Kostomuksha is located in White Sea Karelia. The city is located 30 kilometers from the border with Finland, 400 km north-west of Petrozavodoska. Kostomuksha urban district is formed around Kostomuksha. The population of the city is about 30 thousand people. Industrialized city with industry orientation to Finland. The town-forming enterprise of Kostomuksha is the mining and concentration plant of Karelsky Okatysh OJSC.
The city arose in 1977 as a settlement during the construction of a mining and processing plant. The presence in the toponym of the element muksha (muksa), apparently meaning "lake", which indicates its ancient Finno-Ugric origin.
In 1967, a decision was made to design a mining and processing plant
(GOK). The settlement began to be built in the 1970s in connection with
the development of a new iron ore deposit discovered in 1946. In 1973,
an intergovernmental Soviet-Finnish agreement was signed on the
construction of the GOK. In May 1977, an agreement was signed with
Finn-Stroy JSC. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of
the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of November 17, 1977,
the settlement that grew up during the construction of the Mining and
Processing Plant received the status of an urban-type settlement.
In February 1981, a competition was announced for the name of the
city. It was proposed to name the city Kontokki or Kostomuksha - by the
name of the villages on the site of which the city was built. It was
also supposed to name the city of Sampo. The ancient Karelian village of
Kostomuksha was located on the shores of Lake Kostomukshskoye, which is
now located on the territory of the Karelsky Okatysh mining and
processing plant. The legend about the origin of the name of these words
was recorded in 1892 by the Finnish ethnographer and artist Luis Sparre.
In 1982, the first stage of the Kostomuksha Mining and Processing
Plant was put into operation, in 1983 - the second, and in 1984 - the
third and last.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the RSFSR of April 25, 1983, Kostomuksha received the status
of a city of republican subordination.
In 1988, the ancient
Karelian village of Voknavolok was included in the city; later the
villages of Ladvozero, Pongaguba, Sudnozero, Tolloreka were included.
The city is located in the north of the West Karelian Upland, 35 kilometers from the Russian-Finnish border and 495 kilometers from Petrozavodsk.
The city of Kostomuksha belongs to the regions of the Far North.
Kostomuksha is located on the border of the subzones of the middle
and northern taiga. The climate is influenced by many factors, including
frequent cyclones from the Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, which
bring thaws and snowfalls in winter, and rainy and cool weather in
summer. In terms of the combination of these factors, the climate of
Kostomuksha is something between the climate of St. Petersburg and
Murmansk. Winter is moderately cold, with frequent changes in weather,
with the invasion of the cold Siberian anticyclone, severe frosts are
possible. Summers are short and cold and usually rainy.
Kostomuksha is located in the MSK time zone (Moscow time). The offset of the applicable time from UTC is +3:00.
How to get there
By train
From St. Petersburg by train No.
350 St. Petersburg-Kostomuksha on a special schedule every other
day, or in trailer cars from Petrozavodsk. There is also a direct
train No. 680 to Petrozavodsk.
By car
From the
territory of Finland through the Luttia-Vartius road checkpoint.
By bus
Intercity bus service is carried out with the cities
of Belomorsk, Segezha and Petrozavodsk.
ASEZ "Kostomuksha"
Decree of the Government of the Russian
Federation of February 12, 2019 No. 122 approved the status of a
territory of advanced socio-economic development. As of mid-2020, 5
enterprises were registered in the ASEZ that do not conduct significant
activities.
The city-forming enterprise is Karelsky Okatysh OJSC (until 1993, the
Kostomuksha Mining and Processing Plant, iron ore mining and concentrate
production). The company supplies products both to Severstal (less than
half of the output) and abroad (more than half). The company and its
contractors employ about half of those employed at large and
medium-sized enterprises in Kostomuksha.
There is also
woodworking (Karelian Wood Company (PinArctik)), a bakery, and a trout
farm. On the territory of the city district, the enterprise of the food
industry SPPSK "Berries of Karelia" operates (collection and processing
of berries, deliveries in Russia and abroad).
An example of
successful entrepreneurship in the border area is the Russian-Finnish
joint venture AEK, which has been supplying electrical products to the
global auto giant Volvo and other European companies (Scania, Sisu,
Timberjack, BRP) since the 1990s.
The territory of the Kostomuksha urban district includes the ancient Karelian village of Voknavolok, as well as small settlements of Ladvozero, Pongaguba, Sudnozero, Tolloreka. Voknavolok is one of those settlements where the world-famous Kalevala epic was created, it belongs to the category of rune-singing villages of the White Sea Karelia. In the village of Ladvozero lie the ashes of the famous rune singer Arkhippa Perttunen, according to which the collector of the Karelian-Finnish epic Elias Lönnrot recorded a significant part of the Kalevala. In the north-west of the Kostomuksha urban district, by decision of the Russian government, it is planned to create the Kalevalsky National Park in order to preserve the virgin forests remaining in this area. The nature here is unique; there are corners where no man has gone before. In the area of Lake Kamennoye there is the Kostomukshsky nature reserve, which, together with the Finnish Kuhmo nature reserve, is part of the first Russian-Finnish ecological park Druzhba.
There is a municipal cultural institution "Cultural and Museum Center
of the city of Kostomuksha", opened in 1981.
Three music
festivals are held annually in Kostomuksha: in the summer - the festival
of chamber art, in the fall - the author's song, in the spring - the
festival of national culture "Kanteletar".
The first issue of the
city newspaper "Gornyak Karelia" (editor V.V. Naumov) was published in
1981. Since 1991, it has been published under the name "News of
Kostomuksha".
The construction of a ski and biathlon complex has
been underway in Kostomuksha since the early 2010s. The total cost of
construction was originally planned at 400 million rubles, including
federal funds under the Federal Target Program "Development of Physical
Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation for 2006-2015". However, as
of March 2019, according to the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Physical
Culture and Sports of the Republic of Karelia, financing for the
construction of this facility is not included in regional and federal
programs.
In Kostomuksha there is a stadium with running tracks
(reconstructed in 2016), a sports and recreation complex with an ice
rink.
Since 1975, the Gornyak football club has participated in
the Kalevalsky district football championship, since 1984 - in the
republic championship, the best achievement in 1986 is second place, the
Kostomuksha football championship is regularly held.
Until 1994,
the bandy team "Gornyak" participated in the Karelia bandy championship.
Since 1985, the Gornyak team (since 1995 - Tonem, now - Karelsky
Okatysh) has been participating in the ice hockey championships of
Karelia. In 2017, the team became the first in the Championship of
Karelia.
There is a swimming pool with a mini-water park
"Siniranta" (municipal property), a judo hall and a boxing hall.
Various Christian denominations are represented in the city. There is a
Catholic chapel, the cathedral church of the Kostomuksha diocese of the
Russian Orthodox Church, the building of the church of Evangelical
Christians of the RTSHVE. There are also meetings of unregistered
Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists.
Preschool education services are provided by 7 municipal
institutions: kindergartens "Birch", "Solnyshko", "Golden Key",
"Aurinko", "Gnome", "Ship", "Fairy Tale". The last of them opened
Aurinko in December 2013.
There are 5 secondary schools in the
city (another one is in the village of Voknavolok): MBOU "School No. 1
with in-depth study of a foreign language", School named after A. S.
Pushkin, School No. 3 with in-depth study of mathematics, Gymnasium
(awarded with the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation ),
Lyceum No. 1. Also in the city there is a state educational institution
of secondary vocational education in the Republic of Karelia
"Kostomuksha Polytechnic College". Previously, there were branches of
St. Petersburg and Moscow higher educational institutions in the city.
The progressively developing distance education on the basis of the
Education Development Center is receiving special development today. The
city also operates a driving school; L. Lankinen Children's Art School;
Children's Music School named after G. A. Vavilov; Center for
Extracurricular Activities (CVR), offering a wide range of circles and
sections on interests (soft toys, playing the guitar, embroidery,
theater and more)
Those who wish can enroll in different age
groups to attend judo, karate classes, dance clubs "Armageddon", "Jet
Set", "Viva Dance", "Thumbelina", "Partita". In Kostomuksha, a
vocational guidance center "Stalker" was created according to Finnish
projects. No less important organization of the city is the patriotic
circle "Russians". Most of the "Russians" live in Kostomuksha, but there
are followers in other cities of Karelia. The activities of the
"Russians" include not only holding rallies and meetings with war
veterans, but also holding actions in defense of peace in Kostomuksha
and other cities of Karelia and Russia.
Monument to Alexei Kosygin and Urho Kekkonen. Chairman of the Council
of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin and President of the Republic of
Finland Urho Kekkonen played a key role in the fact that a new city
appeared on the map of the republic - Kostomuksha. On September 14,
1978, they laid the foundation stone for the Kostomuksha Mining and
Processing Plant. In 1983, Kostomuksha received the status of a city of
republican subordination.
Monument "Friendship". A gift from the
Finn-Stroy construction company to the city of Kostomuksha in memory of
the fruitful Soviet-Finnish cooperation. It is made in granite and
bronze. The author of the monument is the Finnish sculptor Terho Sakki.
The opening of the monument took place on June 18, 1985 at a rally in
connection with the completion of the construction of the mining and
processing plant.
Monument to the Fallen Heroes.
Monument
"Akhvenyarvskie stones". 20 km from the city, on the shores of Lake
Kostomukshskoye near the bypass road, there is a monument
"Akhvenyarvskie stones" at the site of the battle of the partisans of
the "Battle Cry" detachment, who died in battle near the Ahvenyarvi farm
on December 31, 1943. On June 11, 1988, a commemorative sculptural
composition was unveiled. In 2012, next to the sculptural composition,
the remains of four unknown warriors were buried, discovered as a result
of search work in the lake area.
Chamber Art Festival.
Festival of Author's Songs. S. Ozhigova.
Rock music festival Nord Session.
Song Festival. Veikko Pällinen.
Folklore festival KANTELETAR.
MPuzzle Festival.
Hozyushka, blvd. Lazareva, d.4.
Podkova, street Mira, 16
Frigate, Prigranichnoe shosse, d.13.
Sanatorium-prophylactic
"Gornyak", ul. Mira, d. 19a