Segezha is located in Olonets Karelia. The city is located on the
western shore of Lake Vygozero at the confluence of the river of the
same name, 270 km north of Petrozavodsk.
Large industrial and wood processing center of Karelia.
The
administrative center of the Segezha region of the republic.
Memorial in honor of those killed during the war, st. Mira, square at the intersection with the street. Kalinina.
Segezha is a typical Soviet town that grew up around the city-forming
enterprise (pulp and paper mill). There is no interesting architecture
in it. In the old part of the city there is a cinema and a recreation
center of standard construction, unattractive wooden barrack-type houses
and even less attractive Khrushchev and Stalin buildings. You can also
find a very neglected city park there (along Mira Street). In the new
part of the city there is nothing at all worthy of attention, except for
the not very well-kept Boulevard of Soviets and the wooden Trinity
Church (with a chapel and garden) built in the 2010s along the
boulevard. There are also several war memorials scattered around the
city.
In the summer, you can visit the beach: in the immediate
vicinity of Segezha there are several beautiful wild beaches on the
shores of local lakes. The most convenient way to get to the beach (in
the absence of personal transport and a map) is by taxi, which can be
ordered by phone or found in the central square (Mira Square). Taxi
drivers will not only not be surprised by such an order, but will also
tell you which beach is best to go to. Prices are low, and if you go
with a group, they are generally cheap.
Museum Center of Segezha , st. Mira, 16. ☎ +8 (1431) 4-30-53. 10:00–17:00 except Sun; Saturdays: 11:00–17:00. 100 rub. A nice provincial local history museum, where everything that has at least some relation to the history of the city and its surroundings is collected. Ethnographic department, war department, etc. Exhibitions are organized, including in the neighboring building of the Palace of Culture (Segezha Culture and Leisure Center - Sovetskaya St., 8).
By train
The Volkhovstroy-Murmansk railway line passes through
Segezha. By trains from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk, traveling to
Murmansk from Petrozavodsk.
By car
Federal highway P21 (E105)
“Kola” runs 10 kilometers west of the city.
By bus
Intercity
bus service is provided with the cities of Petrozavodsk and Kostomuksha,
with the settlements of Vacha, Pertozero, Popov Porog, Taboi Porog,
Kamenny Bor, Nadvoitsy, Voldozero and Salmon Porog.
Hotel complex "Segezha", Lesokulturnaya str., 4 (food, parking with video surveillance, internet, etc.). ☎ 881431-7-36-37. 500r-5300r.
In Segezha, almost all streets (except the newest ones) have
extremely poor asphalt pavement; It seems that the roads there have not
been repaired since the founding of the city. Therefore, when using
personal transport, you should move carefully and not quickly.
In
some places in Segezha there is a strong smell of hydrogen sulfide
(rotten eggs), which is associated with the activities of the pulp and
paper mill. As of 2016, the pulp and paper mill is more dead than alive,
but the smell is sometimes still noticeable. Where exactly depends on
the speed and direction of the wind. There are streets (such as 8 March
Street) where it is almost always felt, but near the House of Culture,
for example, it is almost not felt at all. The only way to avoid this
smell is to simply leave the area of the city where it smells. Moreover,
it can stop smelling very close, just walk 200 meters.
The name comes from the Karelian sees (genus sekehen) - clean, bright (Karolian Seesjarvi - Russian Segozero).
The city is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Vygozero at the
confluence of the Segezha River, 267 km from Petrozavodsk, 670 km from
St. Petersburg.
The Segezha urban settlement borders on rural
settlements: Idelsky in the north, Valdaisky in the southeast and
Popovporozhsky in the southwest. Across Lake Vygozero in the north is
the Nadvoitskoye urban settlement.
Until the 12th-13th centuries, the main population of the area were
the Sami. Later, Karelians and the first Russian settlers from the
Novgorod lands appeared.
In 1694, fugitive peasants and
participants in the Solovetsky Uprising founded the Vygoretsky Monastery
- the “Vygoretsky Abode”. The monastery was located on the Verkhny Vyg
River, but some of its monasteries were also located on the banks of the
Vygozero.
From the beginning of the 1800s - the Vygozerskaya volost of the
Povenets district of the Olonets province. At the beginning of the 20th
century, the Vygozersky volost included three peasant societies -
Maselga, Vygozersky and Koykinitsky.
S. N. Sokolov, who explored
the Povenets district on behalf of the Society of Lovers of Natural
History, Anthropology and Ethnography in 1904, described Segezha this
way: “This village, if you can call it that... consists of one house,
the inhabitant of which is a Korel under the name of Judas, with family.
Thanks to the advantageous location of his house on a large rafting
river and thanks to the abundance of animals, birds and fish in the
surrounding area, as well as water meadows, his family is always
provided with everything necessary and does not suffer great need. The
only inconvenience of this village is the almost complete absence of
roads to it.”
In 1915, during the First World War, construction
of the Murmansk Railway began. Its southern section, 356 versts long,
began from Petrozavodsk and ended at Soroka Bay. This section ran
through the Povenets district. In the Vygozerskaya volost, a IV category
station “Segezha” was built. In November 1916, the railway was put into
operation.
In 1916, M. Bubnovsky traveled along the new railway
to Segezha. His travel notes “On a New Path” were published in February
1917 in the journal Izvestia of the Arkhangelsk Society for the Study of
the Russian North.
Segezha station. Ordinary government
buildings, a reception area, plus a small shop, and in it: herring 25 k.
pcs., cucumbers 5 k. pcs., sweets, mompassier 1 rub. 20 k. pound. All!
(the goods were there, but they came out!).
“It was such a wild
place that it was impossible to get into Nadvoitsa, but now a whole
village has arisen, which more than one Russian village will envy,
because in this village there is a telegraph, a telephone, a doctor, and
a small shop. The station is named after the river. Segezhi. Segezha is
the tenth rafting river, counting from the city of Kem, through which
the railway passes at a distance of approximately 160 versts.
In 1923, after the end of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1921-1922, the
Karelian labor commune was transformed into the Autonomous Karelian SSR.
In August 1928, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive
Committee, an administrative reform was carried out in the republic -
instead of 55 volosts and 7 counties, 26 districts were created,
including the Segezha district. Its territory at that time was 7620 km².
In 1928-1930, Segezha was the administrative center of the region.
In April 1930, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive
Committee, the administrative districts of the AKSSR were consolidated;
as a result, the Segezhsky district was abolished, and its territory was
transferred to the Medvezhyegorsky, Povenetsky and Soroka districts. The
village of Segezha became part of the Medvezhyegorsk district.
In
1932, active construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal began. Already
in 1932, the water level in Vygozero was raised by 6 meters. Due to the
partial flooding of the village of Mayguba, the timber mill and all
other enterprises were transferred to Segezha. In May 1933, the timber
mill began producing products, and in the summer the construction of the
White Sea-Baltic Canal was completed. In 1933, the flooding of the
reservoir to the design level of 7 meters was completed.
In
November 1933, Belbaltlag prisoners began construction of the Segezha
Timber and Paper Mill.
In 1935, the Council of People's
Commissars of the USSR adopted a broad program for the development of
the pulp and paper industry. This program included a clause on the
construction of a timber and chemical plant in Segezha. In the same
year, the first group of builders arrived in the village, who laid the
foundations of industrial buildings and the first houses of the city.
In January 1938, school building No. 1 was built.
On July 1,
1939, the first stage of the new enterprise, the Segezha Pulp and Paper
Mill, was put into operation.
In November 1941, the school was
transferred from the front-line Segezha to the village of Vozhmogora.
Military hospital No. 2217 was located in the school building in
Segezha. During the Great Patriotic War, the Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill
produced mortars and mines. But by May 1943 they managed to obtain
cellulose and several rolls of kraft paper.
On December 26, 1943,
by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Karelo-Finnish
SSR, the workers' village of Segezha received the status of a city, and
since 1945 it has been the administrative center of the newly formed
Segezha district.
In March 1945, the Segezha district was
re-formed.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Segezha was considered the
industrial and cultural center of the region. The city's largest
enterprise, the pulp and paper mill, was the leading enterprise in the
USSR for the production of paper containers.
On June 30, 1978, a
plant for the production of reinforced concrete products was put into
operation (closed in the 1990s).