Lugansk Travel Guide
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At
the end of 18th century Russia won a number of Black Sea
wars against the Turks. The victories opened broad Russian access to the Black Sea and offered it the opportunity of exploiting the rich natural resources of the Azov Sea territories. The access to the Black Sea and
the adjoining Crimea created the need to fortify and defend the southern borders. Russia used old Turkish
fortresses and built new ones for the defense. The fortresses and the fleet
needed cannons. Industrial Ural was distant, so the government decided to construct a government armory and foundry close to the Black Sea. The "Godfather" of
the Lugansk arms foundry certainly was the commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet, Admiral Nikolay Semenovitch Mordvinov. The "Godmother"
was Empress Ekaterina the Second. She signed the 1795 edict that established the armory and foundry on the Lugan River. The edict was prepared by
Mordvinov, since he was one who managed to persuade the Petersburg Admiralty to switch 715
thousand silver rubles left over from the construction of the young Black Sea fleet to
the construction of the cannon-foundry in south Russia. Mordvinov entrusted a Scottish foundry engineer and
inventor, Charles Gascoigne, to build a cannon-foundry.
After close study of the local natural deposits Charles Gascoigne
offered to manufacture cast iron cannons, rather then copper ones. For this purpose an
ironworks was built at the village of Cambrod (Stone Ford) near the river
Lugan.
The plant was built in a short time. The first cast iron was produced in 1800. Cannons were produced for the Crimean war of 1853-1856. As the plant grew, so did a village which was called Lugansk plant. By the 1830s the village contained already nearly 200 private houses, along with barracks where the mostly poor population lived. Among the workers were Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Belorussians, Tatars, and Jews. Each nationality tended to observe its own traditions and customs, but gradually their customs and traditions merged and formed a particular flavor for the Lugansk region.
The city was initially built without an officially confirmed plan. All vertical streets were identified as lines (as in Saint Petersburg), and all horizontal ones were named. The first most important street of the city was English Street. Foreign specialists who arrived to work at the plant settled there. A mansion for the director of the plant was built there. On the same street in the family of a factory physician Vladimir Dal was born. He became a lexicographer of the Russian language, wrote a Russian dictionary still used today, and collected and published an anthology of Russian fairy tales comparable to the brothers, Grimm, in Germany. Later other streets appeared such as Peterbourgskaya, Uspenskaya, Kazanskaya, and Bankovskaya. Later Peterbourgskaya Street became the main street. Here two-stored houses were built, in which, as a rule, shops and barbers' shops were placed at the ground floor. In Lugansk there were more then ten churches of different religions: Kazanskaya, Preobrazhenskaya,Trinity, Assumption, Petropavlovskaya, and Nikolayevsky cathedrals, a synagogue, a Catholic church, several prayer houses. It was a great loss when all of these buildings of great value as architectural monuments were destroyed during the 1930s. The only church that survives, though greatly damaged, is Petropavlovskaya church in the Stone Ford.
In 1882 Lugansk because of its economic position and upon the petition of local merchants and gentries was raised to the status of a district city. In the springtime of 1883 the first Chairman of City Duma (Mayor), Nikolay Petrovitch Kholodilin, was elected, and the Duma itself sat in one of the best buildings of the city on Kazanskaya Street.
With an increasing population, a network of schools developed. In the city there were several private gymnasiums, two public gymnasiums, schools, and grade schools. With the development of industry several banks opened. The largest was Azov-Don bank on Kazanskaya Street.
In 1903 Lugansk received its court of arms. Life of the citizens of Lugansk was varied and interesting. Several libraries, movie theaters, a circus, parks, and clubs thrived in the city.
During the 1870s and 1880s new factories and plants opened in Lugansk. The largest one was Lugansk cartridge plant which developed as an adjunct to the foundry and the Gartman locomotive plant. By 1898 already more than 30 industrial enterprises, as well as many small businesses and craft workshops, had opened.
At the beginning of the 20th century Lugansk had established itself as a large industrial center, a city with its own multinational traditions and its particular mode of life.
The plant was built in a short time. The first cast iron was produced in 1800. Cannons were produced for the Crimean war of 1853-1856. As the plant grew, so did a village which was called Lugansk plant. By the 1830s the village contained already nearly 200 private houses, along with barracks where the mostly poor population lived. Among the workers were Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Belorussians, Tatars, and Jews. Each nationality tended to observe its own traditions and customs, but gradually their customs and traditions merged and formed a particular flavor for the Lugansk region.
The city was initially built without an officially confirmed plan. All vertical streets were identified as lines (as in Saint Petersburg), and all horizontal ones were named. The first most important street of the city was English Street. Foreign specialists who arrived to work at the plant settled there. A mansion for the director of the plant was built there. On the same street in the family of a factory physician Vladimir Dal was born. He became a lexicographer of the Russian language, wrote a Russian dictionary still used today, and collected and published an anthology of Russian fairy tales comparable to the brothers, Grimm, in Germany. Later other streets appeared such as Peterbourgskaya, Uspenskaya, Kazanskaya, and Bankovskaya. Later Peterbourgskaya Street became the main street. Here two-stored houses were built, in which, as a rule, shops and barbers' shops were placed at the ground floor. In Lugansk there were more then ten churches of different religions: Kazanskaya, Preobrazhenskaya,Trinity, Assumption, Petropavlovskaya, and Nikolayevsky cathedrals, a synagogue, a Catholic church, several prayer houses. It was a great loss when all of these buildings of great value as architectural monuments were destroyed during the 1930s. The only church that survives, though greatly damaged, is Petropavlovskaya church in the Stone Ford.
In 1882 Lugansk because of its economic position and upon the petition of local merchants and gentries was raised to the status of a district city. In the springtime of 1883 the first Chairman of City Duma (Mayor), Nikolay Petrovitch Kholodilin, was elected, and the Duma itself sat in one of the best buildings of the city on Kazanskaya Street.
With an increasing population, a network of schools developed. In the city there were several private gymnasiums, two public gymnasiums, schools, and grade schools. With the development of industry several banks opened. The largest was Azov-Don bank on Kazanskaya Street.
In 1903 Lugansk received its court of arms. Life of the citizens of Lugansk was varied and interesting. Several libraries, movie theaters, a circus, parks, and clubs thrived in the city.
During the 1870s and 1880s new factories and plants opened in Lugansk. The largest one was Lugansk cartridge plant which developed as an adjunct to the foundry and the Gartman locomotive plant. By 1898 already more than 30 industrial enterprises, as well as many small businesses and craft workshops, had opened.
At the beginning of the 20th century Lugansk had established itself as a large industrial center, a city with its own multinational traditions and its particular mode of life.
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