Orenburg (Оренбу́рг), Russia

Drama theater in Orenburg, Russia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drama_theatre._Orenburg.jpg
Author: Van Goga


Orenburg (Russian: Оренбу́рг) is a city and administrative center of Orenburg Oblast in Russia. It is a transcontinental city that straddles the southern part of the Ural Mountains. While most of the city is in Europe, a small section on its south side crosses the Ural into Asia. It has a population of 547,000 people (2012 estimate).

The name Orenburg can be translated to mean "Fortress on the Or River", as "burg" is fortress in German. In 1734, a series of fortifications were erected in the southern Ural region to strengthen the frontier of the Russian Empire. The first, originally called Orenburg, was renamed Orsk in 1739. The second Orenburg, sited 175 km (109 mi) to the west, failed, while the third Orenburg, located 250 km (160 mi) west of Orsk, was founded in 1743 and developed into the present city.

Orenburg was besieged by Yemelyan Pugachev, pretender to the Russian throne, between October 1773 and March 1774. The city was severely devastated when General Golytsin attacked to oust Pugachev.

Between 1920 and 1925, Orenburg served as the capital of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. When the republic was renamed Kazak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Orenburg was made part of Russia while Qyzylorda became the new capital of the republic. From 1938 to 1957, Orenburg was called Chkalov, in honor of test pilot Valery Chkalov.

Places of Interest in Orenburg

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