Nizhny Tagil



Nizhny Tagil (Нижний Тагил) is a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located 25 km east of the virtual border between Europe and Asia. Population:

Geography
Rivers and ponds take up one third of the city's territory. Nizhny Tagil spans 22 km from north to south and 21 km from east to west. The city is built around Lisya Mountain extinct volcano. This mountain with a watch-tower on its top is a symbol of the city. Another mountain, Medved-Kamen, is located in the northern part of the city and is 100 m high. High rock wall breaks into the Tagil River.

Neighboring cities include Yekaterinburg 130 km to the south, Serov and Priobye in the north, Perm in the west, and Alapayevsk and Verkhnyaya Salda in the east.

Climate
The city's climate is temperate continental.

Geology
The altitude of the city varies from 170 to 380 m. This makes Nizhny Tagil one of the rare natural store-rooms on the Earth. There are many mineral deposits containing 63 elements of the periodic table.

History
The history of Nizhny Tagil begins with the opening of the Vysokogorsky iron ore quarry in 1696. The deposits were particularly rich, and included lodes of pure magnetic iron. The surrounding landscape provided everything needed for a successful and productive mining and smelting operation — rivers for transport, forests for fuel, and suitable climate.

Over the following decades, the city developed as one of the early centers of Russian industrialization, and it has been a major producer of cast iron and steel.

The first Russian steam locomotive was constructed there in 1833, and the father-and-son engineers who developed it, Yefim and Miron Cherepanovs (Черепанов), were in 1956 commemorated by an 8 m bronze statue (executed by sculptor A. S. Kondratyev and architect A. V. Sotnikov) which stands in the center of the Theatrical Square in the heart of downtown.

According to some sources, the copper for the skin of the Statue of Liberty was mined and refined in Nizhny Tagil.

In early 2007, a mass grave with 30 murdered girls and women was found near Nizhny Tagil. They had been abducted in the city by a prostitution gang between 2002 and 2006. See Nizhny Tagil mass murder (2002-2007). A frightful, fictionalized description of Nizhny Tagil and these murders appears in “The Bourne Sanction,” by Eric Van Lustbader, chapters 28, 30, 34 and 39.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of the administrative divisions, Nizhny Tagil serves as the administrative center of Prigorodny District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is, together with twenty-three rural localities, incorporated separately as the City of Nizhny Tagil —an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the City of Nizhny Tagil is incorporated as Nizhny Tagil Urban Okrug.

The city is divided into three city districts: Leninsky, encompassing the city center and Nizhnetagilsky Pond; Tagilstroyevsky, a comparatively small section at the north part of town; and Dzerzhinsky, a sizable section to the east of the city center principally consisting of apartment buildings and other residences.

Government
Former mayors:


 * 1) Nikolay Didenko 2006-?
 * 2) Valentina Isayeva 2008-?
 * 3) Sergey Nosov 2012-?

Economy
A large portion of the land within the bounds of the city is dominated by the facilities of the various factories located in this industrial city, including those of Oxochem.

Nizhny Tagil is an industrial center of the Middle Urals. Such highly power-intensive industries as ferrous metallurgy, engineering, chemistry, and metal working are well-developed in the city. A total of 606 manufacturing companies operate in Nizhny Tagil.

Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Plant (Nizhnetagilsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat, NTMK) is a leading Russian steel company.

Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) is well known in Russia as the main producer of modern tanks on the territory of the former Soviet Union and Russia. It is the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The T-72, T-90, and T-14 are produced in the city. As of 2016 an economic slowdown in Russia had resulted in diminished demand for civilian products such as train cars, but strong demand continued for tanks.

There are resources to manufacture medical tools for traumatology at the Nizhny Tagil medical tools plant.

The 42nd Missile division of Strategic Rocket Forces is based here, equipped with 36 Topol nuclear missiles.

Expo-Center
Nizhny Tagil is one of centers of exhibition activity in the Middle Urals. Nizhny Tagil Institute of Metals Testing was the host of the international exhibitions such as Ural Expo Arms / Russian Expo Arms, Russian Defense Expo (2001 and 2002).

Culture
Nizhny Tagil is known for its decorative trays.

Demidovs' initiatives in the area of culture had a favorable influence on the development of Tagil community into the Urals' most important cultural center. In the 19th century, a library and the museum of natural history and antiquity were opened.

The city has a network of 28 libraries servicing 75,000 readers every year.

Tagil museums include the old regional history museum, the museum of Fine Arts, and a number of new museums opened in the 1990s: the museum of tray painting art, the museum of lifestyle and handicrafts representing the starting point of a new ethnographic complex.

The Demidov Park, a new cultural and historical project, is planned to be built in the city.

Nizhny Tagil has been chosen to host international Urals' Industrial Heritage conferences and workshops.

City theatrical life is represented by three professional theaters: the National D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak Academic Drama Theater, a puppet theater, community theaters, and the actor department of Nizhny Tagil College of Arts, which has been training actors and actresses for Nizhny Tagil and oblast scenes for two years.

Several Maximum-security prisons surround the town, and most town residents have close connections to them. When prisoners are released from the prisons, they are not given their train fare, and most remain in the town.

Education
The oldest university is Nizhny Tagil State Socio-Educational Academy. The state educational academy operates 4 institutes, 13 faculties and 29 departments. There is post-graduate work in three fields: general education, the history of pedagogy and education, Russian history, the Russian language. In art and graphics department 2008 year launched five workshops in which students engage in decorative art. The Academy has four modern sports halls. In summer, a wall is erected for climbing. There is a gymnasium and fitness room.

The Nizhny Tagil Technological Institute is located south-east of the city center.

Sports
The city association football team is FC Uralets Nizhny Tagil, which plays in the Russian Second Division.

The city ice hockey team is Sputnik Nizhny Tagil, which played in the Russian Major League.

The bandy club Metallurg Nizhny Tagil plays in the 2nd highest division.

Nizhny Tagil was also a host of several competitions in ski jumping World Cup.

Public health
Medical care is provided in 29 medical care centers that employ 1,100 doctors and 4,500 assistants. Annually, up to 100,000 people are hospitalized, 28,000 surgeries are performed, and up to four million appointments are registered in the city medical care centers.

There is a Yekaterinburg branch of eye microsurgery in Nizhny Tagil. There is obstetrical care. There is a network of municipal and private pharmacies.

Transport
Rail lines and highways connect the city to the rest of the country.

The city is served by the Salka Airport, located 17 km northeast of the city. It was a military base until 1994. Then it become a civil airport.

Notable people
Nizhny Tagil has been connected to the following personalities:
 * Bar Paly, Russian-Israeli model and actress.
 * Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, novelist and short story writer
 * Yefim Cherepanov, inventor and industrial engineer, constructor of the first Russian locomotive
 * Miron Cherepanov (a son of Yefim Cherepanov), inventor and industrial engineer, constructor of the first Russian locomotive
 * Felix Lembersky, painter
 * Valeri Ogorodnikov, film director, Prize "Silver Leopard" at Locarno International Film Festival and State Price of Russian Federation for the film "Barrack", Price of FIPRESCI for the film "Burglar" at Venice Film Festival
 * Bulat Okudzhava, poet and chansonnier
 * Igor Radulov, hockey player, winger currently playing for Салават Юлаев (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) of the KHL
 * Alexander Radulov, hockey player, winger currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens, formerly with Салават Юлаев (Salavat Yulaev Ufa) of the KHL (brother with Igor)
 * Boris Rauschenbach, physicist and rocket engineer
 * Sergei Shepelev, former Soviet national ice hockey team member
 * Nikita Soshnikov, hockey player, winger currently playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL, formerly with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL and Moscow Oblast Atlant of the KHL
 * Aron Zinshtein, painter
 * Victor Starffin, baseball player
 * Dmitry Larionov, champion of rowing slalom
 * Konstantin Novoselov, 2010 Nobel Prize winner for his research on Graphene
 * Valeri Brainin, poet, musicologist, President (from 2004) of the Russian branch of the International Society for Music Education - a member of UNESCO

Twin towns


Nizhny Tagil is twinned with:
 * 🇨🇿 Cheb, Czech Republic
 * 🇧🇾 Brest, Belarus
 * 🇺🇸 Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
 * 🇷🇺 Novokuznetsk, Russia
 * 🇺🇦 Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine