Dolgoprudny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dolgoprudny (Russian: Долгопру́дный) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about 20 km north from Moscow. The town's name is derived from Russian "Долгий пруд", dolgy prud, lit. "long pond", a long and narrow pond situated in the north-eastern part of the town. The town's name is sometimes colloquially shortened as Dolgopa. Population: 74,000 (2004 est.); 68,792 (2002 Census), 70,751 (1989 Census).
[edit] Location
The area of the town is 20.7 km². It borders Moscow in the south and in the east, Khimki in the south-west, and is limited by the Moscow Canal in the west and by the Klyazminskoye Reservoir in the north. The town can be reached by suburban train from the Savyolovsky Terminal of Moscow in about 20 minutes to one of the three platforms: Novodachnaya, Dolgoprudnaya, or Vodniki, or by bus shuttle from Rechnoy Vokzal and Altufyevo stations of the Moscow Metro. The Dmitrovskoye highway connecting Moscow with Dmitrov and Dubna passes just east of the town.
[edit] History
A settlement of Vinogradovo situated in the place of the modern town was known at least since the 17th century. Then a railway was built in 1900s and a railway platform was built in 1914. The settlement started to develop as an airship manufacturing plant was built there in 1931. The aeronautic engineer Umberto Nobile worked there for five years during the 1930s. For a few years during the 1930s the settlement was renamed Dirizhablstroy (meaning "airship building").
In 1951, the famous Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology moved to Dolgoprudny, and a construction of its present campus started in the southern part of the town, inspired by the Nobel Prize winners Pyotr Kapitsa, Lev Landau, and Nikolay Semyonov.
Now the town has machinery-building, engineering, and chemical industries. It is being extensively developed with much commercial and residential construction due to its favorable location and following the growing demand for real estate in the suburbs of Moscow.
