It is rich in cities with a bright reputation of Russia! Nizhny Tagil is one of them. Many associate it with prisons and camps. But not only in places not so remote and Siberian ores this city is remarkable.
Geographic characteristics
The city of Nizhny Tagil is located almost on the border separating Europe from Asia. To the point of intersection of two continents from it only some 20 kilometers. And to the heart of the Urals - Yekaterinburg - 150 km. Refers to the Sverdlovsk region. Index Nizhny Tagil is easy, memorable. It starts at 622 and then the post office code is attached to it.
The city is located in a mountainous area - in the middle section of the eastern slope of the Ural Range. Its area is just over 297 square kilometers. In the urban area there are three mountains that smoothly pass into the plains of the West Siberian lowlands in the east.
Nizhny Tagil is not deprived of water resources. Fourteen rivers flow through it! The largest of them is called Tagil.
Near the city are the largest ore deposits - iron and magnetite. Pyrite, limestone and some other minerals are also mined here.
The climate in these places is severe - Siberian or, in scientific terms, sharply continental. Cold winters, lasting six months, and short cool summers (what can be called heat lasts from the strength of a week or two). It rains almost constantly. Unusual weather in Nizhny Tagil in the spring - within one day the thermometer can "jump" twenty degrees up or down. And the average annual temperature does not exceed 1.7 degrees.
History of Nizhny Tagil
Nizhny Tagil officially keeps its chronicle since 1722, although "life was born" on its territory much earlier. So, for example, it is known that at the end of the sixteenth century Ermak stood here with his army.
After more than a century, the tidbit of the Ural territory was given by Peter the First oligarchs by today's standards - the Demidov family, who built an “iron-making” plant on land abundant in minerals. With this step, the sovereign pursued the goal of strengthening Russia in military-technical terms.
The first smelting of cast iron dates back to October 8, 1722. It is this day that historians consider the beginning of the existence of Nizhny Tagil.
Vyiska smelter was the largest in the Russian Empire. But the village around him for a long time remained small, quiet, unpretentious. In addition to the uprising of Pugachev and Yulaev, as well as the hot "red-white" battles during the civil war, this area is practically not remarkable in historical terms.
After the revolution, the village began to develop more actively. The construction of new plants and factories required the expansion of infrastructure, and in 1931 Nizhny Tagil was given the status of a city.
During the Second World War, like all of Russia, Nizhny Tagil made every effort to defeat the enemy. The Ural Industrial Center has become a haven for Soviet metallurgy. The legendary T-72 tank was produced here.
By the end of the eighties, the city had grown very much, having grown by as much as 70% in some 50 years.
Population
One of the most important characteristics of any city is its population. Nizhny Tagil is home to 356,744 people (data for 2015). In the last few decades, the demographic picture here was depressing - mortality exceeded the birth rate, people left. If we recall that back in 1988 the population of Nizhny Tagil had 425 thousand in number, it turns out that the city lost almost 70 thousand people in forty years.
Today, the situation has stabilized somewhat - at least, local authorities declare this. The birth rate is promoted by the practice of allocating maternal capital, and mortality is reduced by improving the environmental situation and improving the quality of medical services.
What does the population do here? Nizhny Tagil, as you know, is a city of large industrial enterprises. Therefore, the bulk of the Tagil people are workers. A lot of pensioners live in the city (harmful industry involves early retirement), as well as people with disabilities, children who have lost the bread-winner, and representatives of other socially unprotected categories of citizens. But there are few entrepreneurs in Nizhny Tagil. People are afraid to be left alone with economic instability and complicated legislation, so they prefer to stick to state or large private enterprises.
Territorial structure of Nizhny Tagil
The city of Nizhny Tagil is divided into four administrative regions: Dzerzhinsky, Tagilstroevsky, Leninsky and Prigorodny. The latter became a member of Tagil recently. It represents a large number of united towns and villages.
The areas of Nizhny Tagil are not alike
Tagilstroyevsky is the largest, most populous and "scattered". On its territory are located both industrial zones and the largest sleeping areas.
Dzerzhinsky is very isolated. Locals even call it the "satellite city." It is inhabited by 120 thousand people, most of whom work at the Ural Carriage Works and practically do not "communicate" with other parts of Tagil.
The suburban area is only being formed as a whole, but so far it is characterized by some fragmentation.
Well, Leninsky is the center. Nizhny Tagil here pleases with low-rise pre-war buildings and even houses preserved from the 19th century. The houses appreciated by architecture prisoners are captivated by captured Germans - they are decorated with stucco, columns, decorative balconies, etc. Although there are a lot of commonplace “Khrushchevs” in the Leninsky district. It is here that the most expensive real estate in the city. The cost of one square meter in an old house with a good view from the window can reach seventy thousand rubles.
Urban infrastructure
Speaking of urban infrastructure, the main problems of the Tagil people should be highlighted. These are utilities and roads. According to the local population, Nizhny Tagil is a very expensive “communal” city. Mandatory payments take about a third of the salary from the average employee of the plant and leave practically no one living on benefits. Well, and the roads ... They look more or less decently only in the center.
But in Nizhny Tagil, the transport network is well developed - there are no passenger congestion due to trams subsidized by the local budget.
There are no problems with school education - there are enough places for desks for all students. What can not be said about kindergartens. In the conditions of the demographic situation stabilized in recent years, they are clearly not enough.
Economy
Nizhny Tagil keeps afloat at the expense of two enterprises - the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Combine and the Ural Carriage Works. They are city-forming and provide jobs for about 55 thousand people. Another flourishing plant is UralChemPlast, which many locals dream of getting on.
In addition to heavy industry, trade is very developed in the city. A large number of supermarkets, markets, shopping centers, etc. need a constant influx of workers. By the way, thanks to such serious competition in terms of price, Nizhny Tagil is quite an attractive city. Food and manufactured goods here can be bought a little cheaper than in neighboring smaller settlements.
The city is connected by rail with the main megalopolises of the country and has its own airport. Flights are made both within Russia and abroad.
Ecology
Nizhny Tagil, being a large industrial center, cannot boast of ecological well-being. Since the days of the USSR, many have been familiar with jokes about the “moron from Tagil,” about soot-colored snow, about mutants, etc.
Such black humor did not make the lives of the Tagil people more fun, who were seriously ill and died in the prime of life.
But after 1991, many industrial enterprises closed or went into private hands with a reduction in the scope of activities. This, of course, favorably affected the environment. And today's giants are trying to get away from "dirty" production by purchasing high-quality treatment equipment.
Today, the main environmental pollutants in Tagil include cars, burning peat bogs, landfills and dust.
Crime
There is an opinion that Nizhny Tagil is the criminal capital of the Russian Federation. And there is some truth in such conviction. After all, the city is surrounded by "zones", and, having served their sentence, their "inhabitants", as a rule, remain in Tagil. In addition, the Gulag prisoners, who also later became Tagil, were driven to the construction of the city. And genetic memory is an important thing.
But, in fairness, it should be noted that if a couple of decades ago the criminal situation here could be called a stalemate and even the execution of a dozen people did not cause local special emotions, then today there is still no such rampant crime.
sights
Of course, the streets of Nizhny Tagil do not "burst" with tourists. This harsh city does not have any special attractions.
Some value in the eyes of travelers is the Demidov factory office, as well as the houses of merchants and the factory elite, preserved from the century before last.
It attracts with originality the building where the editorial office of the Tagil Bulletin is located. The Tagil pond beckons to its shores - its embankment is considered a favorite vacation spot for citizens.
A curious tourist will be interested to visit the museum of the history of the development of ferrous metallurgy technology, which, in fact, is a factory.
Leisure in Nizhny Tagil
Since the weather in Nizhny Tagil does not offer outdoor walks and picnic trips, the leisure area here is “covered”. Among the popular recreation places for city dwellers are cinemas where 3D movies are now fashionable, cultural and entertainment centers and night clubs, elite restaurants of national cuisines and more democratic cafes.
During the protracted winter, the local population simply has no choice but to spend evenings and weekends in such places, therefore the catering and entertainment business in Nizhny Tagil is quite developed.
Interesting facts about Tagil
Few people know that the city called Nizhny Tagil on the map of Russia could not have existed if not for ... bureaucracy. In 1861, the industrialists Demidov filed an application to rename it to Aleksandrovsk. But the Russian bureaucratic machine moved so slowly that the case got stuck, but it was never completed.
More interesting facts: malachite, mined at a local mine, adorns the walls of the Winter Palace (Malachite Hall), and Tagil steel went to the construction of many skyscrapers in Chicago and New York.
Well, and, of course, the information about the T-72 tank, which is the most massive combat vehicle in the history of the planet, deserves attention. He bears the title "Kalashnikov among the tanks", and Nizhny Tagil is sometimes called "Tank-hail."
Nizhny Tagil: reviews of city guests
Reviews of Nizhny Tagil are very contrasting. Someone calls it a wretched refuge of prisoners, and someone calls it a great city of a great country.
Among the main characteristics distinguished by tourists: industrial power, economic development, the working-peasant mentality of the population, which is characterized by responsiveness and good nature, but has a low level of culture. Both guests and locals are unanimous in the fact that in recent years Nizhny Tagil has changed a lot for the better.
If someone asks what the name of the Russian city is, where there is a long winter and a short summer, where even the air is saturated with metal, where the character of the inhabitants is harsh but resourceful, where heavy industry and a very light zip code - Nizhny Tagil, the answer will be!