The space capital of Russia is located just six kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road. Korolev was founded in 1938. About 220 thousand people live and work in the science city today. What monuments in Korolev can be considered his main business cards? Read about it in our article.
Korolev: some interesting facts about the city
The city of Korolev is a well-maintained and comfortable for life settlement, leading its chronology since 1938. In the middle of the last century, it was here that a number of important research institutes, factories, and design bureaus were created. One of them was the Special Design Bureau NII-88 (now - RSC Energia). It was this enterprise from 1948 to 1966 that was headed by Sergey Korolev, a famous Soviet designer.
Modern Korolev is the largest research and production center in Russia. It was here that the world's first artificial satellite of the Earth was developed ; it was in this city that the “road to Cosmos” was laid for the whole of mankind.
The following are the most interesting facts from the history and modern life of the city of Korolev:
- Until 1996, the city was called Kaliningrad.
- Korolev appeared in the 30s on the site of 14 villages and summer cottages (the names of some of them were preserved in the form of the names of modern urban areas).
- Korolev is the third most populated city in the Moscow Region.
- An eastern water canal has been laid across the territory of the science city, supplying the capital of the Russian Federation with drinking water.
- In 2015, in Korolev, an architectural monument, the Stroyburo House, was illegally demolished, along with which the unique murals of the artist Vasily Maslov were destroyed.
- In Korolyov, a building is preserved, which is one and a half centuries older than the city itself. This is the Orthodox single-domed church of Cosmas and Damian, dated by historians in 1786.
The main monuments of the city of Korolyov
Over 30 different monuments, stelae, obelisks and memorial complexes have been installed in the science city. Some of them, of course, are devoted to space issues. Among them:
- a stele with a bas-relief of pilot and cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov;
- monument to designer A. M. Isaev;
- monument and bust of S.P. Korolev;
- obelisk to the creators of space technology;
- monument to the first artificial satellite of the Earth;
- Monument Rocket "East".
There are monuments in Korolev dedicated to other events and personalities that are not related to space exploration (for example, Lenin, Dzerzhinsky or Yuri Mozzhorin). Thanks to its size and design, the monument “Kaliningraders' Warriors”, which is installed on Oktyabrsky Boulevard, looks very impressive.
A difficult but vibrant biography of the Soviet designer
The monument to the Queen in Korolev was not at all erected. The well-known Ukrainian and Soviet designer has lived in this city for almost two decades, leading his most important enterprise. In Korolyov, not far from the entrance to the RSC Energia, a 3-storey house has been preserved. In it lived the great scientist and academician, twice Hero of Socialist Labor - Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. This is evidenced by a plaque mounted on the wall of the building.
However, the biography of a world-famous designer was far from cloudless. Sergey Korolev was born in 1906 in Zhytomyr. He spent most of his childhood in Nizhyn with his maternal grandparents. It was there that for the first time in his life he saw a flight on an airplane. This event incredibly shocked the boy and was forever deposited in his memory.
In the 1920s, Korolev was seriously carried away by gliding. In 1930, the future designer met with Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, after which he seriously thought about flying to the stratosphere. A year later, together with F. Zander Korolev founded the Moscow GIRD - a group for the study of jet propulsion. In 1933, under his leadership, the first liquid rocket in the USSR was launched.
In 1938, the black streak began in the life of the Queen. He was accused of sabotage and sent to Butyrka prison. The scientist had to sit in it for 10 years. However, in 1942, the Soviet government realized the full value and enormous potential of Sergey Korolev and returned him to design work. In 1946, he moved to Kaliningrad, Moscow Region, and headed the design bureau founded there. It was here that the Queen was waiting for the most important successes and achievements in his life.
Monument to the Queen in Korolev: description and reviews of tourists
Since 1988, the bronze figure of the great designer has been walking slowly along the main avenue of the city, slowly dropping his head and holding his hands in the pockets of a long cloak. The Monument to the Queen in Korolev is one of the iconic sights of the science city. Although many tourists call the sculpture itself gray, expressionless and even somewhat gloomy.
Nevertheless, the townspeople love and appreciate this monument. There are always a lot of people in the territory adjacent to it; dates and business meetings are made here.
The Monument to the Queen in Korolev was inaugurated back in Soviet times. The opening ceremony was attended by scientists, designers and employees of the local research institute. They all came to pay tribute to the man without whom the USSR would hardly have become the leading space rocket power in the world.
Korolev and Gagarin - “father and son” of the Soviet cosmonautics
Today, in the city of Korolev, they intend to establish another reminder of the glorious biography of the science city - a monument to Korolev and Gagarin. The sculptural composition is planned to be installed near the central recreation center. The opening of the monument is expected in 2017. It will be dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the flight into space of Yuri Gagarin and the 110th anniversary of the birth of S.P. Korolev.
The project of the future monument is already ready. Yuri Gagarin and Sergey Korolev will be depicted sitting on a city bench during a conversation. And anyone can take a picture next to the main Soviet conquerors of Space.
Finally…
The Monument to the Queen in Korolev is considered one of the main symbols of the science city near Moscow. In honor of the outstanding physicist and designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, this city was named in 1996. The monument itself on its central avenue appeared in 1988, that is, eight years earlier.