Kungur

Kungur () is a town at the south-east of Census ); 75,500 ( 2000 est.; 81,800 ( 1989 ); 64,800 ( 1959 ); 36,000 ( 1939 ). Geographical location: . Area: 68.7 km&².

The town was founded in 1663 , and granted town status in 1781 . It is situated in the Urals at the inflowing of the Iren and Shakhva River s the Sylva River ( Kama Basin ).

Kungur is an old Russian town with historic architecture. It is a trade, industrial, and transport center. It was the first European town on the Trans-Siberian Railway .

СOAT OF ARMS

The town's original coat of arms became official according with the Highest Law of Empress Anna Ioannovna in 1737 . Current coat of arms was adopted in 1994 .

HISTORY

Kungur was founded seventeen kilometers above the Iren River's mouth on the banks of the Kungurka River in 1648 . In 1662 , it was burnt by Bashkirs . In 1663, it was rebuilt as a fortress on the place of Mysovskoye village. In 1774 , it withstood a siege by Yemelyan Pugachev 's forces. In the beginning of the 18th Century , leather and footwear industries started to develop here. In 1724 , a Tannery was built. By the mid-18th century, Kungur became one of the most populated areas in the Urals. In 1759 , Perm administration of mining plants was moved to Kungur. By the end of the 18th century, Kungur is an important transit trade centre of the Siberian road, as well as the centre of leather manufacture in Perm province. Kungur rope and linseed oil were widely known. By the end of the 19th Century it became a significant industrial (including manufacture of leather footwears, gloves, and mittens) and cultural centre.

ECONOMY

SIA ''Turbobur'' (95% of Russian manufacture of turbo-drills and screw face engines, units for repairs of oil and gas wells). JSK "Kungur-footwear" (leather including army footwear). Mill of art goods (souvenirs from stone, majolica), factory of musical instruments (guitars), repair-mechanical plant, clothing and knitting mills, enterprises of food industry. In Kungur raion rye, wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, vegetables are grown. Meat-dairy cattle husbandry, aviculture. Deposits of oil, gas, rock-salt, gemstones, gypsum, fireclay and brick-earth, mineral waters etc.

ARCHITECTURE

The most notable buildings in Kungur include the Transfiguration church ( 1781 ), Nikola cathedral, former Guest courtyard with the Burse (1865-76, architector R. O. Karvovsky), Zyryanov hospice ( 1881 , now surgical department of a hospital), storehouses of merchants Kopakovs (the 19th century, now a Centre of Culture).

Tikhvinsky temple was built in 1763 and got the name from the holy icon of Tikhvinskaya Bogomater. Now the movie theater "Oktyabr" is in the building.

There is Uspenskaya church in the down part of the town on the Kittarskaya street. It was built in 1761 thanks to the merchant Chlebnikov. On the opposite bank of the Sylva river stands the Preobrazhensky temple.

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Kungur