Kondopoga, the second largest Karelian town

Studying Russian at Enjoy Russian School gives you an opportunity to explore the republic of Karelia. There are 13 cities and dozens of villages in the region. The vast majority of population here speaks Russian.

The second largest town in Karelia is Kondopoga, located by the northern tip of the Kondopoga Bay of Lake Onega. You will find the mouth of the Suna River and Kivach Nature Reserve nearby. There 54 km between Kondopoga and Petrozavodsk. According to the Census of 2010, the town population is 32,987 of people.

History

Modern Kondopoga originates from a village with the same name. The very first written reference well-known to historians dates back to 1563.

1757 large deposits of marble were discovered near K. That marble was widely used for building palaces in St Petersburg.

During World War I Main Artillery Administrative Department of Russian Military Ministry started building of a nitric acid plant, which was essential for gunpowder production. A hydroelectric power station was designed to meet a considerable demand in energy. The building of the plant was started near K to exploit the difference in water-levels of Nigozero and Onezhskoe Ozero. Planned power of the plant was 30 MWt, and it was to become the largest in Russia. During the Russian revolution and Civil war the project was stopped and all the equipment taken away.

The project was revived in Soviet time according to GOELRO plan (1920), which considered K hydroelectric power station as one of the most urgent elements in the country electrification scheme.

In 1927 Kondopoga became a regional centre, which was given a status of the town in 1938. At that moment the population of Kondopoga was about 14,000 people.

During World War II Kondopoga was occupied by Finnish troops and totally destroyed. Plants and factories were out of order, houses and blocks of flats were demolished along with concert halls and museums. After the war everything was rebuilt.

In 1957 Kondopoga was declared the all-Union Komsomol building site. After that a number of new plants were built in the town - a stone-working plant, stoneware and mineral plant. Kondopoga pulp and paper mill was also developed.

Nowadays Kondopoga is considered to be one of the most important industrial centres of Republic Karelia. Leading industries include paper production, woodworking industry, stone-working industry and building-material industry. Kondopoga is the administrative centre of the region with the population of 50,000, the population of the town being 38,000. There are 75 settlements in the region.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kondopoga serves as the administrative center of Kondopozhsky District, to which it is directly subordinated.As a municipal division, the town of Kondopoga, together with three rural localities, is incorporated within Kondopozhsky Municipal District as Kondopozhskoye Urban Settlement.

Economy and transportation

Kondopoga has a railway station on the Moscow–Murmansk railroad, some of the largest pulp and paper mills in Eastern Europe, a medical college, and facilities for the manufacture of building materials.

Dormition Church in Kondopoga

First recorded as early as 1495, Kondopoga retains a rare monument of Russian wooden architecture — the Dormition Church (Успенская церковь), built in 1774. The central column of this church is crowned by a hipped roof, 42 m in total height. The column is based on a central rectangular framework, with adjacent frameworks for the refectory and altar. The altar framework is covered by a traditional wooden roof, called a barrel roof.

Read about other Karelian towns here