Kursk

Etymology

The name Kursk is derived from the Kur River, which itself comes from kurya, meaning 'channel'.

History

Medieval period

Kursk probably emerged as a fortified settlement of the Severians by the 9th century. It became part of Kievan Rus' in the late 10th century and was a city by the early 11th century, when it was one of the strongholds of the Kievan princes on the southeastern border of the realm. The first written record of Kursk dates back to 1032; it is mentioned in the Life of Theodosius of the Caves, as well as the Instruction of Vladimir Monomakh, dating to 1068. It is also mentioned as one of the Severian towns by Prince Igor in The Tale of Igor's Campaign:

Saddle, brother, your swift steeds. As to mine, they are ready, saddled ahead, near Kursk; as to my Kurskers, they are famous knights—swaddled under war-horns, nursed under helmets, fed from the point of the lance; to them the trails are familiar, to them the ravines are known, the bows they have are strung tight, the quivers, unclosed, the sabers, sharpened; themselves, like gray wolves, they lope in the field, seeking for themselves honor, and for their prince, glory.

It is also mentioned in the Primary Chronicle under the year 1095, when a princely throne was temporarily established in Kursk for Iziaslav, a son of Vladimir Monomakh. In the early 12th century, it became the seat of a separate appanage principality. Kursk was raided by the Turkic-speaking Polovtsians in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1239, the Mongols under Batu Khan devastated the city, but it was soon rebuilt. However, by the end of the 13th century, it had again been devastated by the Golden Horde, after which the city fell into disrepair.

From the 14th to the 16th centuries, Kursk is mentioned in various Russian, Lithuanian, and Crimean Tatar sources, although there is no evidence that it existed as an urban settlement during this period. For instance, Kursk is mentioned in the List of Russian Cities, Far and Near (before 1381), a list of cities belonging to Švitrigaila of Lithuania (1402/1432), and a treaty between Sigismund I and Sahib I Giray (1540), although in these sources, Kursk is mentioned only as a topographical marker and is not connected with any historical events.

Modern period

The revival of Kursk is associated with the construction of a new fortress in 1596 during the reign of Feodor I of Russia. From the end of the 16th century, Kursk was the center of an uyezd. In 1604, it was captured by supporters of False Dmitry I, a pretender to the Russian throne. The people of Kursk took part in the Uprising of Bolotnikov of 1606–1607. At the same time, its inhabitants refused to recognize the authority of Dmitry Shuisky as tsar, instead recognizing False Dmitry II, another pretender.

During the Polish–Russian War of 1609–1618, it withstood sieges by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1612, 1616, and 1617, as well as a siege in 1634 during the Russo–Polish War of 1632–1634. It was also subject to raids by the Crimean Khanate in 1646 and 1647, as well as attacks by the Nogai Horde in 1615. Following the construction of the Belgorod Line, Kursk became one of the largest trade and craft centers in southern Russia.

Residents of Oryol and other southern Russian cities were resettled in Kursk (by 1678, 2,800 had been resettled). The city developed due to its advantageous geographical position on the shortest route from Moscow to the Crimea and from Moscow to Kiev. It was an important center of the corn trade with Ukraine and hosted an important fair, which took place annually under the walls of the monastery of Our Lady of Kursk. Thousands of residents died to an epidemic in 1690.

Kursk was successively part of the Kiev Governorate (1708–1727), Belgorod Governorate (1727–1779), and Kursk Viceroyalty (1779–1797). It received city status in 1779. It became the administrative center of Kursk Governorate in 1797. In the 18th century, it was the most important center of transit trade between Central and South Russia and Little Russia. By the mid-18th century, it was among the ten largest Russian cities.

After a fire in 1781 devastated Kursk, a new plan for the city was developed in which a market center would be placed in the central square, known as the Red Square. In 1768, the Voskresensko-Ilinskaya Church was built (Russian: Воскресенско-Ильинская церковь). In 1778, both the baroque Sergiev Cathedral and Trinity-Sergius Cathedral were completed. The city opened its first school for nobility in 1783. A men's gymnasium was opened in 1808 and a seminary in 1817. A women's gymnasium was opened in 1872.

Geography

Urban layout

Kursk was originally built as a fortress city on a hill dominating the plain. The settlement was surrounded on three sides by the Kur River (Amur basin) to the west and the Tuskar river to the south and east. Forest thickets approached it from the north. By 1603, Kursk had become the military, administrative, and economic centre of a vast territory in the south of the country. The new fortress was built under the leadership of governors Ivan Polev and Nelyub Ogaryov. The Kursk fortress was given a particularly important role, since in these places the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, who made regular slave raids on Russia, traditionally crossed the Seym river, and their main road, the Muravsky Trail, passed east of the city. In this regard, Kursk, despite not being part of the Belgorod Protection Line, became one of the most important fortresses in the southern region. In 1616, there were 1600 people in the Kursk garrison.

By 1782, the buildings of Kursk were located on the heights of two hills and in the valley of the Kur River. There were meadows and pastures on the banks of the river. The city streets that laid on the slopes of the hills had steep ascents and descents in many places, and travel in the city was made uphill almost everywhere. The presence of six ravines that cut through the hill of the Nagornaya part significantly hampered the development of Kursk. Heavy rains sometimes eroded the soil of the hillsides and formed ditches and gullies. The plan of Kursk in 1782 was to be implemented in the conditions of the existing buildings of the city. In the 1880s, Kursk was already a significant settlement. It housed 14 churches, not including the churches of the Znamensky Monastery. Most of them were of stone and built around the time period of 1730 to 1786. By 1782, Kursk was composed almost entirely of wooden houses. Fences and services went out in the direction of the streets, and houses were hidden in the depths of the courtyards. Many streets and lanes were no wider than 2.5 to 3 metres. The only stone mansion that has survived in present time after redevelopment is located at the corner of Pionerov (former Troitskaya) and Gaidar (former Zolotarevskaya) streets.

There were powerful fortifications and natural obstacles in the center of Kursk. Settlements were located around the city. Cossack and Pushkarnaya were on the slopes of the hills and in the valley of the Kur River, Yamskaya – away from the city, on the plain. At that time, Yamskaya was a small village concentrated around the Vvedenskaya church. The settlements Streletskaya and Kozhevenny were located in the lowlands and were often flooded by the Tuskar river.

Administrative and municipal status

Kursk is the administrative center of the oblast and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Kursky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Kursk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Kursk is incorporated as Kursk Urban Okrug.

Economy and infrastructure

In addition to its importance as an administrative hub, Kursk is important as an industrial centre. Activity focuses on iron-based industry, the chemical sector and a large food processing industry, reflecting the richness of agriculture in the surrounding "Black Earth" region.

Particularly noteworthy is the so-called Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Russian: Курская магнитная аномалия), the world's largest known iron-ore reserve, where the iron content of the ore ranges from 35% up to 60%.

In Kurchatov, some 40 km (25 mi) to the south-west, is the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, incorporating four RBMK-1000 ("High Power Channel-type Reactor") (Russian: Реактор Большой Мощности Канальный) reactors similar to those implicated in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The oldest of the Kursk reactors has been operational since 1977, and the newest of them since 1986.

Attractions

The oldest building in Kursk is the upper church of the Trinity Monastery, a good example of the transition style characteristic of Peter the Great's early reign. The oldest lay building is the so-called Romodanovsky Chamber, although it was erected in all probability in the mid-18th century, when the Romodanovsky family had ceased to exist.

The city cathedral was built between 1752 and 1778 in the splendid Baroque style and was decorated so richly that many art historians attributed it to Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Although Rastrelli's authorship is out of the question, the cathedral is indeed the most notable monument of Elizabethan Baroque not to be commissioned by the imperial family or built in the imperial capital.

The cathedral has two stories, with the lower church consecrated to St. Sergius of Radonezh and the upper one to the Theotokos of Kazan. The upper church is noted for an intricate icon screen which took sixteen years to complete. The three-story cathedral bell tower derives peculiar interest from the fact that Seraphim of Sarov, whose father took part in construction works, survived an accidental fall from its top floor at the age of seven. The Resurrection Church is also shown, where St. Seraphim was baptized.

The monastery cathedral of the Sign (1816–26) is another imposing edifice, rigorously formulated in the purest Neoclassical style, with a cupola measuring 20 meters (66 ft) in diameter and rising 48 meters (157 ft) high. The interior was formerly as rich as colored marbles, gilding, and frescoes could make it. During the Soviet period, the cathedral was desecrated, and four lateral domes and twin belltowers over the entrance were pulled down. There are plans to restore the church to its former glory.

The modern city is a home for several universities: Kursk State Medical University, State Technical University, Kursk State University (former Pedagogical University) and Agricultural Academy, as well as the private Regional Open Social Institute (ROSI). There are also modern shrines and memorials commemorating the Battle of Kursk, both in the city and in Prokhorovka.

The Command Station Bunker & Museum was specifically built in memory of the courageous Russian T-34 tank units that fought in the Battle of Kursk, where a T-34 tank is on display. Over 6,000 armored vehicles fought in close range over the open territory near Kursk in 1943. This battle stopped the German advance into the Kursk Salient, and was a turning point of World War II on the Eastern Front.

Transportation

Since 1868 there has been a railway connection between Kursk and Moscow. Kursk is located on a major railway line between Moscow and Kharkiv, with trains also linking the city to Voronezh and Kyiv. The Kursk Vostochny Airport provides domestic flights. Public transport includes buses, trolleybuses, and trams. Since 2007, the public transport introduced a satellite navigation system. The total length of the road network of the city of Kursk is 595.8 km, of which 496.2 km of roads are paved. Roads of the city have access to federal highway M2 "Crimea", as well as on the highway A144 (Kursk – Voronezh – Saratov) and P199 (border with Ukraine).

Kursk bound intercity bus routes to cities and towns Kursk region and neighboring regions (Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Oryol Oblast), as well as Moscow, St. Petersburg and cities of Ukraine: Kharkiv and Sumy. Long-distance buses arrive and depart from the bus station "Kursk", located in the North-West part of the city.

On 5 September 2011 an automated fare monitoring system was commissioned in Kursk. Implementation of the system in operation is carried out by Kursk Integrated Ticket System was to take place in three stages: At the initial stage is implemented partially open version of the system, in which the sale of tickets and travel control social cards carried in the cabin of public transport conductors with handheld validators, the second stage involves the installation of stationary validators, third – commissioning turnstiles. After completion of the implementation, the automated monitoring system drive will operate in "closed" mode: turnstiles will be installed at the entrance and exit of passengers. As of September 2011 turnstiles installed on 44 buses, 10 trolley buses and trams 5.

Culture

Kursk State University is home to the Russian Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of conductor and trumpet soloist Sergey Proskurin. The orchestra performs regularly, tours internationally and has produced multiple CDs.

Pushkin Theater located in the center of the city. It has permanent company as well as visiting shows.

The band Little Tragedies are originally from Kursk.

Sports

In 2016, the Russian Women's Hockey League expanded to Kursk, with new club Dynamo Kursk.

Media

Kursk ham radios could receive television broadcasts from Moscow starting in 1935. In 1960, the Committee on Radio and Television was created by the Kursk Oblast Executive Committee. The first transmission of local television aired on 14 January 1961. Main fixed line and cellular operators are active in the city.

Honors

A minor planet, 3073 Kursk, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh in 1979, is named after the city.

The Russian submarine Kursk was named after the city.

Notable people

Yekaterina Avdeyeva (1788–1865), writer

Alexey Ivanovich Borozdin (born 1937), musical therapist

Valery Chaplygin (born 1952), Olympic champion, cyclist

Alexander Deyneka (1899–1969), painter, sculptor

Nikolay Karamyshev (born 1989), racing driver

Yevgeny Klevtsov (1929–2003), Olympic medalist, cyclist

Vyacheslav Klykov (1939–2006), sculptor

Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935), painter

Pavel A. Pevzner, scientist

Alexander Povetkin (born 1979), Olympic champion, boxer

Sergei Puskepalis (1966–2022), actor

Alexander Rutskoy (born 1947), politician

Seraphim of Sarov, monk and saint

Mikhail Shchepkin (1788–1863), actor

Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998), composer

The Tolmachevy Twins (born 1997), singers

Little Tragedies, music band

Twin towns – sister cities

Kursk is twinned with:

Former twin towns:

Tczew, Poland

Motihari, India

On 8 March 2022, the Polish city of Tczew ended its partnership with Kursk as a response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.