Sevastopol
Encyclopedia
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division
of Ukraine
, located on the Black Sea
coast of the Crimea peninsula
. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa
.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours
make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort
and tourist
destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) countries. The city, formerly the home of the Russian then Soviet
Black Sea Fleet
, is now home to a Ukrainian naval base
and a Russian naval base in facilities leased by the Russian Navy. The headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia's Black Sea Fleet are located in the city. In 1993, the city was the subject of a territorial dispute between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
The trade and shipbuilding
importance of Sevastopol's port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union
, despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and pier
s. Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology
research. In particular, studying and training of dolphin
s has been conducted in the city since the end of World War II
. It was first conducted as a secret naval programme to use the animals for special undersea operations. Sevastopol enjoys one of the warmest climates in Ukraine, with mild winters and moderate warm summers.
trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of two Greek nouns, (sebastós, Modern sevastós) ('venerable') and (pólis) ('city'). is the traditional Greek translation of the honourable Roman title Augustus
('venerable'), originally given to the first emperor of the Roman Empire, G. Julius Caesar Octavianus
and later awarded as a title to his successors.
Despite its Greek origin, the name is not old. The city was probably named after the Empress ("Augusta
") Catherine II of Russia
who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Joseph II
, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries.
In the west of the city, there are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city of Chersonesos, founded in the 5th century BC. The name means "peninsula" reflecting its location and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula, Chersonēsos Taurikē
("the Tauri
an Peninsula").
excluded from the surrounding Autonomous Republic of Crimea
(see Administrative divisions of Ukraine
for more details). The territory of the municipality is 863.5 km² and it is further subdivided into four raion
s (districts). Besides the City of Sevastopol proper, it also includes two towns — Balaklava
, Inkerman
, urban-type settlement
Kacha, and 29 villages.
Sevastopol has no elected mayor, instead a "Chairman of the Sevastopol City State Administration" functions as a mayor. She/he is appointed by the President of Ukraine
.
(Köppen climate classification
: Cfa) near the borderline of the humid continental climate
and the semi-arid climate.
The average yearly temperature is 15–16 °C (59–60.8 F)} during the day and around 9 °C (48.2 °F) at night. In the coldest months – January and February – the average temperature is 5–6 °C (41–42.8 F) during the day and around 1 °C (33.8 °F) at night. In the warmest months – July and August – the average temperature is around 26 °C (78.8 °F) during the day and around 19 °C (66.2 °F) at night. Generally – summer's/holiday season lasts to 5 months, starting from around mid-May and ending in September, however, also in the first half of October quite often temperature reaches 20 °C (68 °F) or more. From June to September - the average sea temperature is =>20 °C (68 °F), while in the second half of May and first half of October - the average sea temperature is about 17 °C (63 °F). The average rainfall is about 400 millimetres (15.7 in) per year and there is about 2,200 hours of sunshine duration per year.
and Gibraltar
is one of the most famous naval citadel
s in Europe. It was founded in 1783 by Rear Admiral Makenzie, in Russian service, as a base for a naval squadron, when Russia
annexed the Crimean peninsula. Five years earlier, Aleksandr Suvorov ordered that earthworks be erected along the harbour and Russian troops be located there. At first, the place was called by its ancient name, Akhtiar. In February 1784, Catherine II (the Great) ordered Grigory Potyomkin (Grigoriy Potemkin) to build a fortress there and call it Sevastopol. The realisation of the initial building plans fell to Captain F.F. Ushakov, in 1788 named commander of the port and of the Black Sea squadron. It became an important naval base and later a commercial port. In 1797 under an edict issued by Emperor Paul I
, the military stronghold was renamed Akhtiar. Finally, on April 29 (May 10), 1826, the Senate returned the city's name to Sevastopol.
One of the most notable events involving the city is the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) carried out by the British
, French
, Sardinia
n, and Turkish
troops during the Crimean War
, which lasted for 11 months. Despite its efforts, the Russian army had to leave its stronghold and evacuate over a pontoon bridge to the north shore of the inlet. The Russians had to sink their entire fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy and at the same time to block the entrance of the Western ships into the inlet. When the enemy troops entered Sevastopol, they were faced with the ruins of a formerly glorious city.
A panorama
of the siege originally was created by Franz Roubaud
. Later after its destruction in 1942 during WWII, it was restored and is being housed in a specially constructed circular building in the city. It portrays the situation in the height of the siege, on 18 June 1855.
During World War II
, Sevastopol withstood intensive bombardment by the Germans in 1941–1942, during the Axis siege
which lasted for 250 days before it fell in July 1942. The city was intended to be renamed to "Theodorichshafen" in case of a German victory against the Soviet Union, and like the rest of the Crimea was designated for future colonization by the Third Reich. It was liberated by the Red Army
on May 9, 1944 and was awarded with the Hero City
title a year later.
In 1957, the town of Balaklava
was incorporated into Sevastopol.
During the Soviet era, Sevastopol, became a so-called "closed city
". This meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. It was directly subordinate to the central Russian SFSR authorities rather than the local oblast
and later (after 1978) to the Ukrainian SSR
administration.
On December 11, 1992, the President of Ukraine
called the attempt of "the Russian deputies to charge the Russian parliament with a task to define the status of Sevastopol as an imperial disease". On December 17, 1992, the office of the Ukrainian presidential representative in [Crimea was created, which caused a wave of protests a month later. Among the protesters who organised the unsanctioned rally were the Sevastopol branches of the National Salvation Front, the Russian Popular Assembly, and the All-Crimean Movement of the Voters for the Republic of Crimea. The protest was held in Sevastopol on January 10 at the Nakhimov Square.
On July 10, 1993, the Russian parliament passed a resolution declaring Sevastopol to be "a federal Russian city". At the time, many supporters of the president, Boris Yeltsin
, had ceased taking part in the Parliament's work.
On April 14, 1993, the Presidium of the Crimean Parliament called for the creation of the presidential post of the Crimean Republic. A week later, the Russian deputy, Valentin Agafonov, stated that Russia is ready to supervise the referendum on Crimean independence and include the republic as a separate entity in the CIS. On July 28, 1993, one of the leaders of the Russian Society of Crimea, Viktor Prusakov, stated that his organisation was ready for an armed mutiny and establishment of the Russian administration in Sevastopol. In September, Eduard Baltin accused Ukraine of converting some of his fleet and conducting an armed assault on his personnel, and threatened to take countermeasures of placing the fleet on alert. In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Peace and Friendship Treaty, ruling out Moscow's territorial claims to Ukraine.
Like in the rest of the Crimea, Russian remains the predominant language in the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there have been some attempts at Ukrainization
with very little success. The administration from the Government of Ukraine
retains formal control of Sevastopol's life (such as of taxation and police
) and tries to avoid confrontation with the Black Sea Fleet command and pro-Russian groups. A few years ago, the city council, dominated by the Communist Party of Ukraine
, rejected a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
loan to renovate Sevastopol's poor sewage system, declaring that the project was intended to increase the city's dependence on the Ukrainian government and the Western world
.
The WE Youth Political Organization, which advocates Russian citizenship for Sevastopol residents, published a poll in 2004 claiming "72% of the Sevastopol citizens support the idea of the independent status of Crimea. The Crimea is an autonomous Republic within Ukraine. Besides, 95% of the respondents support the constant stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol even after 2045, when the time of the corresponding agreement between Russia and Ukraine is up. Also, 100% of those polled are for the having the option for citizens of Sevastopol of dual citizenship, Russian and Ukrainian. It is notable, however, that of those expressing a desire to be able to obtain Russian citizenship only 16% of the Sevastopol citizens are ready to give up the Ukrainian one."
, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt. Many top architects and civil engineers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities and thousands of workers from all parts of the USSR took part in the rebuilding process which was mostly finished by the mid-1950s. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets, South Bay and Artillery Bay, features mostly Mediterranean-style, three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and Venetian-style arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th c. (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its famous Marine Boulevard.
Due to its military history, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its military past.
and the largest in Crimea
. City agglomeration has population 961,885 (2008). According to the Ukrainian National Census, 2001
, the ethnic groups of Sevastopol include Russians
(71.6%), Ukrainians
(22.4%), Belarusians
(1.6%), Tatars
(0.7%), Crimean Tatars
(0.5%), Armenians
(0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Moldovans
(0.2%), and Azerbaijanis
(0.2%).
. The local administration is represented by the city's council headed by its chairman.
The Sevastopol Municipality is divided into four municipal raions: Lenin Raion, Nakhimov Raion, Gagarin Raion, and Balaklava Raion. Out of settlements beside Sevastopol, the municipality also contains 29 rural settlements including villages as well as two urban settlements: the Inkerman City and the town of Kacha. All of the settlements are organized within the municipal raions. Most of the Sevastopol City is located within Lenin and Gagarin raions, with Lenin being the central one and housing the administrations of city and municipality.
would continue to be located in Sevastopol and the adjoining region on the terms of a 20-year renewable lease, following a long diplomatic and political dispute between Russia and the newly independent Ukraine.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow refused to recognise Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast
, using the argument that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic because of its military status. This claim was relinquished in the bilateral Peace and Friendship Treaty, which confirmed that both the Crimea and Sevastopol belong to Ukraine. A separate treaty established the terms of a long-term lease of land and resources in and around Sevastopol by Russia.
The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet
and its facilities, was divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy
. The two navies now co-use some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remains the location of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters also based in the city. A judicial row periodically continues over the naval hydrographic
infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses historically maintained by the Soviet or Russian Navy and also used for civil navigation support).
The status of the Black Sea Fleet has a strong influence over the city's business and cultural life. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives have never accepted the loss of Sevastopol and tend to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland. In 2008, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov
declared that Sevastopol "should again be a Russian city" and appropriated $34 million for "the support of compatriots abroad." Protests by citizens of the city caused the cancellation of a joint Ukraine-NATO military exercise in 2006.
In July 2009, the chairman of the Sevastopol city council, Valeriy Saratov (Party of Regions
) stated that Ukraine should increase the amount of compensation it is paying to the city of Sevastopol for hosting the foreign Russia
n Black Sea Fleet
, instead of requesting such obligations from the Russian government and the Russian Ministry of Defense in particular.
On April 27, 2010, Russia and Ukraine ratified the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty, extending the Russian Navy's lease of the Sevastopol base for 25 years after 2017 (through 2042) with an option to prolong the lease for another 5 years (through 2047). The ratification process in the Ukrainian parliament encountered stiff opposition and erupted into a brawl in the parliament chamber. Eventually, the treaty was ratified by a 52% majority vote - 236 to 450. The Russian Duma ratified the treaty by a 98% majority without incident.
Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts , one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".- Overview :...
of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, located on the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coast of the Crimea peninsula
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa
Port of Odessa
The Port of Odessa is the largest Ukrainian seaport and one of the largest ports in the Black Sea basin, with a total annual traffic capacity of 40 million tonnes...
.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours
Harbor
A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...
make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
and tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
(CIS) countries. The city, formerly the home of the Russian then Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
, is now home to a Ukrainian naval base
Naval base
A naval base is a military base, where warships and naval ships are deployed when they have no mission at sea or want to restock. Usually ships may also perform some minor repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that usually stay on the ships but are undergoing maintenance while...
and a Russian naval base in facilities leased by the Russian Navy. The headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia's Black Sea Fleet are located in the city. In 1993, the city was the subject of a territorial dispute between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
The trade and shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
importance of Sevastopol's port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s. Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
research. In particular, studying and training of dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s has been conducted in the city since the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was first conducted as a secret naval programme to use the animals for special undersea operations. Sevastopol enjoys one of the warmest climates in Ukraine, with mild winters and moderate warm summers.
Etymology
The name of Sevastopolis (Modern , Sevastoupoli, old-fashioned Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoupolis), or currently Sevastopol, was originally chosen in the same etymologicalEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of two Greek nouns, (sebastós, Modern sevastós) ('venerable') and (pólis) ('city'). is the traditional Greek translation of the honourable Roman title Augustus
Augustus (honorific)
Augustus , Latin for "majestic," "the increaser," or "venerable", was an Ancient Roman title, which was first held by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus , and subsequently came to be considered one of the titles of what are now known as the Roman Emperors...
('venerable'), originally given to the first emperor of the Roman Empire, G. Julius Caesar Octavianus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
and later awarded as a title to his successors.
Despite its Greek origin, the name is not old. The city was probably named after the Empress ("Augusta
Augusta (honorific)
Augusta was the imperial honorific title of empresses. It was given to the women of the Roman and Byzantine imperial families. In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater castrorum and Mater Patriae .The title implied the greatest prestige, with the Augustae able to...
") Catherine II of Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries.
In the west of the city, there are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city of Chersonesos, founded in the 5th century BC. The name means "peninsula" reflecting its location and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula, Chersonēsos Taurikē
Taurica
Taurica, Tauric Chersonese, and Taurida were names by which the territory of Crimea was known to the Greeks and Romans.- Etymology of the name :...
("the Tauri
Tauri
The Tauri , also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae were a people settling on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains and the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the Black Sea...
an Peninsula").
Orthography and pronunciation of the name
- In English, the current prevalent spelling of the name is Sevastopol. The spelling Sebastopol was also formerly used. In English it is icon or s., pronounced seβ̞ɑsˈtɔpɔlʲ in Ukrainian and sʲɪvɐsˈtopəlʲ in Russian.
- Modern Sevastoupoli
Political status and subdivision
Administratively, Sevastopol is a municipalityMunicipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
excluded from the surrounding Autonomous Republic of Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
(see Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts , one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".- Overview :...
for more details). The territory of the municipality is 863.5 km² and it is further subdivided into four raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
s (districts). Besides the City of Sevastopol proper, it also includes two towns — Balaklava
Balaklava
Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...
, Inkerman
Inkerman
Inkerman is a town in Crimea, Ukraine. It is situated 5 kilometres east of Sevastopol, at the mouth of the Chernaya River that flows into Sevastopol Inlet . Administratively, Inkerman is subordinate to the municipality of Sevastopol which does not constitute part of the Autonomous Republic of...
, urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement ; , selyshche mis'koho typu ) is an official designation for a type of locality used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union...
Kacha, and 29 villages.
Sevastopol has no elected mayor, instead a "Chairman of the Sevastopol City State Administration" functions as a mayor. She/he is appointed by the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
.
Climate
City enjoys one of the warmest climates in Ukraine, with mild winters and moderate warm summers. Sevastopol has a humid subtropical climateHumid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
(Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
: Cfa) near the borderline of the humid continental climate
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
and the semi-arid climate.
The average yearly temperature is 15–16 °C (59–60.8 F)} during the day and around 9 °C (48.2 °F) at night. In the coldest months – January and February – the average temperature is 5–6 °C (41–42.8 F) during the day and around 1 °C (33.8 °F) at night. In the warmest months – July and August – the average temperature is around 26 °C (78.8 °F) during the day and around 19 °C (66.2 °F) at night. Generally – summer's/holiday season lasts to 5 months, starting from around mid-May and ending in September, however, also in the first half of October quite often temperature reaches 20 °C (68 °F) or more. From June to September - the average sea temperature is =>20 °C (68 °F), while in the second half of May and first half of October - the average sea temperature is about 17 °C (63 °F). The average rainfall is about 400 millimetres (15.7 in) per year and there is about 2,200 hours of sunshine duration per year.
History
Sevastopol together with KronstadtKronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
and Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
is one of the most famous naval citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
s in Europe. It was founded in 1783 by Rear Admiral Makenzie, in Russian service, as a base for a naval squadron, when Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
annexed the Crimean peninsula. Five years earlier, Aleksandr Suvorov ordered that earthworks be erected along the harbour and Russian troops be located there. At first, the place was called by its ancient name, Akhtiar. In February 1784, Catherine II (the Great) ordered Grigory Potyomkin (Grigoriy Potemkin) to build a fortress there and call it Sevastopol. The realisation of the initial building plans fell to Captain F.F. Ushakov, in 1788 named commander of the port and of the Black Sea squadron. It became an important naval base and later a commercial port. In 1797 under an edict issued by Emperor Paul I
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, the military stronghold was renamed Akhtiar. Finally, on April 29 (May 10), 1826, the Senate returned the city's name to Sevastopol.
One of the most notable events involving the city is the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) carried out by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
n, and Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
troops during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, which lasted for 11 months. Despite its efforts, the Russian army had to leave its stronghold and evacuate over a pontoon bridge to the north shore of the inlet. The Russians had to sink their entire fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy and at the same time to block the entrance of the Western ships into the inlet. When the enemy troops entered Sevastopol, they were faced with the ruins of a formerly glorious city.
A panorama
Panorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
of the siege originally was created by Franz Roubaud
Franz Roubaud
Franz Alekseyevich Roubaud was a Russian painter who created some of the largest and best known panoramic paintings.Roubaud was born on 15 June 1856 in Odessa and attended an art school there. In 1877 he went to Munich, where he studied at the Munich Academy...
. Later after its destruction in 1942 during WWII, it was restored and is being housed in a specially constructed circular building in the city. It portrays the situation in the height of the siege, on 18 June 1855.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Sevastopol withstood intensive bombardment by the Germans in 1941–1942, during the Axis siege
Battle of Sevastopol
The Siege of Sevastopol took place on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The campaign was fought by the Axis powers of Germany, Romania and Italy against the Soviet Union for control of Sevastopol, a port in Crimea on the Black Sea. On 22 June 1941 the Axis invaded the Soviet Union under...
which lasted for 250 days before it fell in July 1942. The city was intended to be renamed to "Theodorichshafen" in case of a German victory against the Soviet Union, and like the rest of the Crimea was designated for future colonization by the Third Reich. It was liberated by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
on May 9, 1944 and was awarded with the Hero City
Hero City
Hero City is a Soviet honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during the German-Soviet War of 1941 to 1945. It was awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union. In addition the Brest Fortress was awarded an equivalent title of Hero-Fortress...
title a year later.
In 1957, the town of Balaklava
Balaklava
Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...
was incorporated into Sevastopol.
During the Soviet era, Sevastopol, became a so-called "closed city
Closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement with travel and residency restrictions in the Soviet Union and some of its successor countries. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" ....
". This meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. It was directly subordinate to the central Russian SFSR authorities rather than the local oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
and later (after 1978) to the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
administration.
On December 11, 1992, the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
called the attempt of "the Russian deputies to charge the Russian parliament with a task to define the status of Sevastopol as an imperial disease". On December 17, 1992, the office of the Ukrainian presidential representative in [Crimea was created, which caused a wave of protests a month later. Among the protesters who organised the unsanctioned rally were the Sevastopol branches of the National Salvation Front, the Russian Popular Assembly, and the All-Crimean Movement of the Voters for the Republic of Crimea. The protest was held in Sevastopol on January 10 at the Nakhimov Square.
On July 10, 1993, the Russian parliament passed a resolution declaring Sevastopol to be "a federal Russian city". At the time, many supporters of the president, Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
, had ceased taking part in the Parliament's work.
On April 14, 1993, the Presidium of the Crimean Parliament called for the creation of the presidential post of the Crimean Republic. A week later, the Russian deputy, Valentin Agafonov, stated that Russia is ready to supervise the referendum on Crimean independence and include the republic as a separate entity in the CIS. On July 28, 1993, one of the leaders of the Russian Society of Crimea, Viktor Prusakov, stated that his organisation was ready for an armed mutiny and establishment of the Russian administration in Sevastopol. In September, Eduard Baltin accused Ukraine of converting some of his fleet and conducting an armed assault on his personnel, and threatened to take countermeasures of placing the fleet on alert. In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Peace and Friendship Treaty, ruling out Moscow's territorial claims to Ukraine.
Like in the rest of the Crimea, Russian remains the predominant language in the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there have been some attempts at Ukrainization
Ukrainization
Ukrainization is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture, in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government and religion.The term is used, most prominently, for the...
with very little success. The administration from the Government of Ukraine
Government of Ukraine
Government of Ukraine is often associated with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. However it should be considered that Ukraine is a country under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government...
retains formal control of Sevastopol's life (such as of taxation and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
) and tries to avoid confrontation with the Black Sea Fleet command and pro-Russian groups. A few years ago, the city council, dominated by the Communist Party of Ukraine
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...
, rejected a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their...
loan to renovate Sevastopol's poor sewage system, declaring that the project was intended to increase the city's dependence on the Ukrainian government and the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
.
The WE Youth Political Organization, which advocates Russian citizenship for Sevastopol residents, published a poll in 2004 claiming "72% of the Sevastopol citizens support the idea of the independent status of Crimea. The Crimea is an autonomous Republic within Ukraine. Besides, 95% of the respondents support the constant stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol even after 2045, when the time of the corresponding agreement between Russia and Ukraine is up. Also, 100% of those polled are for the having the option for citizens of Sevastopol of dual citizenship, Russian and Ukrainian. It is notable, however, that of those expressing a desire to be able to obtain Russian citizenship only 16% of the Sevastopol citizens are ready to give up the Ukrainian one."
Sights and monuments
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt. Many top architects and civil engineers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities and thousands of workers from all parts of the USSR took part in the rebuilding process which was mostly finished by the mid-1950s. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets, South Bay and Artillery Bay, features mostly Mediterranean-style, three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and Venetian-style arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th c. (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its famous Marine Boulevard.
Due to its military history, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its military past.
Attractions list
- Chersonessos National Archeological Reserve
- The Panorama Museum (The Heroic Defence of Sevastopol during the Crimean WarCrimean WarThe Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
) - Malakhov Kurgan (Barrow) with its White Tower
- Admirals' Burial Vault
- The Sunken Ships Monument on the Marine Boulevard
- The Black Sea FleetBlack Sea FleetThe Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
Museum - The Storming of Sapun-goraSapun-goraSapun-gora — is a ridge to the southeast of Sevastopol, in Crimea, Ukraine.It became the arena of fierce battle during the siege of Sevastopol , and also during its recapturing in 1944....
of May 7, 1944, the Diorama Museum (World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) - Fraternal (Communal) War Cemetery
Architecture
There are many historical buildings in the central and eastern parts of the city and Balaklava, some of which are architectural monuments. The Western districts have modern architecture. More recently, numerous skyscrapers have been built. Balaklava Bayfront Plaza, currently under construction, will be one of the tallest buildings in Ukraine, at 173 m (567.6 ft) with 43 floors.Demographics
The population of Sevastopol proper is 342,451 (2001), making it the 15th largest city in UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the largest in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. City agglomeration has population 961,885 (2008). According to the Ukrainian National Census, 2001
Ukrainian Census (2001)
The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989....
, the ethnic groups of Sevastopol include Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(71.6%), Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
(22.4%), Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
(1.6%), Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
(0.7%), Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...
(0.5%), Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
(0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
(0.2%), and Azerbaijanis
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
(0.2%).
Government
The city of Sevastopol is part of the Sevastopol Municipality which has a special status within Ukraine and has a total area of around 863.5 square kilometres (333.4 sq mi). Unlike the rest of the cities in the country Sevastopol officially does not have a typical mayor due to its status, functions of which conducts the head of Sevastopol Municipality State Administration or a city governor appointed by the President of UkrainePresident of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
. The local administration is represented by the city's council headed by its chairman.
The Sevastopol Municipality is divided into four municipal raions: Lenin Raion, Nakhimov Raion, Gagarin Raion, and Balaklava Raion. Out of settlements beside Sevastopol, the municipality also contains 29 rural settlements including villages as well as two urban settlements: the Inkerman City and the town of Kacha. All of the settlements are organized within the municipal raions. Most of the Sevastopol City is located within Lenin and Gagarin raions, with Lenin being the central one and housing the administrations of city and municipality.
Economy
Apart from navy-related civil facilities, Sevastopol hosts some other notable industries, such as Stroitel one of the leading plastics manufacturers in Ukraine.Transport
There are 7 types of transport in Sevastopol:- Bus - 337 routes
- Trolleybus - 19 routes
- Minibus - 52 routes
- Cutter - 18 routes
- Ferry - 2 routes
- Express-bus - 15 routes
- HEV-train - 1 route
Russian naval base and ownership dispute
According to the 1997 treaty, a Russian naval baseMilitary base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...
would continue to be located in Sevastopol and the adjoining region on the terms of a 20-year renewable lease, following a long diplomatic and political dispute between Russia and the newly independent Ukraine.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow refused to recognise Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
, using the argument that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic because of its military status. This claim was relinquished in the bilateral Peace and Friendship Treaty, which confirmed that both the Crimea and Sevastopol belong to Ukraine. A separate treaty established the terms of a long-term lease of land and resources in and around Sevastopol by Russia.
The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
and its facilities, was divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy
Ukrainian Navy
The Ukrainian Naval Forces is the navy of Ukraine and part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was established in 1992. It consists of 5 branches: surface forces, submarine forces, Navy aviation, coast rocket-artillery and marines...
. The two navies now co-use some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remains the location of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters also based in the city. A judicial row periodically continues over the naval hydrographic
Hydrographic office
A hydrographic office is an organization which is devoted to acquiring and publishing hydrographic information.Historically, the main tasks of hydrographic offices were the conduction of hydrographic surveys and the publication of nautical charts...
infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses historically maintained by the Soviet or Russian Navy and also used for civil navigation support).
The status of the Black Sea Fleet has a strong influence over the city's business and cultural life. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives have never accepted the loss of Sevastopol and tend to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland. In 2008, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov
Yuriy Luzhkov
Yury Mikhaylovich Luzhkov is a Russian politician who was the Mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010. He was also vice-chairman and one of the founders of the ruling United Russia party....
declared that Sevastopol "should again be a Russian city" and appropriated $34 million for "the support of compatriots abroad." Protests by citizens of the city caused the cancellation of a joint Ukraine-NATO military exercise in 2006.
In July 2009, the chairman of the Sevastopol city council, Valeriy Saratov (Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
) stated that Ukraine should increase the amount of compensation it is paying to the city of Sevastopol for hosting the foreign Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
, instead of requesting such obligations from the Russian government and the Russian Ministry of Defense in particular.
On April 27, 2010, Russia and Ukraine ratified the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty, extending the Russian Navy's lease of the Sevastopol base for 25 years after 2017 (through 2042) with an option to prolong the lease for another 5 years (through 2047). The ratification process in the Ukrainian parliament encountered stiff opposition and erupted into a brawl in the parliament chamber. Eventually, the treaty was ratified by a 52% majority vote - 236 to 450. The Russian Duma ratified the treaty by a 98% majority without incident.
See also
- 2121 Sevastopol2121 Sevastopol2121 Sevastopol is a main-belt asteroid discovered on June 27, 1971 by T. Smirnova at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
- an asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
discovered in 1971 by SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna SmirnovaTamara Mikhailovna SmirnovaTamara Mikhailovna Smirnova was a Russian astronomer.From 1966 to 1988 she was a staff member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Leningrad. She co-discovered the periodic comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh, along with Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh. She has also discovered various asteroids...
and named after the city. - SevastopolSevastopol, WisconsinSevastopol is a town in Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,667 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Institute, Valmy, and Whitefish Bay are located within the town.-Geography:...
is the name for a township located in WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - Sevastopol ShipyardSevastopol ShipyardThe Sevastopol Shipyard is a branch of the Sevastopol Marine Plant joint stock company . The shipyard is located in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine and is engaged in the repair, modernization and re-equipment of Russian and Ukrainian Naval ships and submarines.- History :The Sevastopol Marine Plant...
- Port of Sevastopol