Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history. Population: 415,159 (2010 Census); 412,442 (2002 Census); 424,239 (1989 Census).
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July 5 is 70 years since the Battle of Kursk, which ended August 23, 1943. It was the most massive tank battle in the history of warfare. After the completion of the battle of Kursk strategic initiative passed to the side of the Soviet Union ─ Red Army until the war conducted primarily offensive operations.
In 1943, the Red Army and the Wehrmacht fought a counter-attack, resulting in the territory of eastern Ukraine was formed protrusion depth of 150 kilometers and a width of 200 kilometers to the west-facing side. He subsequently received the name of “Kursk”.
City of Military Glory – the honorary title of the Russian Federation to assign individual cities “for the courage, fortitude and heroism displayed by the city’s defenders to fight for the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.”
Regulation on conditions and procedures for awarding honorary titles of the Russian Federation “City of Military Glory” was approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation from December 1, 2006 number 1340.
Archaeology indicates that the site of Kursk was settled in the 5th or 4th century . The settlement was fortified and included Slavs at least as early as the 8th century CE.
The first written record of Kursk is dated 1032.[citation needed] It was mentioned as one of Severian towns by Prince Igor in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign: “As to my Kurskers, they are famous knights—swaddled under war-horns, nursed under helmets, fed from the point of the lance; to them the trails are familiar, to them the ravines are known, the bows they have are strung tight, the quivers, unclosed, the sabers, sharpened; themselves, like gray wolves, they lope in the field, seeking for themselves honor, and for their prince, glory.”
The seat of a minor principality, Kursk was raided by the Polovtsians in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and destroyed by Batu Khan around 1237. The city was rebuilt no later than 1283. It was ruled by Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1360-1508. Kursk joined the centralized Russian state in 1508, becoming its southern border province. It was an important center of the corn trade with Ukraine and hosted an important fair, which took place annually under the walls of the monastery of Our Lady of Kursk. It was raided frequently by Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crimean Khanate until late of 17th century and was ruled Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1611-1634. It was bounded to successively Kiev Governorate (1708–1727), Belgorod Governorate (1727–1779), and Kursk Viceroyalty (1779–1797). Town status was granted to Kursk in 1779. It became the administrative center of Kursk Governorate in 1797.
The Soviet government prized Kursk for rich deposits of iron ore and developed it into one of the major railroad hubs in the Russian Southwest. During World War II, Kursk was occupied by Germans between November 4, 1941 and February 8, 1943. Again in World War II, the village of Prokhorovka near Kursk was the center of the Battle of Kursk, a major engagement between Soviet and German forces which is widely believed by historians to have been the largest tank battle in history and was the last major German offensive mounted against the Soviet Union.
By the beginning of the battle of the German army entered the new types of vehicles: tanks “Tiger” and “Panther” assault weapons “Ferdinand” remote-controlled wedgies Sd.Kfz.302. The enemy’s troops also used planes Ju-87 Stuka and Ju-87G-1. The Red Army had a T-34 tanks, self-propelled gun SU-152 artillery guns ZIS-3, and from the aircraft took part in the Battle of Kursk Il-2.
As a result of the loss of the battle of Germany (wounded, killed or captured) totaled about 500 million people, 1.5 thousand tanks, three thousand guns and 3.5 thousand aircraft of various types. The Red Army lost 860,000 people, nearly six thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, more than five thousand pieces of artillery, and 1.6 thousand aircraft. During the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet troops were released on August 5 Orel and Belgorod. In honor of this in Moscow was given the first ever war artillery salute.
Many years Kursk bind friendships and partnerships with a number of towns and cities in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Abkhazia and other countries – Germany and Poland, Montenegro and the United Kingdom, Serbia and Bulgaria and other countries. Mutual participation in the traditional celebrations of the partner cities, sports and artistic festivals, communication with people of different nationalities, cultures, faiths extends the horizons of people contributes to the development of a broad public diplomacy.
Learn the history of the city, understand its features allows familiarity with the exposition: traditional – local history, archaeological, the Battle of Kursk, Young defenders of the motherland and the original – the nightingale of the Kursk and the Kursk tram and a visit to the Kursk art gallery, exhibition halls and salons. The contemplation of the panorama surrounding area, opening from the highest point of the city where once the ancient fortress of Kursk, better than any words explain why the ancestors of the smokers choose this place to live and for centuries defended his castle from enemies.
Especially good Kursk during citywide celebrations, organizers are skillfully woven into the fabric of contemporary events elements of folk traditions and rituals, which makes such original and memorable celebration. This is easily seen by visiting the City Day celebration, which kuryane celebrated annually in September.
Ancient Kursk – the city of the future. Every year it grows, develops, prettier, not forgetting its long and arduous history, which has become a solid foundation for current and future accomplishments.
The oldest building in Kursk is the upper church of the Trinity Monastery, a good example of the transition style characteristic of Peter the Great’s early reign. The oldest lay building is the so-called Romodanovsky Chamber, although it was erected in all probability in the mid-18th century, when the Romodanovsky family had ceased to exist.
The city cathedral was built between 1752 and 1778 in the splendid Baroque style and was decorated so sumptuously that many art historians attributed it to Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Although Rastrelli’s authorship is out of the question, the cathedral is indeed the most impressive monument of Elizabethan Baroque not to be commissioned by the imperial family or built in the imperial capital.
Religious Procession in Kursk Province, painting by Ilya Repin (1880-1883)
Sergievsko-Kazansky Cathedral in Kursk, 1752-1778
Central Bank of Russia building
The cathedral has two stories, with the lower church consecrated to St. Sergius of Radonezh and the upper one — to the Theotokos of Kazan. The upper church is noted for an intricate icon screen which took sixteen years to complete. The three-story cathedral bell tower derives peculiar interest from the fact that Seraphim of Sarov, whose father took part in construction works, survived an accidental fall from its top floor at the age of seven. The Resurrection Church is also shown where St. Seraphim was baptized.