Volgograd Oblast.

History

In the Middle Ages these lands passed through the hands of the Khazars, the Cumans, the Golden Horde and then Russia. Tsaritsyn, today's Volgograd, was founded in 1589; it became Stalingrad in 1925 and took its present name in 1961. From 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943 it was the scene of the Battle of Stalingrad, the largest and bloodiest battle of the Second World War, which left the city almost entirely destroyed. The oblast was created on 5 December 1936 as Stalingrad Oblast and renamed Volgograd Oblast on 10 November 1961.

Culture & traditions

The region's great emblem is The Motherland Calls, an 85-metre statue on Mamayev Kurgan that appears on both the flag and the coat of arms. The Panorama Museum holds the largest painting in Russia, and Pavlov's House has been preserved as a wartime monument. Russians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Tatars and other peoples live in the oblast.

Nature

Most of the oblast lies in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, with forest covering only about 4% of the land. The Volga and the Don flow through it, linked by the Volga–Don Canal, along with the Medveditsa and the Khopyor, and the Yergeni hills rise in the south-east. Near the border with Kazakhstan lies Elton, the largest mineral lake in Europe at 152 km². Dunaliella salina algae tint its brine a reddish colour.

Sport

The 45,000-seat Volgograd Arena hosted matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The city is home to Rotor in football and to Kaustik and the women's side Dynamo in handball. Volgograd is the home town of pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and figure skater Evgeni Plushenko.

Practical information

The oblast runs on Moscow time (UTC+3). Flights arrive at Stalingrad International Airport, and Volgograd is a major junction of the Privolzhskaya Railway. The climate is continental, with hot summers and cold winters. Spring and early autumn are the most comfortable seasons, before or after the steppe's summer heat; the spa at Lake Elton has been operating since 1910.

What to see

• Mamayev Kurgan and The Motherland Calls — an 85-metre monument, the tallest statue in Europe
• Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad — home to Russia's largest painting
• Pavlov's House — a surviving witness to the Battle of Stalingrad
• Volga–Don Canal — the waterway linking the two rivers since 1952
• Lake Elton — reddish brine and a mud spa

Cities on the map

• Volgograd 1,012,219