ust-Dzhegutinsky region in the south.

The area of the city is 69.8 km².

The city is located in the foothill zone of the republic. To the east of it stretch hilly ridges, the maximum heights of which reach 700 m above sea level. In the west, the indented coast of the Kuban stretches throughout the city. The average altitude in the city is 530 m above sea level.

 

Timezone

Cherkessk is located in the MSK time zone (Moscow time). The offset of the applicable time from UTC is +3:00. In accordance with the applied time and geographic longitude, the average solar noon in Cherkessk occurs at 12:12.

 

Hydrology

The main water artery for the city is the river - Kuban. Also, the hydrographic network is represented by small rivers - Ovechka, Topka and Abazinka (Tokhtamysh). The Great Stavropol Canal runs southeast of the city. To the east of the city there are two large reservoirs of fresh water - the Kuban reservoir and Lake Maloye. To the west of the city in the "Green Island" area there is a cascade of artificial reservoirs. There is a particularly large accumulation of ponds in the northwestern part of the city; they are used mainly for irrigating garden plots.

 

Climate

The climate is moderately humid. The average air temperature ranges from +21°C in July to -2.5°C in January. In summer, the absolute air temperature can rise to +40°C, and in winter it occasionally drops below -10°C. The average annual rainfall is about 650 mm. The greatest amount of precipitation falls in June.