Rostov-on-Don

Transportation

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Cultural (and not so cultural) events

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Description of Rostov-on-Don

Rostov-on-Don (often colloquially - Rostov) is the largest city in the south of the Russian Federation. It is the administrative center of the Southern Federal District and the Rostov Region. City was named the city of Military Glory (2008).

It was found by the charter of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna on December 15, 1749. Located in the southeast of the East European Plain, on the banks of the Don River, 46 km from the place of its confluence with the Sea of Azov, 1092 km south of Moscow. The population of 1,130,305 people (2018) is the tenth largest city in Russia. More than 2.16 million people live in the Rostov agglomeration (the fourth largest agglomeration of the country).

The city is a major administrative, cultural, scientific, educational, industrial center and the most important transport hub of southern Russia. Rostov is unofficially referred to as the “Gate of the Caucasus” and the southern capital of Russia, as well as the Don capital. The notion of “Rostov-papa” is widespread.

In 2012, Rostov-on-Don took the 5th place in the quality rating of the urban environment. In 2018, Rostov-on-Don was one of the cities in which matches of the World Cup were held.

History of Rostov-on-Don

Establishment to the early 20th century
From ancient times, the area around the mouth of the Don River has held cultural and commercial importance. Ancient indigenous inhabitants included the Scythian, Sarmat, and Savromat tribes. It was the site of Tanais, an ancient Greek colony, Fort Tana, under the Genoese and Fort Azak in the time of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1749, a custom house was established on the Temernik River, a tributary of the Don, by edict of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, in order to control trade with Turkey. It was co-located with a fortress named for Dimitry of Rostov, a metropolitan bishop of the old northern town of Rostov the Great. Azov, a town closer to the Sea of Azov on the Don, gradually lost its commercial importance in the region to the new fortress.

In 1756, the "Russian commercial and trading company of Constantinople" was founded at the "merchants' settlement" (Kupecheskaya Sloboda) on the high bank of the Don. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, with the incorporation of previously Ottoman Black Sea territories into the Russian Empire, the settlement lost much of its militarily strategic importance as a frontier post.

In 1796, the settlement was chartered and in 1797, it became the seat of Rostovsky Uyezd within Novorossiysk Governorate. In 1806, it was officially renamed Rostov-on-Don. During the 19th century, due to its river connections with Russia's interior, Rostov developed into a major trade center and communications hub. A railway connection with Kharkiv was completed in 1870, with further links following in 1871 to Voronezh and in 1875 to Vladikavkaz.

Concurrent with improvements in communications, heavy industry developed. Coal from the Donets Basin and iron ore from Krivoy Rog supported the establishment of an iron foundry in 1846. In 1859, the production of pumps and steam boilers began. Industrial growth was accompanied by a rapid increase in population, with 119,500 residents registered in Rostov by the end of the nineteenth century along with approximately 140 industrial businesses. The harbor was one of the largest trade hubs in southern Russia, especially for the export of wheat, timber, and iron ore.

In 1779, Rostov-on-Don became associated with a settlement of Armenian refugees from the Crimea at Nakhichevan-on-Don. The two settlements were separated by a field of wheat. In 1928, the two towns were merged. The former town border lies beneath the Teatralnaya Square of central Rostov-on-Don. By 1928, following the incorporation of the hitherto neighboring city of Nakhichevan-on-Don, Rostov had become the third largest city in Russia.

In the early 20th century, epidemics of cholera during the summer months were not uncommon.

20th century
During the Russian Civil War, the Whites and the Reds contested Rostov-on-Don, then the most heavily industrialized city of South Russia. By 1928, the regional government had moved from the old Cossack capital of Novocherkassk to Rostov-on-Don.

In the Soviet years, the Bolsheviks demolished two of Rostov-on-Don's principal landmarks: St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (1908) and St. George Cathedral (1783–1807).

During World War II, German forces occupied Rostov-on-Don, at first for ten days from November 21, 1941 to November 29, 1941 after attacks by the German First Panzer Army in the Battle of Rostov and then for seven months from July 23, 1942 to February 14, 1943. The town was of strategic importance as a railway junction and a river port accessing the Caucasus, a region rich in oil and minerals. It took ten years to restore the city from the damage during World War II.

27,000 Jews were massacred by the German military on August 11 and 12, 1942 in Rostov-on-Don on a site called Zmievskaya Balka.

Modern period
In 2018, Rostov-on-Don will be a host city to matches of the FIFA World Cup.

Transportation

To Rostov-on-Don by plane

Rostov-on-Don Airport (Russian: Аэропорт Ростов-на-Дону) Aeroport Rostov-na-Donu (IATA: RVI (after Nov 26, 2017) / ROV (before Nov 27, 2017), ICAO: URRR) was an international airport located 8 km (5 mi) east of the city of Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia. It was one of the largest airports in the south-west of Russia and the 12th busiest in the country. It was founded in 1925 and was designated an international airport in 1986. The airport served 50 destinations in Russia and abroad and hosted 30 airlines. It was a hub for Donavia. In 2015, Rostov Airport handled 2.06 million passengers, including 565 thousand on international routes.