Tolyatti

53°29′N 49°31′E

Ceremonial Coat of Arms

Flag of Tolyatti

Tolyatti or Togliatti (Template:Lang-ru) is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the administrative center of Stavropolsky District. Population: 717,500 (2006 est.); 702,879 (2002 Census); 630,543 (1989 Census). It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as an administrative center of a federal subject.

It was founded in 1737 as a fortress called Stavropol-on-Volga (Ста́врополь-на-Во́лге) by the Russian politician Vasily Tatishchev. During the construction of Volga Hydroelectrical Plant in the 1950s, the old settlement fell into the flooding zone of the Kuybyshev dam on the Volga River and was completely rebuilt on a new site. In 1964, the city was renamed Tolyatti (after Palmiro Togliatti, Italian communist leader).

Tolyatti is divided into several city districts:

• Avtozavodsky (Автозаво́дский), also called Novy Gorod (lit. New City)—the most modern one; was originally designed to host VAZ workers;
• Tsentralny (Центра́льный), also called Stary Gorod (lit. Old City)—home of the city government and industrial center;
• Komsomolsky (Комсомо́льский), the oldest district, built to house Hydroelectrical Plant builders.

Economy

The city is known primarily for the automobile production plants of VAZ (since 1971, in cooperation with the Fiat S.p.A.) and GM-AvtoVAZ (since 2001).

However, thanks to its well suited geographical location (near major sources of electricity and water) many other production is hosted here. Most represented here is chemical industry - major corporations include "TolyattiAzot" (Template:Lang-ru) (Russian biggest ammonia manufacturer), "KuybyshevAzot" (Template:Lang-ru) (specializes in nitrogen fertilizers), "Fosfor" (Template:Lang-ru) (phosphate-based production). Other industries are represented as well: building materials production, ship repair, electric technology.

Transport

Transport system is well-developed in Tolyatti. Public transportation methods include municipal-established buses and trolley-buses, and so called "alternative" (commercial) transport or marshrutkas.

External transport routes are provided by two bus stations, two railway stations, and a city harbor. Tolyatti has its airport as well, but it is used by personal aircraft only (nearest international airport, "Kurumoch", is located 95 km away, near Samara). Tolyatti is linked to federal road network by M5 "Ural" highway.

Unfortunately, being one Russian car production centers, Tolyatti suffers from car overpopulation (Samara Oblast was one of the first regions to receive an additional license plate code since existing one was not sufficient to register all the cars). Therefore a lot of traffic jams occur during morning and evening hours.

File:Toliatti.jpg

Vasily Tatishchev monument in Tolyatti

Culture, education, and sports

As most of city history was destroyed in the flood of the 1950s, almost every cultural point of interest here is related to Soviet period, such as Victory Park located in Avtozavodsky district. However, city government builds new monuments and cathedrals. One of the most notable events was opening of Vasily Tatishchev monument near the Volga. One of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world, Preobrazhensky Sobor Преображенский Собор was build here in 2003.

Education is represented by over a hundred public and by ten private schools, and several higher education institutions. Most notable ones include:

• Tolyatti State University (Template:Lang-ru)
• Tatishchev University of Volga (Template:Lang-ru)
• Tolyatti State Service University (Template:Lang-ru)
• Tolyatti Academy of Management (Template:Lang-ru)

In eyes of the Communist leaders, Tolyatti was an example of a perfect Soviet city (since most population migrated here during the Great construction of VAZ). Therefore, many sports facilities appeared so "perfect Soviet person" could be healthy. As the consequence of this, Tolyatti became the home of many athletes, including the Olympic Champion Alexei Nemov. Tolyatti has several major sports facilities: gymnasiums, swimming pools, ice arenas, football and racing stadiums.

Tolyatti is represented in almost every kind of team sports. Ice Hockey Club Lada Togliatti is famous for its conquest of Moscow teams leadership in Russian hockey. Women football team "Lada" became the Russian Champion several times. Women handball team "Lada", Russian and European Champion, is the core for National Women Handball team of Russia. Men's football, basketball and handball team are the patricipants of national championships as well.

External links

• http://www.tltnews.ru
• http://www.tltnews.net - English language
• http://www.tlt.ru/
• http://www.tgl.ru/
• http://gorod63.ru/
• http://www.togliatti.de/
• Satellite picture by Google Maps