Kstovo

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A Monument to Lenin in front of Kstovo City Hall

Kstovo (Russian: Ксто́во) is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is located on the right bank of the Volga River, 22 km southeast of Nizhny Novgorod. It is the administrative center of Kstovsky District. Population: 66,944 (2002 Census); 62,414 (1989 Census).

1 History
2 Economy
3 Transportation
4 Education
5 Culture, recreation and sports
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

The village of Kstovo was mentioned as early as the 14th century. With the construction of Novogorkovsky Oil Refinery (Новогорьковский нефтеперерабатывающий завод) in the 1950s, a new town was built a few kilometers to the south-east of the old Kstovo village, on the high ground between the Volga and the Kudma River. Since then, the western part of the town centered around the original Kstovo village, and still quite rural, has been commonly referred to as the Old Kstovo (Staroye Kstovo), while the newer eastern part is known as the New Kstovo (Novoye Kstovo). As the New Kstovo expanded over the years, it completely or partially displacing several smaller villages.

Now, the western part of the town centered around the original Kstovo village and still quite rural is commonly referred to as the Old Kstovo (Staroye Kstovo), while the newer part, built in the 1950s, and still expanding, is known as the New Kstovo (Novoye Kstovo).

Kstovo was granted urban-type settlement status in 1954 and town status in 1957.

The heat and power plant, located in the industrial area south of the city, can be seen from the windows of city apartments.

[edit] Economy

The main employer in the town, and, historically, the reason for the town's existence, is LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez (formerly NORSI-Oil and Novogorkovsky Oil Refinery).

There are also a bitumen plant, a tire manufacturer, a wine/liquor distillery (Russian: Мицар, Mitsar), and the usual assortment of local food industry enterprises. A cogeneration power plant (Russian: Новогорьковская ТЭЦ, Novogorkovskaya TETs) supplies electricity into the regional electric grid and hot water for heating city apartment buildings.

The town has a large farmer's market, and a decent selection of supermarkets and retail stores.

Volga waterfront near Kstovo

[edit] Transportation

Kstovo is served by the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan Highway (Highway M-7), a river tanker port on the Volga, an electric railroad branch, and oil pipelines. In 2003, a highway bypass was completed south of Kstovo to keep M-7 traffic away from the city streets.

The Kstovo railroad branch is primarily used to serve the needs of the oil refinery. Although commuter trains from Nizhny Novgorod stop both in the Old and New Kstovo, they only run 2-3 times a day. Volga hydrofoil boats used to stop at Kstovo in the 1970s and 80s, but the town no longer appears in the boat schedules.^[1] Therefore, commuter bus or private car are the usual ways of travel between Kstovo and Nizhny Novogorod.

Most summers, during the beach season, ferry boat service operates between Kstovo and the beach area on the North bank of the Volga.

[edit] Education

An Oil Industry Community College (Neftyanoy Technicum) trains skilled workers and technicians for the petrochemical industry.

Nizhny Novgorod Tehcnological University offers evening classes in Kstovo for the students studying in its Distance Education chemical engineering program. ^[2]

Nizhny Novgorod Military Engineering College (Russian: Нижегородское высшее военно-инженерное командное училище), founded in 1801 in Saint Petersburg and moved in 1960 to Kaliningrad, received its current name in 1995, when it was transferred to Kstovo.^[3]

The village of Velikiy Vrag, with its church of Our Lady of Kazan, is still safe from urban expansion

[edit] Culture, recreation and sports

Kstovo is the home of the World Sambo Academy, which often hosts national and international Sambo wrestling competitions.

The town also has a puppet theater, a palace of culture, a public library, and an active chess club. The movie theater, popular with the citizens during the Soviet era, closed down after the advent of VCRs and DVDs, and part of its premises are now used by en electronics store.

The spritual needs of the Christians of the town are served by three Orthodox churches in the city and immediately adjacent villages: the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the Old Kstovo (whose building during the Communist era was used for a printshop); another Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Velikiy Vrag, which was built in 1792 and is now protected as a heritage site, owned by the federal government;^[4]^[5] and the Church of St.Vladimir in Vishenki.

[edit] References

^ Local hydrofoil boat service schedule for the 2006 season. Volga Shipping (Accessed 2006-Oct-21) (Russian)
^ Nizhny Novgorod Technical University, Kstovo Branch (Accessed 2006-Oct-24) (Russian).
^ Colonel (retired) Boris Mikhailovoch Denisov, "Forgotten Anniversary". "Russky Pereplet" magazine, 03-Nov-2006 (Russian)
^ http://etaz.ru/?p=law&num=66916&id=&sort=&type=gov "Agreement between the Government of Russian Federation and the Administration of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast on the separation of powers in the management of state-owned historical and cultural heritage sites. June 8, 1996, No. 10"
^ [http://www.legis.ru/bases/doc.asp?id_document=2440 "Approval of the List of the Historical and Cultural Heritage Sites of National Importance" Executive Order No.176 of the President of the Russian Federation. 20-Feb-1995]