Kingisepp, town

Subject / Topography/Cities
KINGISEPP, town, adm. center of Kingisepp District. Population: 50,300. It situated on the banks of the Luga River, at the St. Petersburg-Tallinn highway and the St. Petersburg-Ivangorod-Tallinn railroad. The municipal entity Kingisepp Urban Settlement also comprises Porkhovo village. Until the 18th century its name was Yam (Yama), then Yamburg. In 1922, it was renamed after Estonian revolutionary Viktor Kingisepp. It was founded in 1384 when the Novgorod people built a stone fortress in a bend of the Luga (see Yamgorod Fortress.) By the 15th century, Yam had become not only a military but also an artisan/trade and adm. center. In 1583 it was taken by Swedish troops, but went back to Russia under the Tyavzino Treaty (1595.) New hostilities with Sweden resulted in the loss of the fortress in 1617 (under the Stolbovo Treaty.) In the Swedish period, it was the center of an uyezd (län.) Regained by Russia in the Northern War. In the spring of 1703, by the decree of Peter I, the Swedish version of the fortress’s name, Yamburg, was given to the town. In 1708, the town was granted to Prince A. D. Menshikov, and was taken to the Treasury after his exile. It was the uyezd center from 1784. In 1784, a new city plan was adopted providing for regular development (the remaining fortifications were razed at the same time.) The town greatly suffered during the Civil War (1919) and WWII (from Aug. 1941 till Feb. 1944 K. was occupied by German troops.) In the 2nd half of the 20th c., K. became a large industrial center, with an industrial zone on the left-hand bank of the Luga where the core enterprise of K., Fosforit JSC, is located (manufacturing mineral and nitrogen fertilizers.) K. has retained the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Catherine the Great Martyr (1782; active, parish registered in 1990), two of four buildings of the Gostiny Dvor (1780s; more details in Gostiny Dvors), the riding hall building (1836; arch. A. E. Staubert.) In the territory of today’s K. there was Romanovka Estate. Several monuments dedicated to the events of the Civil War and WWII are erected in K., the “Grove of the 500” is the most known one. The town has the Kingisepp museum of the local history, Kingisepp children’s library, Kingisepp central district library, town library branch No. 1, Children’s Creativity House, children’s schools of music and arts, town culture center (with the Youth Theater functioning on its base), Khimik culture center, culture and leisure park, branch of the A. S. Pushkin Leningrad Oblast University. “Vremya” and “Vostochny Bereg” newspapers are published, and Radio Kingisepp broadcasts. In 1995, the Yamburg parish of the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Ingria was registered, and a church was built. Tripolskaya, Anna Aleksandrovna
Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Kingisepp, Victor Eduardovich
Menshikov, Aleksandr Danilovich, Highness Prince
Peter I, Emperor
Staubert, Aleksandr Yegorovich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kingisepp District
Topographical landmarks/Luga River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kingisepp District/Porkhovo Village
Historical Toponyms/Yam
Historical Toponyms/Yamburg Town
Даринский А.В. Ленинградская область. Л., 1975., 242-244
Громов В.И., Файнштейн Л.А. Памятные места Ленинградской области. Л., 1959., 110-128
Ефимов А.С. Кингисепп Ист.-краевед. очерк Л., 1972., 110-128
По древней ямбургской земле. Путеводитель. Кингисепп. 2004, 110-128
Народная энциклопедия "Мой город". Кингисепп (Ленинградская область). URL: http://www.mojgorod.ru/leningr_obl/kingisepp, 110-128
Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Ingria
"Khimik" ("Chemist"), House of Culture (Kingisepp City)
Kingisepp Central District Library, the
Kingisepp children art school
Kingisepp Children Library, the
Kingisepp House of Culture
Kingisepp Museum od the Local History, the
Kingisepp Town Library, the
Leningrad Oblast State University named after A.S. Pushkin
Romanovka, a country estate
The Cathedral of St. Catherine, Great Martyr (Kingisepp Town)
"The Grove of Five Hundred", memorial, the
The Lutheran Church (Kingisepp Town)
"Vostochny Bereg" ("The East Bank"), a newspaper
"Vremya" ("The Time"), a newspaper
Yamgorod Fortress
Youth Theatre, the; (Kingisepp Town)