ORENBURG

Samoilova Julia andObyhova Natalya

Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Region in the Volga Federal District of Russia. It lies 1,478 km southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 542,700 Highest point: 154.4 m. The mayor of the city is Yuri Meshcheryakov.

HistoryThe Russian Empire began plans for the construction of an eastern frontier fortress town in the southern Ural region to be named Orenburg in 1734. The colonists originally founded a settlement in 1735 at the confluence of the Ural River with the Or River. The town's name meant "fortress near the Or," as Burg is German for fortress. This settlement changed its name in 1739 to Orsk. An attempt was made to found another Orenburg at a location called Krasnogor, or "Red Hill," in 1741, but this settlement failed. A third Orenburg was successfully established by Ivan Neplyuyev at its present location approximately 250 km down the Ural from Orsk in 1743.This third Orenburg functioned as an important military

outpost on the frontier with the nomadic Kazakhs. It became the center for the Orenburg Cossacks.Orenburg played a major role in the rebellion of Pugachev (1773–1774). At the time, it was the capital of a vast district and the seat of the governor. Pugachev besieged the city and its fortress from nearby Berda from October 1773 - March 26, 1774. Most of the city was left in ruins, and thousands of inhabitants had died in the siege.

Museums•Orenburg Regional Museum of History and Natural Science•Orenburg Regional Museum of Art•Museum of Orenburg History•Memorial Apartment of Yuri and Valenti na Gagarin•Memorial Apartment of Leopold and Msti slav Rostropovich•Memorial Apartment of T.G. Shevchenko•Orenburg City Memorial House

Theaters•Orenburg State Dramati c Theater named aft er Maxim Gorky•Orenburg State Regional Musical Theater•Orenburg State Tatar Dramatic Theater•Orenburg State Regional Puppet Theater•Orenburg Municipal Puppet Theater "Pierrot

Notable Past Residents•Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (1769-1844) Russia's best known fabulist.•Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky (1794—1857) Prominent Russian statesman, Count, Governor of Orenburg Province from 1833-1842 and 1851-1857.•Vladimir Dahl (1801-1872) One of the greatest Russian lexicographers. Member of Russian Academy of Science.

•Yevgraf Fyodorov (1853-1919) Mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist. Known for his contribution to the Group theory. Member of Russian Academy of Science.•Musa Cälil (1906-1944) Famous Tatar poet and member of anti-Nazi group. Author of The Moabit Notebooks.•Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007) One of the greatest cellists of the 20th century.•Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968) Soviet Cosmonaut. The first human to orbit Earth.