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Bryansk region

• Bryansk region was founded on July 5, 1944 • Regional centre –city of Bryansk • Region occupies an area of 34,900 sq. km (0.20% of Russia's total area) • Population of the region (c. 1.01.2000) is 1,456,000 people (0.99% of Russia's) • Density of population – 42.4 people/sq. km • Administrative areas – 27 • Cities of regional subordination – 5 • Population of the largest cities: Bryansk – 458,900; Klintsy – 69,800; Novozybkov – 43,100

General Information

Situated in the centre of the Russian plain, Bryansk region has for a long time been distinguished with its favourable position and played an important role in the defence of Russian land and Russian State. The region's position on the watershed of two large river systems — those of the Dnepr and Volga — influenced its settlement and economic development. The Dnepr, where the Desna flow, was at allways the main water-way of the Western part of the Russian plain. It connected Bryansk region with the Volga, Don, Western Dvina, and through them — the Caspian, Azov, Black and Baltic Seas. Water trade way “from the Varangians to the Greeks” drew the region into a circle of trade relations. As an administrative entity, though, Bryansk region is quite young. It was formed on July 5, 1944 from the Western part of Orel region. Bryansk region lies in the western part of the Russian plain occupying the middle part of the Desna basin and woody watershed between it and the Oka. The region borders two republics and two regions of the Russian Federation: to the west — Belarus (Gomel and Mogilev regions), to the north — Kaluga and Smolensk regions, to the east and south-east — Orel and Kursk regions, to the south — Ukraine (Chernigov and Sumy regions). General Data The region is divided into 27 areas, has 16 cities, including 5 of regional subordination, and 27 urban-type communities. The region's centre is the city of Bryansk (population 458,000 people, founded in 985, lies 379 kms from Moscow). Other major cities are Klintsy, Novozybkov and Dyatkovo. The climate is temperate continental. Winter is relatively mild and snowy, summer is warm. The average temperature in January is -7-9° Celsius, of July +18-20°C. The average is precipitations are 500–600 mms per year. Water resources Bryansk region has 125 rivers with a total length of 9,000 kms. The rivers of Bryansk region belong to the Dnepr basin. The longest river is the Dnepr's confluent the Desna (whose source is in the village of Nalety in Smolensk region, and which flows into the Dnepr 6 kms from the city of Kiev). Its length is 1187 kms. Desna's confluents, the Bolva, Navlya, Neroussa, Soudost and others flow into it in Bryansk region. In the west flow the Besed and Ipout, confluents of the Sozh. There are 49 large lakes in the region, of which the largest is lake Kozhany (450 hectares). Minerals There are large quantities of peat in the region, also a stock of raw materials (sand, coal, rotten-stone, chalk) for the construction industry and glass manufacturing, phosphate-rich ores for mineral fertilizer production. Forests Bryansk region lies in a forest zone, only the extreme south-east belongs to the forest-steppe zone. Forests cover about 1 million hectares and are situated irregularly. The most widespread wood species are oak, black alder, ash-tree, maple and linden. The total wood stock is about 100 million cubic metre. The Bryanskiy Les (Bryansk forest) preserve occupies a square area of about 12,000 hectares. Now the Pridesnyanskiy national park’s being organized on the territory of Bryanskiy, Navlinskiy, Vygonicheskiy and Triubchevskiy areas, of which the total area will be 104,549 hectares. Industry Bryansk region is one of the Central Russian regions with highly-developed industrial potential. In the production structure the leading role is played by enterprises of mechanical engineering and metal-working, electric, chemical, forest, wood-processing and pulp-and-paper, light and textile industries, as well as those related to construction. Agriculture The share of agricultural production in the region's gross product is less than 20%. The main agricultural products of the region are related to grain, potato and vegetable-growing, as well as meat and milk. Natural and climate conditions let grow such grain-crops as rye, wheat, barley, oats and buckwheat to be grown. Potatoes traditionally represent large share of the region's agricultural production (24%). Industrial crops like flax, hemp and sugar-beet are also grown in the region. Transport The total length of the region's railways is 979 kms. There are three big junctions: Bryansk-1 passenger station, Bryansk-1 yard and the Unecha divisional station. The total length of the region's motor roads is 13,075 kms, including 68.5% with hard surfaces. In 1995 Bryansk airport became international.

History&Culture

Bryansk, an old Russian city on the banks of the Desna, is first mentioned in chronicles the beginning of 1147. But its formation as a fortress city started in the last quarter of the 10th century in Chaschin barrow. Since the second half of the 12th century the major part of Bryansk lay on the Pokrovskaya mountain, where in the Middle Ages a wooden Kremlin fortress stood, and now a monument dedicated to the city's 1,000th anniversary. With the decomposition of Kievan Russia the city fell under the authority of the Chernigov-Severskiy princedom. After the Tartars' devastation of southern Russian lands, it was Bryansk that became the seat of Chernigov's great princes and bishops. For the middle of the 13th century the city was governed by prince Roman Mikhailovich, a courageous warrior, a good family man and a strong and wise politician. This prince is also known as the founder, in 1288, of the Svenskiy-Uspenskiy monastery close to Bryansk. The monastery later played an important role in the spiritual and economic life of Russia. In the 14th century there started inner revolts, afight for power, and finally the city became a part of the Great Princedom of Lithuania. It was under Lithuanian rule until 1500 when its citizen swore allegiance to the Moscow tsars. In the 16th-17th centuries Bryansk was an important defense centre on the south-western borders of Russia. Its inhabitants repeatedly fought against the Crimean Tatars, false-Dimitriy II, and the so-called “free Cossacks”, but first of all against Polish and Lithuanian troops. At that time, most of the city's inhabitants were military: gentry, gunmen, soldiers, but there were also some other people, like townsmen, clergymen, coachmen and peasants. With time Bryansk played a more and more important role in the country's economic life. Svenskaya fair became a place of development of international trade. Some rich tradesmen and craftsmen became merchants and manufacturers: the Koltsovs, the Babaevs, the Komarovs, the Mogilevtsevs (this family is especially known for its charitable activities). In the 18th century there appeared the first state enterprises. Like the shipyard constructed at the decree of the emperor Peter I, and the Arsenal that in 1786 started to mould cannons for the Russian army. Some Russian emperors visited the city like Peter I, Elisabeth, Alexandr I, Alexandr II when he was still was heir to the throne. Till the beginning of the 19th century the city remained wooden, a century later it had more than 100 stone buildings. But the city's style was determined by the rocket-like silhouettes of its numerous temples and not its stone edifices. Unfortunately, only a small amount of these churches has survived. In 1868 the the first trains passed through Bryansk. By the beginning of the 20th century the city had become a large railway centre. It was about this time that a at few railway and industrial villages sprung up in the suburbs. These villages, in the Soviet times developed into the Bezhitskiy, Volodarskiy and Fokinskiy districts, and the old city became Sovietskiy district. The 20th century was a time of great changes for life of Bryansk. The city's industrial potential grew rapidly: besides BMZ (Bryansk Metallurgical Plant), the Arsenal and other enterprises, there appeared several defense industry plants, a worsted factory, a meat-processing factory and a chemical plant. The changes in the cultural field are more striking. Institutes of transport engineering, technological and pedagogy have become large centere of training (nowadays all these institutions are academies and universities). There are large specialized medical institutions working in the city, as well as different cultural establishments (a theatre, a theatre for young spectators, a circus, a cinema and a concert hall, museums of local lore, art and others, a number of libraries, palaces of culture, sport palaces and stadiums). The Solovyi (Nightingales) park and the park named after A.K. Tolstoy with its wonderful wooden monuments and a museum of Bryansk forest became the favourite place to relax for the local citizens. A number of monuments and memorials remind the Bryansk people and tourists of the city's glorious history. There are a great many monuments symbolizing the feats of Bryansk warriors and in the times of the Great Patriotic War (such as Barrow of Glory, monuments on Partizan Square and others). In the new millennium Bryansk continues to grow and develop. Any visitor of the city will notice the multy-story houses of architecture, new microdistricts, churches' crosses and domes shining in gold again, a number of modern enterprises, a lot of greenery and flowers around. The cultural life of Bryansk is also interesting and diverse. New educational institutions, like lyceums, colleges, branches of the capital's universities better orientate the youth to the modern way of life. Bryansk remains young and modern, which makes it one of the most perspective cities of New Russia!