Shagonar (Tuv. Shagaan-Aryg) is a city (since 1945) in the Tyva Republic of the Russian Federation. The administrative center of the Ulug-Khem kozhuun. It forms an urban settlement, the city of Shagonar, as the only settlement in its composition.
The name from the hydronym of the Tsaganaryg river is Mongolian tsagan - "white", arag - "dry bed"; this name was distorted by Tuvinians in Shagonar.
The modern city was rebuilt mainly in the 1970s - 1980s. by the trust
"Shagonartyazhstroy" (1978; leaders - B.N. Glazkov and A.M. Novitsky;
chief engineer A.N. Serzhantov) with the participation of specialists
from the cities of Krasnoyarsk and Kirovograd (now Kropivnitsky), 70
Komsomol members from the Ukrainian SSR. Among the buildings erected
then: five-story residential buildings, the administration building, the
House of Culture, a hospital, a cinema hall, and schools.
In
2012–2014 in correctional colony No. 4, a wooden church of St. Seraphim
of Sarov was built. Since 2018, a Buddhist khuree (temple) has been
under construction in the eastern part of the city (as of early 2023).
Monuments were erected in Shagonar: to the Hero of the Soviet Union
T. B. Kechil-ool (1990), to the soldiers - participants in the Afghan
conflict of 1979-1989. (2016).
On the left bank of the Yenisei River, 9 km northeast of Shagonar,
there is the sacred mountain Khayyrakan (height above sea level - 1043
m). It is one of the most revered natural objects of the subject of the
Russian Federation. In 1992, the mountain was consecrated by the Dalai
Lama XIV as a "place of special power", a pilgrimage is made to its foot
every year.
15 km southwest of Shagonar, in the town of
Beldir-Kezhii, there is an ethnocultural museum-reserve "Beldir-Kezhii"
(2016) - a branch of the National Museum of the Republic of Tyva named
after Aldan-Maadyr. The museum-reserve includes: a pavilion with a
suburgan "Nogaan Dariygi" (2015, sculptor L. Kh. Urzhuk), monuments to
the Tuvan language (2016) and Subedey-Maadyru, the largest Buddha statue
in Tyva (height 3 m, weight 3 tons ; sculptor L. Kh. Urzhuk) and others.
To the west of Shagonar there are a number of settlements of the
Uighur Khaganate (Shagonar and others; some are flooded by the waters of
the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir).
In the vicinity of the city
there are reserves of minerals - coal, iron ores, barite, fluorite,
strontium; gravel (Shagonar and Iyi-Tal deposits), clay and loam
(Torgalyg, Choduraa, Khayyrakan deposits), sand and limestone
(Khayyrakan deposit), alluvial gold (Serlig-Kuylug-Khemskoye deposit).
There are (2021) in the city: 4 preschool educational institutions, 3 secondary general educational institutions (2 schools and 1 gymnasium); Children's art school, sports school of Ulug-Khem kozhuun.
The city is located within the Tuva depression, on the left bank of the Yenisei (local name - Ulug-Khem), 115 km west of Kyzyl on the Kyzyl-Teeli highway (former A162).
The foundation date of Shagonar is considered to be 1888, when
the Cossack of the Minusinsk district M.F. Tarkhov built the first
stone house on the site of the future city. In 1916 a school was
opened in this building. By the time the Russian protectorate was
established over the Uryankhai region (1914), there were 28 houses
and over 200 inhabitants in Shagonar.
In the spring of 1918,
Soviet power was briefly established in Shagonar. In 1918–1920 power
has changed over and over again. In March 1921, the Mongolian arats
defeated detachments of Chinese troops near Shagonar.
After
the proclamation of the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva Ulus (August
14, 1921), Shagonar in 1921-1923. was a member of the Beise-khoshun.
In 1923–1944 - the center of the Ulug-Khem khoshun of the People's
Republic of Tannu-Tuva Ulus (since 1926 - the Tuva People's
Republic).
After Tuva joined the USSR and transferred to the
RSFSR (1944) - the center of the Ulug-Khem khoshun (1944-1945) and
the region (1945-1994) as part of the Tuva Autonomous Region
(1944-1961), the Tuva ASSR (1961-1991) , Tuva SSR (1991), Republic
of Tuva (1991–1993), Republic of Tyva (since 1993). Since 1945 - the
city.
In the 1970s, due to the threat of flooding during the
construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station,
the city was moved to a distance of 7 km in the direction of the
city of Kyzyl. Since 1994, the center of the Ulug-Khemsky kozhuun of
the Republic of Tuva. Since 2004, it has been the urban settlement
"City of Shagonar".
The economically active population is 6695 people, or 60.5% of the
total population of Shagonar (2017). The city's economy employs 3,426
people (2017). The level of officially registered unemployment (among
the economically active population) is 2.6%, according to the
methodology of the International Labor Organization - 17.5% (2017).
The basis of the urban economy is industry (food, textile, building
materials), trade; about 50% of the population is employed in public
sector organizations (public administration, education and healthcare).
Food industry enterprises produce bread and bakery products,
confectionery, dairy products, dalgan (coarse flour from roasted barley
grains), chinge-taraa (fried millet) and semi-finished products. There
are small enterprises for deep processing of wool and dressing of skins.
Commercial timber, lumber, cinder block bricks, etc. are produced.
Personal subsidiary farms of the population of Shagonar specialize
in cattle breeding. Officially, about 10% of the employed population
works in agriculture (2017).
There is one hotel (9 places, 2019).
The city of Shagonar is located in the time zone MSK + 4. The time offset from UTC is +7: 00.
Since 2012, there has been an Orthodox parish in Shagonar in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The parish uses the premises rented in the building of the City Administration for its activities. On the basis of the parish, since June 25, 2012, a missionary camp has been functioning, whose employees carry out educational work with both adults and children. An Orthodox church and an Orthodox community under construction in colony No. 4 are assigned to the parish. Negotiations are underway with the kozhuun administration to provide land for the construction of an Orthodox church. 90 percent of the population are adherents of Buddhism, Lamaism, and Shamanism.
In Shagonar, as well as in Kyzyl, there are 4 mobile operators - Beeline, MTS, MegaFon, ETK. It is also worth noting the appearance in the city of the third generation 3G network of operators Beeline, MTS, Megafon.