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Engels (until 1914 - Pokrovskaya Sloboda, until 1931 - Pokrovsk)
is a city in the Saratov region of Russia, the second most populous
city in the region. The administrative center of the Engels
municipal district and the municipal formation that is part of it,
the city of Engels, with the status of an urban settlement.
Engels is located on the left bank of the Volgograd Reservoir at the
confluence of the Saratovka River, opposite Saratov.
Founded
in 1747 by the Chumaks from the Poltava and Kharkov provinces. The
city's flag is blue-white-red-black-yellow (the yellow and black
colors on the flag are from the flag of Germany (in memory of the
Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans), and white, blue and red
are from the flag of Russia). The coat of arms depicts an ox (cattle
on which the Chumaks were carrying salt). From 1922 to 1941 - the
capital of the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans.
It
is part of the Saratov agglomeration. Attempts were made to put
forward proposals for the unification of Engels and Saratov into a
single millionaire city.
Population - 227,049 people. (2020).
By plane
The nearest airport is in Saratov.
By car
The
P229 highway passes through Engels, connecting the city with Marx,
Balakovo, Samara, and Volgograd.
Engels communicates with Uralsk,
West Kazakhstan region (P298 E38 via Ozinki, Dergachi, Ershov).
Saratov Bridge. The automobile bridge across the Volga, connecting
Saratov and Engels, was once the longest bridge in Europe. The bridge
has 3 lanes, the middle one has reverse traffic. Due to the relatively
small number of lanes during rush hour, traffic jams occur at the
entrances to the bridge, and if an accident occurs, traffic can be
practically paralyzed.
New bridge. A new road bridge near the village
of Pristannoye, approximately 12 km northeast of Saratov.
By bus
There are many routes between Saratov and Engels: av. 246, 246p, 248,
274b, 282b, 284, 284a, 284b, 284k, 379.
The TB trolleybus has
been returned since the summer of 2021. 109 from the railway station in
Saratov to Engels.
The fare for traveling between cities is
slightly more than for traveling within the city without crossing a
bridge.
On the ship
Although Engels is located on the Volga
and has berths for small vessels, there are no regular river routes, and
cruise ships do not come here. So you can only sail to Engels on a
private boat or yacht (note for sailing yachts: take into account the
water level in the Volga and the height of the nearest bridges!)
The city's public transport is mainly represented by buses and
minibuses. There are 2 trolleybus routes. 109 and tb. 14. Travel around
the city 25-30 ₽; if there is a conductor in the cabin, pay the
conductor immediately and do not forget to take a ticket; if there is no
conductor, pay the driver when you get off.
Bicycles and scooters
Bicycles and scooters are quite common in Engels. In the summer, rental
points operate, and there are also services for renting electric
scooters through a mobile application in the city.
One of the
most popular places for skiing is the pedestrian city embankment and
coastal areas near the City Park.
There is practically no
dedicated cycling infrastructure.
The terrain is steppe, flat,
sloping streets are rare
Pleasure boats on the Volga
More
likely not transport, but entertainment. From May to September from the
pier near the city park.
Holy Trinity Church.
Monument to the symbol of the city of
Engels “Bull with a bowl of salt on its back.”
Victory Stele and
the Eternal Flame on the embankment of the city of Engels.
Locomotive-monument L-1578.
Former House of Soviets of the Volga
German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Memorial to the
memory of soldiers who died in hospitals in Engels from wounds
during the Great Patriotic War.
Memorial to the memory of
Long-Range Aviation pilots who died in the line of duty.
Memorial
"Eternal Memory" in memory of fallen military pilots.
Monument to
the heroes - liquidators of the consequences of nuclear disasters.
Monument "Before Flight", City Embankment. Monument to Yu.A. Gagarin
and S.P. Korolev
Engels Museum of Local Lore.
Open Air Museum of Long-Range
Aviation.
House Museum of L.A. Kassilya, L.Kassilya St., 42. Entrance
60 rubles, excursion 200 rubles. The two-story red house is sandwiched
between gray high-rise buildings, and inside the atmosphere of the last
century is preserved. The museum exposition tells about the life,
family, work of the visionary writer, and about the city of Pokrovsk,
which is now called Engels.
Petrov's house.
Operetta Theater, st.
Teatralnaya, 2. Tickets from 100 to 400 rubles. Offers mainly classical
repertoire. Performances start at 17:00 and 18:00, children's
performances at 11:00
Expensive
Hotel Volga, pl. Lenina, 18. from 2900 rub. per day for
standard up to 12,000 rubles. per suite The hotel is located near a
noisy square, along which there is a lot of transport, including buses
from Saratov. Nearby is a large shopping center, a local history museum,
the Volga embankment and a city park within a three-minute walk; Lev
Kassil Museum is a 10-minute walk away. The hotel building has been
renovated and makes a pleasant impression. There is a restaurant; and
there are also cheaper catering outlets nearby.
The primary name of the village is Pokrovskaya Sloboda (aka Pokrovsky town, Pokrovka), which was given by the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos; in the middle of the 19th century, the name Kazakstadt was also noted, apparently associated with the fact that the first inhabitants of the settlement were Ukrainians, and the surrounding population was German-speaking. In 1914, the settlement was transformed into the city of Pokrovsk, and in 1931 it was renamed the city of Engels in honor of Friedrich Engels.
Pokrovskaya Sloboda was
founded in 1747 on the left bank of the Volga River by Ukrainian
settlers, opposite the city of Saratov. Previously, there were
Kalmyk nomads and the headquarters of Khan Ayuki on this territory.
Back in 1617-1674, Saratov itself was located within the boundaries
of modern Engels, later transferred to the other side of the Volga.
And it was here that the first meeting of Peter the Great with the
Kalmyk Khan Ayuka took place.
The laying of the settlement in
1747 is associated with the decree of Empress Elizabeth on the
beginning of salt mining on Lake Elton and the laying of a number of
support bases on the Volga for these purposes (back in the 90s of
the XX century and in the first years of the XXI century, one could
hear how the Prospect of Builders and Ershovsky tract is called
Eltonsky tract, and the crossing at the intersection of Stroiteley
Avenue and Poltavskaya Street is Eltonka). On August 16 and 18,
1747, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel N. F. Chemodurov,
the laying of the first salt shops took place. Due to the fact that
the horses could not withstand the hard work in the bare steppe,
Cossack chumaks (carters) were invited with oxen to deliver salt to
the Volga region, who became the first inhabitants of the
settlement. Several hundred families have come here over the years.
The management of the settlement was carried out by atamans.
In 1851, the Pokrovskaya Sloboda as part of the Novouzensky district
was transferred from the Saratov province to the newly formed Samara
province.
After the opening in 1894 of the Zavolzhskaya line
of the Ryazan-Uralskaya railway, Pokrovskaya Sloboda turned into the
largest market in the Trans-Volga region. Grain, oil, salt, timber,
building materials, goods from Asia went in an endless stream.
Simultaneously with the laying of the railway line, railway
workshops and the Pokrovsk station were built. A pharmacy and a
first-aid post were built at the station, at which a hospital was
opened. On May 1, the power plant was put into operation. The main
office of the workshops housed a public library, the drama club was
very successful, in fact, replacing the city theater at that time.
Near the station building there was a cozy shady garden “Venice”.
There were light tables with armchairs under the trees, and there
was always a sufficient selection of domestic and foreign wines in
the buffet. Visitors could immediately play a game of billiards or
try their luck at the bowling alley. The audience was entertained by
chamber singers, coupletists, storytellers, accordionists, balalaika
players, jugglers and magicians. Passengers-travelers who arrived in
the old Pokrovsk were rolled in a "light cab" carriage along the
specially laid Pokrovskoe highway (now Lenin Street) leading to the
city center. The station as a historical object has not survived
today (it needs restoration). But the locomotive survived, it was
restored and installed as a reminder of better times and significant
events.
In 1901, A. Malikov, who traveled to these parts,
wrote in his book: “If you look at the line of huge grain barns and
the adjacent square, completely furnished with stone buildings, then
every visitor will immediately come to the conclusion that the
Pokrovskaya Sloboda abounds in commercial people and big capital ".
In 1910, there were eighty-seven grain barns with a total
capacity of ten million poods. The barns belonged to the Pokrovsky
peasants-sowers and the Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Rybinsk flour
millers and banks: the Russian-Asian and Russian banks for foreign
trade.
Trade transactions in bread were carried out at the
exchange, located in its own brick building on Troitskaya Square -
now it houses the registry office. Apart from those mentioned above,
there were also branches of banks: Volzhsko-Kamsky, Russian
Commercial and Industrial, St. Petersburg International - and two
Pokrovsky banks: rural and Mutual Credit Society. The
Ryazan-Uralskaya railway specialized in the harbor near the
Pokrovskaya Sloboda for trading in bread, instead of loading
steamers on the banks of the indigenous Volga, where grain was
brought at a distance of 4-5 versts along a heavy sandy road. In the
Pokrovskaya Sloboda, near the railroad tracks and granaries, grain
had to be moved only a few dozen fathoms, which immediately
attracted grain merchants. Up to 15 million poods of grain passed
through the RUZhD harbor in Pokrovskaya Sloboda per year.
On the banks of the Volga, near the settlement, there were six
steam sawmills and oil depots of the Eastern Society, the Nobel
Brothers Partnership, the Mazut Society and the Ryazan-Ural Railroad
Society. Around the railway station there were a bone-grinding and
glue-making factories, then - an iron foundry, brick and tile, as
well as three steam mills, not counting small factories.
There were two railway stations. One in the Pokrovskaya Sloboda
itself, the other on the banks of the Volga.
According to the
List of Populated Areas of the Samara Province in 1910, 14473 men
and 15,027 women lived in Pokrovskaya Sloboda. The population of the
settlement was predominantly former state peasants, Russians, Little
Russians, Germans and Tatars, Orthodox Christians, Catholics,
Lutherans and Mohammedans. In the settlement there were 6 churches,
a Lutheran prayer house, a Roman Catholic chapel, 1 secondary
educational institution, 6 zemstvo, 5 parish, 2 two-year ministerial
schools, 3 hospitals, 2 pharmacies, 2 almshouses, a postal and
telegraph office, a state wine warehouse, 5 tanneries, a steam mill,
2 iron foundries, a tile factory, 10 brick factories, 4 pot
factories, a depot of the Ryazan-Ural railway, a printing house,
banks and other financial and credit institutions.
In 1914,
Pokrovskaya Sloboda received the status of a city with the name
Pokrovsk.
In 1919, the city was transferred as part of the
Pokrovsky district from the Samara province to the Saratov province.
Pokrovsk was renamed in 1931 into the city of Engels in honor of
the German philosopher and public figure Friedrich Engels. In
1922-1941 - the capital of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
of the Volga Germans, from September 1941 - the city of regional
subordination of the Saratov region.
Until September 1941,
the German Pedagogical Institute and the German Agricultural
Institute worked in the city.
In 1965, a road bridge was
built to connect Engels with Saratov.