Korolyov (city)
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Korolyov or Korolev (Russian: Королёв) is an industrial city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, well-known as the cradle of space exploration. It was originally founded as Kaliningrad in 1938 by Vasiliy Boldyrev, Naum Nosovsky and Mikhail Loginov as the leading Soviet center for production of anti-tank and air-defense guns. However, after the Great Patriotic war the artillery plant was reconstructed in 1946 for production of rockets, launch vehicles and spacecrafts under the guidance of Russian scientist and academician Sergei Korolev to consolidate the activities of many people in the space exploration programme.
[edit] History
In the 12th century, a Slavic settlement was located on the place of modern Korolyov. The settlement stood on a junction of trade routes between Moscow and Vladimir-Suzdal principalities. After the Mongol invasion the region was in decline. In the 18th century, one of the first textile factories in Russia was established here.
In 1924, the first OGPU working commune in the Soviet Union was established here. In 1938, the town of Kaliningrad was founded in place of the Kalininsky settlement near an artillery plant, which had previously been evacuated from Petrograd.
Korolyov was a place of elite dachas in the end of 19th centrury - beginning of 20th century. Many famous people, such as Konstantin Stanislavski, Anton Chekhov, Valery Bryusov, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Isaac Levitan, Pavel Tretyakov, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Vladimir Lenin, lived here.
Nowadays, Korolyov is the seventh biggest city in Moscow Oblast, with population of 142,568 as of the 2002 Census. In 2005 it became the third biggest one in the region, mostly due to an afflux of new inhabitants considering it one of the most attractive places to live near Moscow. The main enterprise of the city is the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, but there are several kinds of industries in the city.
[edit] External links
- (English) Official Web site of Korolyov
- (Russian) Official Web site of Korolyov
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