Volgograd

**Volgograd,** formerly called **Tsaritsyn** (1589–1925) and **Stalingrad** (1925–1961) is an industrial city of great importance, and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia.  It is 80 km long, north to south, on the western bank of the Volga River and has a population of over 1.011 million people.  The city was made famous for its heroic resistance and bloody siege during the Battle of Stalingrad taking place during World War II.

## History

Volgograd developed from the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589. The fortress was at the meof the Tsaritsa and Volga Rivers.
During the Russian Civil War the city was the scene of heavy fighting. Bolshevik forces occupied it during 1918, but were attacked by White forces. It was renamed as Stalingrad in 1925.

Under Stalin, the city became heavily industrialized as a centre of heavy industry and trans-shipment by rail and river. During World War II, Stalingrad became the center of the Battle of Stalingrad as well as a turning point in the war against Germany. Essentially, the German offensive was stopped at Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 21, 1942 to February 2, 1943, where 1.7 million to 2 million Axis and Soviet soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, in addition to over 40,000 civilians killed. The city was reduced to rubble during the fierce fighting, but reconstruction began soon after the Germans were expelled from the city.

Nikita Khrushchev renamed the city because of de-Stalinization in 1961.

### Twin towns — Sister cities

As of 2008, Volgograd has 21 sister cities:
- Coventry, England, United Kingdom (1943)
- Ostrava, Czech Republic (1948)
- Kemi, Finland (1953)
- Liège, Belgium (1959)
- Dijon, France (1959)
- Turin, Italy (1961)
- Port Said, Egypt (1962)
- Chennai, India (1966)
- Hiroshima, Japan (1972)
- Cologne, Germany (1988)
- Chemnitz, Germany (1988)
- Cleveland, Ohio, United States (1990)
- Toronto, Canada (1991)
- Jilin, China (1994)
- Yerevan, Armenia (1998)
- Chengdu, China (1998)
- Kruševac, Serbia (1999)
- Ruse, Bulgaria (2001)
- Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States (2003)
- Orlando, Florida, United States (2008)
- Baku, Azerbaijan (2008)
A number of communities in France and Italy have streets or avenues named after Stalingrad, hence _Place de Stalingrad_ in Paris and the Paris Métro station of Stalingrad.

## Other websites

- Official website of Volgograd
- Official website of Volgograd
- Volgograd.ru — City Web Portal, Local Business and Web Directory, News, Press, Webcams, 3D Mamayev Kurgan
- Over 2,000 original German WWII soldier photographs from the Eastern Front
- Sights of Volgograd
- Photo Gallery from Volgograd
- Stalingrad - Bilder einer erbitterten Schlacht (German)

## Infobox (russian inhabited locality)

- **en name**: Volgograd
- **ru name**: Волгоград
- **image skyline**: Volgograd Montage 2016.png
- **image caption**: **Counterclockwise:** _The Motherland Calls_, the Volgograd railway station, railway station, Planetarium, The Volgograd Metrotram, Metrotram, Panorama of the City, Gerhardt Mill, Mamayev Kurgan
- **image flag**: FlagVolgograd.svg
- **image coa**: Coat of arms of Volgograd city.svg
- **anthem**: _none_
- **holiday**: Second Sunday of September
- **federal subject**: Volgograd Oblast
- **adm inhabloc jur**: city of federal subject significance, city of oblast significance of Volgograd
- **adm ctr of1**: Volgograd Oblast
- **adm ctr of2**: city of oblast significance of Volgograd
- **inhabloc cat**: City
- **urban okrug jur**: Volgograd Urban Okrug
- **mun admctr of1**: Volgograd Urban Okrug
- **leader title**: Head
- **leader name**: Alexander Chunakov
- **representative body**: Volgograd City Duma, City Duma
- **pop 2010census**: 1021215
- **pop 2010census rank**: 12th
- **established date**: 1589
- **current cat date**: the end of the
18th century
- **postal codes**: 400000–400002, 400005–400012, 400015–400017, 400019–400023, 400026, 400029, 400031–400034, 400036, 400038–400040, 400042, 400046, 400048–400055, 400057–400059, 400062–400067, 400069, 400071–400076, 400078–400082, 400084, 400086–400089, 400093, 400094, 400096–400098, 400105, 400107, 400108, 400110–400112, 400117, 400119–400125, 400127, 400131, 400136–400138, 400700, 400880, 400890, 400899, 400921–400942, 400960–400965, 400967, 400970–400979, 400990–400993
- **dialing codes**: 8442
- **website**: http://www.volgadmin.ru