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Lipetsk Region
// GENERAL INFORMATION
The whole country knows Lipetsk as a city of metallurgists and tractor builders, the native city of Georgy Plekhanov [1856-1918; Russian social philosopher known as the Father of Russian Marxism] and Andrei Zhelyabov [member of the People's Will who took part in the assassination attempts on Alexander II; he was hanged on April 3, 1881, along with the other conspirators], and one of the oldest cities in Russia's Black Earth region.
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Lipetsk Region is part of the Central Black Earth economic district situated on the central part of the Russian Plain. Its economic advantages are the result of its closeness to industrially developed regions, its borders with Ukraine and Belarus, and its location at the intersection of the country's main transportation routes providing stable economic ties with other Russian regions, as well as with neighboring countries.
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The region has a temperate continental climate with an average January temperature of -9.6°C and an average July temperature of +19°C. Nearly 70% of the annual precipitation (450-550 mm) falls in the warm season. The sun shines an average of 2120 hours per year.
Lipetsk Region has a complex of nearly 300 explored deposits of economic minerals. The mineral waters and peat mud of the Lipetsk resort are renowned throughout the country. The Galichya Mountain (Galichya Gora) Reserve established in 1925 and the Usman pine forest of the Voronezh Biosphere Preserve attract both Russian and foreign visitors.
The region was formed as a result of the breakup of several regions in 1954. Today, it consists of 18 rural districts and 8 cities (Lipetsk, Elets, Gryazi, Dankov, Zadonsk, Lebedyan, Usman, and Chaplygin). It has an area of 24 100 km2 and extends 200 km from north to south and 150 km from west to east. The border is more than 900 km long.
The population of Lipetsk Region is 1 239 900 people, about 802 000 of whom are urban residents. Lipetsk (pop. about 521 000) is naturally the largest population center. The region's population density is 51.7 people per km2. Russians make up the majority of the population.
The able-bodied comprise 56% of the population; nearly half the people in this group have higher or secondary education. There is a high demand for skilled workers on the labor market. The population of the region as a whole, as well as the city of Lipetsk, consists mainly of young people with an average age of 25-40; however, the demographic situation is the same as in most regions of European Russia. The region's population is decreasing, and natural increase cannot even ensure simple replacement of the population, because the death rate exceeds the birth rate.
The city of Lipetsk is a large cultural, educational, and industrial center. There are seven higher educational institutions, a large number of regular schools, kindergartens, private general education schools, and a polytechnical university. Lipetsk residents take great care of their accumulated cultural heritage through an extensive network of cultural facilities. The restoration of old churches, monasteries, aristocratic estates, and other historical and cultural monuments is also underway.
The economic potential of Lipetsk Region is based on diversified industrial production, dominated by ferrous metallurgy, which accounts for 60% of the gross regional product.
The soils in Lipetsk Region are predominantly fertile black earths (chernozems), which cover 85% of its territory and are capable of yielding large harvests. There are additional smaller areas of gray forest and sod-podzolic soils. Wheat, barley, other cereal crops, and legumes are all grown here. Livestock farming specializes in cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and poultry. The processing industry is also well developed.
Three main railway lines pass through the region, and modern highways connect Lipetsk with all adjoining central regions, as well as with federal highways, which allow shipment of goods to all parts of the region and the country.
The Lipetsk airport can receive all classes of planes, and a modern communications system allows rapid and reliable connections to any point on earth.
The region has excellent prospects. There is a possibility of a joint Russian-Finnish venture in the near future. The Finns have expressed interest in setting up a plant to produce engines for the prospective LTZ155 tractor model, which was designed in Lipetsk and is also produced there. This idea has the support of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Finnish Ministry of Industry, and the leadership of Lipetsk Region is interested as well. The used of the skilled but cheaper labor, cumulative experience, and scientific achievements of Lipetsk Region will give foreign partners undoubted advantages on both Russian and world markets.
HISTORY
According to archeologists and historians, the territory of present-day Lipetsk Region has been inhabited since ancient times. The towns and fortresses of Dobrinsk (now the village of Dobroe in Dobrovsky District), Dubok (now the village of Dubki in Dankovsky District), and Elets existed even before the Mongol-Tatar invasions that brought so much grief and suffering to the Lipetsk lands. Cities and villages were destroyed and the people driven into slavery. Part of the population fled to the northern and western parts of the country to save themselves from extermination and slavery.
The territory began to revive after the expulsion of the Mongol-Tatar occupiers. The fortified cities of Dankov and Lebedyan, Talitsky Palisade, and Eletskaya Fortress were all completed in a very short period between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Construction of the Belgorod Defensive Line, a strong defensive line for those times, began in 1635. The fortresses of Dobry, Sokolsk, and Usman located within the boundaries of present-day Lipetsk Region were part of this line.
Construction of large factories began in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. These included a water-powered metallurgical plant on the Bely Kolodez River (1693), the Lipskie Iron Works (1700-1712), and the Kuzminsky Anchor Factory with an armorer's workshop (1703-1706). Agriculture and livestock farming developed rapidly because of the increased demand for flax, hemp, and wool resulting from the formation of a regular army and construction of a naval fleet that were going on at the time.
Workers' colonies arose along with the factories. One of these was Lipskaya Settlement, which received the status of a district city called Lipetsk by decree of Catherine the Great of September 16, 1779. In 1781, the city received a coat of arms depicting a linden tree in the lower part of the heraldic shield and the coat of arms of the provincial city of Tambov-a beehive and three bees-in the upper part.
The growth of large landed estates continued in the latter half of the 18th century, and the black earth belt became the state granary.
Master plans for building the city of Lipetsk were drawn up in 1778 and 1784. In 1805, the resort of Lipetsk Mineral Waters was opened by decree of Alexander I, although legend has it that it was first opened by Peter the Great.
Like the rest of Russia, Lipetsk Region did not escape the Revolution of 1917 or the Civil War, and many cultural treasures perished in the fire. The revolutionary repressions against the church and the "bourgeois past" that followed destroyed the country estates of the nobility, monasteries, churches, and private art and literature collections. Many cultural and artistic figures like writer I.A. Bunin and the Stakhovich family [famous for entertaining Russian cultural figures from Pushkin to Tolstoy] fled their homeland.
The broad masses of the population gained access to national and world cultural wealth. As early as the Civil War years [1918-1921], public libraries and museums based on private collections opened and reading rooms, amateur theaters, and workers' clubs began springing up everywhere. The Elets Museum opened in September 1918; one of its founders was the writer M.M. Prishvin, who was teaching in Elets at the time. Other museums subsequently opened in Usman and Zadonsk. A music school opened in Zadonsk in 1920, and the Lipetsk Theater opened in 1921. By 1925, Elets had three museums, six workers' clubs, nine libraries, and two movie theaters. The first school of culture (now a regional school of culture) opened in Zadonsk in 1938.
Lipetsk Region was formed as a subject of the Russian Federation with Lipetsk as its capital by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1954. After the factories closed in 1975, Lipetsk turned into a resort city thanks to the presence of mineral waters. The Lipetsk resort is Russia's oldest urban resort.
RESOURCES
Lipetsk Region is situated in the midst of forests, although forests cover only 7% of its territory, or about 200 000 hectares. The region's forest resources consist of oak groves and mixed pine-deciduous, birch, and aspen forests. The part of the Voronezh Biosphere Preserve known as the Usman pine forest is located here, as well as the Galich Mountain Reserve in the Don River valley. Here in these forests, you may encounter foxes, wolves, badgers, hares, squirrels, moose, deer, and many other animals. A multitude of birds like quail, ducks, grouse, and woodcock enliven the forests with their chatter. Perch, chub, various members of the carp family, roach, bream, pike, and other fish inhabit the rivers. Large rivers like the Ranova, Don, Voronezh, and their tributaries flow through the region.
A temperate climate, numerous water bodies, and beautiful scenery attract both local residents and tourists for recreation.
A whole range of economic minerals has been discovered in Lipetsk Region, the most economically important being dolomite, limestone, clay, sand, and peat. Many of the nearly 300 explored mineral deposits are not developed and remain in reserve; these include iron ore, limonite [bog iron ore], brown coal, and phosphorite reserves.
Dolomite and limestone deposits are found throughout the region. The largest dolomite deposit is the Dankovskoe deposit with reserves of more than 700 million tons, and the largest fluxing limestone deposits are the Studenovskoe and Sitovskoe deposits. Industrial limestone is quarried at the Rozhdestvenskoe, Olshanskoe, and Khmelnitskoe deposits.
There are also deposits of expanded clay loam, ceramic clay, and foundry, silicate, ballast, and building sand; and turf deposits exceed 90 million m3. Lipetsk Region is one of Russia's most energy-resource-poor regions.
ECONOMY
Industry. The region's fuel and energy complex is represented by petroleum product marketing companies, a network of consumer gas pipelines, and a power grid. Companies belonging to the Lipetsknefteprodukt system market petroleum products; however, the sale of petroleum products through marketing and refining companies has recently decreased significantly. The oil company YUKOS has become involved in settling various economic problems of these companies and their production facilities. During the harvest, YUKOS lowers the prices of fuel and lubricating materials for farms, which is of great assistance to domestic agricultural producers.
Industry, particularly ferrous metallurgy, is the most developed economic sector in Litpetsk Region. The leading company in the ferrous metallurgy sector is the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Corporation (NLMK), which produces transformer steel, motor vehicle plate, and car trailers. Joint production of Goldstar VCRs and Stinol refrigerators has been set up with the Italian company Merloni. Other large companies in this sector include Svobodny Sokol Lipetsk Iron Works (LMZ Svobodny Sokol) and the Tsentrolit Foundry (LZ Tsentrolit).
In addition to ferrous metallurgy, Lipetsk Region has a large complex of companies in the machine-tool, instrument-making, electronic, electrical, medical, light, and food industries.
AO Reinforced Concrete Plant (Zavod Zhelezobeton) is one of the region's largest construction industry plants. It produces reinforced concrete structures, concrete products, mortar, and a range of structures and elements for community facilities and housing. The plant is outfitted with modern equipment that enables it to deliver top-quality products to the market in quantities that meet demand. Twenty precast reinforced concrete production lines, a conveyor line for manufacturing basement wall blocks, and stands for producing large-dimension structures operate in the factory.
The Lipetsk Tractor Plant (LTZ), which was built in record time during the Second World War, is the sole producer of universal wheeled tractors. In addition to tractors, the factory produces street-cleaning machinery, tractor-based welders, excavators, and loaders. The company works continually to improve its products.
The Module factory in Lipetsk has set up production of modular buildings of lightweight heat-insulated metal construction. Other products include sandwich panels, kiosks, household trailers, garden sheds, small metal "shell" garages, and various roll-formed and angle sections.
OAO Lebedyan Machine Works (LEMAZ) was built in 1946 and is still operating successfully today. The plant's core activities are the design, production, servicing, and repair of pumps, pump units, and various other equipment.
OAO Lebedyansky Construction and Finishing Equipment Plant (Stroimash) in Lebedyan is an acknowledged leader in the production of construction finishing machines and equipment.
Lipetsk Confectionery (Likonf), which makes more than 250 different products, has been operating in Lipetsk since 1966.
AO Lipteskkhlebmakaronprom produces nearly all the bread in Lipetsk Region. The company was founded in 1954 and owns ten bakeries, a pasta factory, a vegetable oil plant, and a snack food plant.
Light industry in Lipetsk Region is represented by 210 companies. The leading companies are the Lipchanka Garment Factory (Lipetskaya shveinaya fabrika Lipchanka) of Lipetsk and the small company Constellation (Sozvezdie), which produces knitted goods for children and adults.
The Elta factory in Elets produces television tubes that are of interest to foreign buyers. The company receives requests from CIS and other foreign countries.
Companies in the light industry sector have nearly doubled their output in the past year.
Fertile soils and a long warm period favor the development of the agricultural industry in Lipetsk Region. Crop cultivation and horticulture form the basis of the region's agriculture. Three large fruit- and vegetable-canning plants, 6 sugar refineries, 6 meat-packing plants, 18 dairies, 7 distilleries, 2 tobacco factories, 2 starch and syrup factories, and several feed mills represent the region's processing industry.
Food products make up 59% of the total volume of consumer goods; non-food items account for 38%; and wine, spirits, and beer, for 3%.
Small and private businesses are widespread in Lipetsk Region. Businesses set up by private individuals comprise 40.5% of companies of all forms of ownership. The largest numbers of these companies are found in trade and catering (76% of all companies), construction (64.8%), industry (60.1%), transportation (31.7%), and municipal services (18.2%). The overwhelming majority of private business owners are concentrated in the real estate business (93.3% of all companies in this sector), agriculture (92.3%), trade and catering (91.1%), and construction (85.1%). A total of 24633 entities are active in individual business. Individual business owners are mainly occupied in trade and purchasing (79.7%); less than 9% work in transportation services and industrial production.
The region's infrastructure consists of broad railway and road networks, a modern airport, and an up-to-date communications system. An extensive banking network and insurance companies supports the development of market relations in the regional economy and the expansion of foreign economic activity. The main foreign users of products from Lipetsk Region are the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, a number of developing countries, the Baltic States, and Eastern Europe. More than 92 joint ventures and branches of foreign companies are currently registered in Lipetsk Region. Most of them are in the fields of engineering and metalworking, the light and food industries, trade and catering, and building materials.
AUTHORITIES
The Administration of Lipetsk Region is the region's standing executive body. It has the rights of a legal entity and carries out its activities under the leadership of the head of the regional administration. The Regional Council of Deputies approves the structure of the administration and the amount of its maintenance expenses.
HISTORY OF CULTURE
Lipetsk territory's cultural formation took place over a period of many centuries. Numerous features of Lipetsk culture were borrowed from neighboring nationalities in the distant past; but with time, local conditions, life, and the nature of the community put their distinctive stamp on the culture of Lipetsk land.
Female figurines found by archeologists near the village of Gagarino, Zadonsky District are the main evidence of the initial stage of cultural development of the early residents of Lipetsk territory. Scientists have determined that the statuettes were made in the Stone Age 12 000 years ago. Neolithic ornaments and amulets dating from the 4th millennium B.C. have been discovered in Dankovsky District. These finds, changing from primitive amateur works to genuine high art, are clear confirmation of the development of the spiritual and material culture over a period of millennia. Everyday customs and pagan religious rites contributed to this as well. One of the most powerful spurs to the spiritual development of many national groups was the adoption of Christianity in Rus.
Time and historical events have not spared the legacy of the ancient architects, icon painters, and chroniclers, but their grateful descendents will honor them in memory for all time to come.
The 18th century was a turning point in the cultural development of both Rus as a whole and Lipetsk territory. After cutting a "window" through to Europe, the great Russian reformer Peter I (Peter the Great) introduced innovations into all spheres of activity in the vast country. Secular schools appeared everywhere; literature, music, and art advanced; and everything new and unknown was studied abroad. A powerful, cultured, and influential state arose in the Russian lands.
Cultural monuments from Peter's time that have survived to the present day include the Church of the Sign (tserkov Znameniya) in the village of Veshelovka, Lipetsky District, St. Vladimir's Church (Vladimirskaya tserkov) in the village of Balovnevo, Dankovsky District, and a sculpture called the Horse (Kon) created by unknown masters in the first half of the 18th century in the village of Kon-Kolodez, Khlebensky District.
The first secular school opened in Lebedyan in 1787, and others opened in Elets and Lipetsk in 1789. Unfortunately, the schools existed for only a short time before they closed for lack of funding.
Aristocratic estates are beautiful works of architecture entirely different from one another in their attached parks, clear rivers, and huge expanses of meadow and forest. Estates adorn Mikhailovka, Trubetchino, Shatalovka, and Balovnevo. In addition, the estates functioned as centers of worldly culture in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The aristocracy could afford to set up court theaters with peasant actors and support talented painters, sculptors, and architects.
When the Lipetsk resort opened in the early 19th century, Lipetsk also became a center of cultural life. Nizhny Park was laid out simultaneously with the resort buildings, creating a beautiful scenic background for the treatment centers. Local city and foreign craftsmen, as well as talented Lipetsk artists, took part in building the resort, but only a few names have come down to us. One of these was Trofim Durov, a former serf of Count Vorontsov. "Without detracting from the fame of its curative waters, one may also dare to call Lipetsk Moscow's pleasure house," wrote a contemporary visitor to the resort. Plays were staged and balls and masquerades were held in the hall of the resort building.
Before the October Revolution, Lipetsk Province had only two public libraries and one museum-the Peter I National House founded by the Petrine Learned Society in 1909. Progressively minded members of the gentry and intellectuals known as the raznochintsy made a great contribution to education. One of them, Mikhail Ivanovich Trunov, occupies a special place. He was a doctor by education, an enthusiastic student of local lore, and a tireless organizer of the Petrine Society and the Lipetsk Museum. Thanks to his activities, priceless relics and knowledge of the territory's historical past have come down to us.
Lipetsk land has a wealth of native talent. In the 19th century, the moral and spiritual potential of the region gave Russia outstanding writers, artists, and musicians. For example, in the mid-19th century, Prince Yury Golitsyn founded a choir of house serfs from the villages of Saltyki (now Novocherkutino) and Pushkino, Usmansky District. This unique choir then went on to captivate not only Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also large cities in Europe and America.
The cultural development of Lipetsk in the period after the October Revolution was marked by ambiguity. On the one hand, many cultural treasures of the past were destroyed; and on the other hand, the masses gained access to the cultural riches of Russia and other countries as museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions were opened on the basis of former private collections.
Today, three theaters of the RF Ministry of Culture operate in Lipetsk. Litpetsk Region ranks 67th among regions of the Russian Federation in the number of permanent theater seats per 10 000 residents (8.4 as opposed to 15.1 for the Russian Federation as a whole). Theater attendance per 1000 people is close to the average for the Russian Federation (102.3 as opposed to 181.8 for the Russian Federation as a whole); in this indicator, Lipetsk Region ranks 53rd or 54th in the country.
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