Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Kemerovo Oblast Kemerovo Oblast (, ), also known as Kuzbass (, ), after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Kemerovo is the administrative center and largest city of the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Rus ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Iskitimka and

Tom River The Tom (, ; ; ) is a river in Russia, a right tributary of the Ob in central Siberia. Its watershed lies within the Republic of Khakassia, Kemerovo Oblast, and Tomsk Oblast.

s, in the major

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

region of the

Kuznetsk Basin The Kuznetsk Basin (, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of around . It lies in the Kuznetsk Depression between Tomsk and ...

. Population: The city was known as ''Shcheglovsk'' until March 27, 1932.

History

Kemerovo is an amalgamation of, and successor to, several older Russian settlements. A waypoint named Verkhotomsky ''ostrog'' was established nearby in 1657 on a road from

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

Kuznetsk fortress Novokuznetsk (, , ; )Чиспияков Э. Ф. (1992) ''Учебник шорского языка''. Кемеровское книжное издательство. p. 27. is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in southwestern Siberia, Russia. ...

. In 1701, the settlement of

Shcheglovsk Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka River, Iskitimka and Tom ...

was founded on the left bank of the Tom; soon it became a village. By 1859, seven villages existed where modern Kemerovo is now: Shcheglovka (or Ust-Iskitimskoye), Kemerovo (named in 1734), Yevseyevo, Krasny Yar, Kur-Iskitim (Pleshki), Davydovo (Ishanovo), and Borovaya. In 1721, coal was discovered in the area. The first coal mines were established in 1907, later a chemical plant was established in 1916. By 1917, the population of Shcheglovo had grown to around 4,000 people. The area's further development was boosted by the construction of a railway between

Yurga Yurga () is a town in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Population: History It was founded in 1886. Work settlement status was granted to it in 1942; town status was granted in 1949. Administr ...

and Kolchugino (now Leninsk-Kuznetsky) with a connection between

Topki Topki () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Topki (town), Kemerovo Oblast, a town in Kemerovo Oblast; ;Rural localities *Topki (rural locality), Kemerovo Oblast, a '' selo'' in Topkinskaya Rural Territory of ...

and Shcheglovo. Shcheglovo was granted town status on May 9, 1918, which is now considered to be the date of Kemerovo's founding;Charter of Kemerovo, Article 1 and was later known as Shcheglovsk. The town became the central location for the

Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony The Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony was an experiment in workers' control in the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1926 during the New Economic Policy. It was based in Shcheglovsk, Kuzbass, Siberia. History Creation of the Autonomous Industrial ...

which was established there in 1921. 650 workers from 20 countries settled there and set up what became the

Kemerovo Coke Chemical Plant Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk B ...

. Some of their descendants visited the modern factory in 2011. On May 27, 1932, Shcheglovsk was renamed Kemerovo and became the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast in 1943. In 2018, 60 people were killed by a fire in a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

. In 2022, at least 20 people were killed by a fire in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

Etymology

The city was named after the village of Kemerovo, named after the surname of the first settlers of the Kemerovs. The ending "ovo" suggests a toponymic transition through a personal name. The village gave its name to the Kemerovo mine that arose under it. In 1925, the city of Scheglovsk was formed from two neighboring villages Kemerovo and Scheglovo, which in 1932 was renamed to Kemerovo after the name of the mine. According to others, the name is based on the Turkic word ''kemer'', meaning "cliff, coast". The inhabitants of the city are called: Kemerovochanin, Kemerovochanka, Kemerovochane.

Administrative and municipal status

Kemerovo is the

of the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

Charter of Kemerovo Oblast, Article 2 and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of

Kemerovsky District Kemerovsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the nineteen in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.Law #215-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Kemerovsky Municipal District.Law #104-OZ It is located in the northern centra ...

, even though it is not a part of it.Law #215-OZ As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Kemerovo City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. As a municipal division, Kemerovo City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Kemerovsky Urban Okrug.Law #104-OZ

Politics

Council of People's Deputies

The Kemerovo City Council of People's Deputies is a representative body of power comprising 36 deputies. The term of office of deputies is five years. On 13 March 2011, elections to the Council of People's Deputies were held, following which the seats in the council were distributed as follows: 31 -

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

, 2 -

A Just Russia A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

, and 2 -

Patriots of Russia Patriots of Russia (, ) was a left-wing political party in Russia. It was established in April 2005 by Gennady Semigin, who was expelled from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation after he failed in a power struggle with Gennady Zyugan ...

. Grigory Verzhitsky, a representative of United Russia and a deputy from the 16th constituency of Kemerovo, was elected chairman. At the sixty-eighth meeting of the Kemerovo City Council, Verzhitsky's resignation as chairman was accepted at his own request. Since 2017, the city council has been headed by Nikolai Senchurov. Since 2021, the council has been headed by Yuri Andreyev.

Economy

The industrialization of Kemerovo was driven and underpinned by coal mining and by the heavy industry based on the availability of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. It remains an important industrial city, built up during the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, with important

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

and machinery based manufacturing plants along with chemical,

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

, and other manufacturing industries. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the city's industries have experienced a severe decline, creating high levels of unemployment. Major companies based in the city include Siberian Business Union.

Transportation

Public transport

The public transport network of Kemerovo consists of 70 city bus routes (including 6 seasonal), 63 suburban (including 35 seasonal), 53 public taxi routes (including 2 seasonal), 5 tram, and 9 trolleybus routes. 686 transport units enter the streets of the city every day, including: * 201 buses of city and suburban routes; * 364 units of route taxis; * 121 units of electric transport. The fare in public transport is 20 rubles, in express buses - 21 rubles, in fixed-route taxis - 22 rubles (as of March 24, 2019). Free Wi-Fi was used in all Kemerovo trams to attract passenger traffic. On 6 June 2024, one person was killed and over 140 injured when a tram ran away after apparently suffering a brake failure. Two people were arrested and accused of allowing a disabled tram to operate.

Air transportation

The city is served by

Kemerovo International Airport Kemerovo International Airport () , also known as Alexei Leonov Airport, is one of 2 major airports in Kemerovo Oblast area (), Russia, Southwestern Siberia located 10 km southeast of Kemerovo. It is a civilian airfield serving medium-sized ...

that reside to the south-east of the city. It has one runway with artificial turf of class B that is long. The airport is named after the Russian cosmonaut

Alexei Leonov Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut and aviator, Soviet Air Forces, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a Extravehic ...

, a native of Kuzbass. There are two bus routes to the airport - 101 and 126.

Railway transportation

Kemerovo is linked to western Russia by a branch of the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

and has the Kemerovo Railway station. File:Nefaz-5299 Y814HE 20070731.JPG, NefAZ-5299 bus File:KemerowoTrolleybus.jpg, BTZ-52761 trolleybus File:Трамвай. г. Кемерово.jpg, KTM-19 tram File:Kemerovo station.jpg, Kemerovo railroad station

Education

Six higher education institutions are located in Kemerovo:

Kemerovo State University The Kemerovo State University () (KemSU) was established in 1973 as a successor to Kemerovo Pedagogical Institute. It is a leading educational and scientific center of Kemerovo Oblast with five branches throughout the oblast in Belovo, Kemerov ...

Kuzbass State Technical University Kuzbass State Technical University (KuzSTU) is one of higher schools which trains specialists for the economy of Kuzbass, Russia. History At first it was the Mining Institute founded on the basis of Kemerovo Mining Construction College (the ord ...

, Kemerovo Institute of Food Industry (University), Kemerovo State Medical Academy, Kemerovo State Institute of Culture and Kemerovo Agricultural Institute.

Sport

The public interest for

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

is widespread in Russia. 26,000 watched the opening game of the 2011–12

Russian Bandy League The Russian Bandy Super League (), is a men's professional bandy league in Russia, the top division of Russian bandy. There is no definite rule which teams will be relegated or promoted. Besides results on the ice, financial resources and infrast ...

when local club Kuzbass played against

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

and Kuzbass is among the very best in the

. The

2007 Bandy World Championship The 2007 Bandy World Championship was held in Kemerovo, Russia from 27 January to 4 February. Men's national teams from 12 countries participated in the 2007 tournament: Belarus, Finland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia, Sweden (group A) and Estonia, H ...

was held in the city. Female bandy only exists in a few places in Russia. Now Kemerovo is about to start it up. Moscow already had two multi-use indoor arenas where bandy can be played. Kemerovo got the first one in Russia specifically built for bandy (today also

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

and

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk,, , known as Simbirsk until 1924, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Ulyanovsk has been the only Russian UNESCO Ci ...

have it). Kuzbass plays the matches in the league at Khimik Stadium because of the big public interest. That arena has a capacity of 32000. As it also is equipped with artificial ice, Kemerovo has the best infrastructure for developing bandy in Russia. Since 2013 there has been a "bandy on boots" tournament for national diasporas living in Kuzbass. The Kuzbass Kemerovo

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team regularly participated in the Soviet Union Championship from 1968 through to 1992. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the team disbanded. However, the team won the silver medal in 1988 and the bronze medal in 1986 and 1987. Occasional

ice speedway Ice speedway is a developed form of motorcycle speedway racing, featuring racing on frozen surfaces. The sport uses bikes enhanced for the terrain. Participants can compete at international level. Outline The bikes race counterclockwise arou ...

is held on the Mototrack Rosto DOSAAF at ().

Climate

Kemerovo's position gives it a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb'') with warm summers and long, severely cold winters. Its average temperatures vary from in January to in July. It has fairly low precipitation of around annually.

City symbols

Coat of arms

The heraldic description of the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo is the following: in the crossed scarlet and black field, there is a narrow golden belt in the form of two diverging heads of grain ears, behind them there is a golden cogwheel that goes down; there is a silver retort in the middle, its neck tilted to the right. The figures of the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo symbolize the historically established main directions of the industrial development of the city: * retort - chemical industry; * cogwheel - mechanical engineering; * ears of corn - the fertility of the land associated with the use of mineral fertilizers produced at the chemical enterprises of the city. The colors used in the coat of arms symbolize: * scarlet (red) - work, courage, energy, and strength; * black color - wisdom, as well as the main wealth of the region, the center of which is the city of Kemerovo, - coal; * silver (white) - pure thoughts, reliability, and kindness; * gold (yellow) - wealth and prosperity.

Flag

The flag of the city of Kemerovo is based on the city's coat of arms and repeats its symbolism. It is a rectangular double-sided panel with a width to length ratio of 2:3. It displays figures from the coat of arms of the city of Kemerovo. The colors used are red, black, yellow, and white.

Emblem

The emblem of Kemerovo displays the monument of Mikhailo Volkov, the discoverer of coal in the area. The sculpture of Mikhailo Volkov displayed on the pedestal fragment styled like a rock. Behind the monument, there is a black triangle that symbolizes a

spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, ...

. The inscription of the city's name ("Кемерово" in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

) resides on the diagonal from the left bottom side of the triangle. In the black part of the triangle, the year of the foundation of the city is displayed - "1918".

Numismatics

In 2018

Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (), commonly known as the Bank of Russia (), also called the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on 13 July 1990. It traces its beginnin ...

issued into circulation the commemorative silver coin in denomination of 3 rubles "Centenary of the Foundation of Kemerovo" which displays the statue of Mikhailo Volkov.

Notable people

Yuri Arbachakov Yuri Yakovlevich Arbachakov (; born October 22, 1966) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 1997. He held the WBC flyweight title from 1992 to 1997. Amateur career Yuri Arbachakov was born on October 22, 1966 ...

, boxer * Maria Barakova, mezzo-soprano; winner of Glinka and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

classical music competitions * Andreas Beck, association football player *

Vladimir Beliak Vladimir Beliak (; , born 16 August 1973) is a Russian-Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid. He is a former consultant and (municipal) director. Biography He was born in Kemerovo in the Soviet Union, which l ...

, Israeli lawmaker * Diana Borisova, rhythmic gymnast * Julia Chernogorova, Great British Bake Off contestant * Marina Domashenko, opera singer * Vyacheslav Ivanenko, retired race walker * Andrey Kirikov, lawyer and entrepreneur * Erast Osipyan, Russian professional footballer of Armenian descent *

, cosmonaut; honorable citizen of Kemerovo *

Alexandra Merkulova Alexandra Sergeyevna Merkulova (; born 25 November 1995) is a retired Russian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2010 Youth Olympic Games champion and the 2012 European all-around silver medalist. Personal life Merkulova is the middle c ...

, retired rhythmic gymnast *

Slava Mogutin Slava Mogutin (full name Yaroslav Yurievich Mogutin, b. April 12, 1974, Kemerovo) is a New York-based Russian artist and author, who works across different media, including photography, video, text, installation, sculpture, and painting. Life i ...

, artist * Wladimir Sukhatsky, TV producer *

Aman Tuleyev Amangeldy Gumirovich "Aman" Tuleyev (, , ; 13 May 1944 – 20 November 2023) was a Russian statesman. He served as governor of Kemerovo Oblast from 1997 to 2018 and was the chairman of the Council of People's Deputies of the Kemerovo Oblast brie ...

, governor of Kemerovo Oblast * Nikolai Knyzhov, NHL player for the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

Artem Vakhitov Artem Olegovich Vakhitov (; born April 4, 1991) is a Russian kickboxer who competes in the Light heavyweight division of Glory. Having begun practicing Muay Thai at eleven years old, Vakhitov first came to prominence due to a ...

, kickboxer * Yuliya Karimova, Russian-born Azerbaijani volleyball player

Twin towns – sister cities

Kemerovo is twinned with: *

Salgótarján Salgótarján (; , German: ''Schalgau'') is a city with county rights in Hungary, the capital of Nógrád County, north-eastern Hungary, making it the third least populous county capital. The nearby Salgó Castle is a well-known tourist attra ...

, Hungary

Gallery

File:Kemerovo3.jpg File:Kemerovo4.jpg File:Kemerovo5.jpg File:Kemerovo2.jpg File:Kemerovo6.jpg File:Kemerovo raduga.jpg File:Kemerovo park-pobedy-dandelions.JPG, Victory Park (Парк Победы) or

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...

's Park (Парк имени Жукова) in Kemerovo]

References

Notes

Sources

* * * *

External links

Official website of Kemerovo

Kemerovo Business Directory
{{Use mdy dates, date=November 2011 1701 establishments in Asia Cities and towns in Kemerovo Oblast Populated places established in 1701 Former urban-type settlements of Kemerovo Oblast