russian: Березники , image_skyline=Berezniki City Administration.jpg , image_caption=Berezniki City Administration building , coordinates = , map_label_position=top , image_coa=Coat of Arms of Berezniki (Perm krai) (2018).gif , coa_caption= , image_flag=Flag of Berezniki (Perm krai).svg , flag_caption= , anthem= , anthem_ref= , holiday= , holiday_ref= , federal_subject=

Perm Krai Perm Krai (russian: Пе́рмский край, r=Permsky kray, p=ˈpʲɛrmskʲɪj ˈkraj, ''Permsky krai'', , ''Perem lador'') is a federal subject of Russia (a krai) that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 re ...

, federal_subject_ref= , adm_data_as_of=December 2011 , adm_city_jur= city of krai significance of Berezniki , adm_city_jur_ref= , adm_ctr_of=city of krai significance of Berezniki , adm_ctr_of_ref= , inhabloc_cat=City , inhabloc_cat_ref= , inhabloc_type= , inhabloc_type_ref= , mun_data_as_of=October 2009 , urban_okrug_jur=Berezniki Urban Okrug , urban_okrug_jur_ref= , mun_admctr_of=Berezniki Urban Okrug , mun_admctr_of_ref= , leader_title=Head , leader_title_ref= , leader_name=Konstanin Svetlakov , leader_name_ref= , representative_body=City Duma , representative_body_ref= , area_of_what= , area_as_of= , area_km2= , area_km2_ref= , pop_2010census=156466 , pop_2010census_rank=112th , pop_2010census_ref= , pop_density= , pop_density_as_of= , pop_density_ref= , pop_latest= , pop_latest_date= , pop_latest_ref= , established_date=1873 , established_title= , established_date_ref= , current_cat_date=1932 , current_cat_date_ref= , prev_name1= , prev_name1_date= , prev_name1_ref= , postal_codes=618400-618426 , postal_codes_ref= , dialing_codes=3424 , dialing_codes_ref= , website=http://admbrk.ru/ , website_ref= , commonscat=Berezniki , date=May 2010 Kydzakar, also known as Berezniki ( koi, Кыдззака́р, russian: Березники́), is the second largest

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. The city is located on the banks of the

Kama River The Kama (russian: Ка́ма, ; tt-Cyrl, Чулман, ''Çulman''; udm, Кам) is a long«Река � ...

, in the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

with a population of 137,091 as of 2021.

Etymology

The name Berezniki is derived from a

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

forest originally situated in the city's location.

History

The first Russian settlements in the city appeared in the 16th - 17th century on the basis of salt mines. It was founded in 1873. City status was granted to it in 1932 as its

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

was rapidly expanding under

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the city of krai significance of Berezniki—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.Law #416-67 As a municipal division, the city of krai significance of Berezniki is incorporated as Berezniki Urban Okrug.Law #1983-434

Economy

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the city's population dropped due to increased unemployment. Nevertheless, the city was able to keep its main industries on track. Large chemical plants such as

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

and

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...

factories as well as several huge

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

and

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

mines are operational in Berezniki. The potash mine, owned by Uralkali, was the basis of the fortune of

Dmitry Rybolovlev Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev (russian: Дмитрий Евгеньевич Рыболовлев; ; born 22 November 1966) is a Russian oligarch, billionaire businessman, and investor. Rybolovlev became chairman of the Russian fertilizer prod ...

who sold his interest in 2010 to

Suleyman Kerimov Suleyman Abusaidovich Kerimov (russian: Сулейма́н Абусаи́дович Кери́мов, p=sʊlʲɪjˈman ɐbʊsɐˈidəvʲɪtɕ kʲɪˈrʲiməf; lez, Керимрин Абусаидан хва Сулейман; born 12 March 1966) ...

. Mine supports in the huge underground mine, about 1,000 feet (~300 metres) beneath the city, consist of soluble salt which is being dissolved by water flooding into the mine. The city, a former Soviet-era labor camp, was built near the work site, over the mine. Several

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s, some huge, have opened within the city. The situation requires round-the-clock monitoring. The problem is believed to be limited to a small part of the mine which was not filled properly and is limited in its future impact, but the relocation of the city is under consideration."A Russian City Always on the Watch Against Being Sucked Into the Earth"
article by Andrew E. Kramer in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' April 10, 2012 The largest sinkhole, locally dubbed, "The Grandfather" by 2012, was 340 yards (~310 metres) wide, 430 yards (~390 metres) long, and 780 feet (~240 metres) deep. When it opened in 2007 the hole was initially 80 m long, 40 m wide and 200 m deep. The sinkhole was expected to expand, and destroy part of the only rail line which leads to and from the

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

mines, and, being that Berezniki produces around 10% of the world's potash, this would lead global demand towards

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, potentially damaging the local economy. Nobody was injured when the sinkhole appeared.

Culture

Berezniki has a theatre and a museum of regional history. Every year from July 17 to the 20th the town celebrates its

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

es. They have music, dancing and a "most delicious girl" competition. In the competition, the girls stand for 20 minutes in their shorts and vests, and the one who receives the most bites wins.

Population

The city was in 124th place out of 1115 cities of Russia in terms of population in 2019. According to the 2010 census,

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

formed a majority in the city with a 90.87%, while

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

(3.16%) were the largest minority, followed by

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

(0.81%), Permian Komi (0.67%) and

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

(0.51%).

Notable people

Vasily Pavlovich Boryagin Vasily Pavlovich Boryagin (russian: Василий Павлович Борягин, 1919–1998) was a prominent Russian fitter and production-rationalizer, Honored citizen of Berezniki, Hero of Socialist Labor. Vasily Pavlovich Boryagin was born ...

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

, Russian billionaire, controlled the leading Berezniki potash mines from 2000 — 2011 *

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

, Russia's first president, attended Pushkin High School in Berezniki

Transportation

Berezniki is served by the Berezniki Airport, which mainly serves helicopters. A railway station is closed since it is located in the sinkhole area and has been damaged beyond repair. In the city, public transport service is operated with

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

es.

Gallery

Церковь Троицкая. (Разрушенная Лёнвинская Свято-Троицкая церковь).jpg, Trinity Church Кинотеатр авангард.jpg, Cinema Avangard Березники троллейбус 140.jpg, BTZ trolleybus and railway station in Berezniki Березниковский троллейбус.jpg,

Trolza Trolza (russian: ZАО "Троллейбусный завод" (Тролза)), formerly known as the Uritsky factory or simply Uritsky,Bushell, Chris; and Stonham, Peter (eds.) (1987). ''Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1987'', pp. 603–605. ...

trolleybus in Berezniki Провал в г.Березники на БРУ-1.jpg, A

in Berezniki at the site of the first potash plant Больница содового завода на территории промплощадки ООО "Сода-Хлорат".jpg, Hospital of a factory

References

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Berezniki

Berezniki Business Directory

Pictures of Berezniki
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Perm Krai Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1932 Populated places on the Kama River