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| Tags for this city photo: |
Kaliningrad (53), Russia (1808),
fort (129),
ruins (66),
fortifications (6),
bunker (3).
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| Author or submitter: |
Pavel Viaznikov
(stats)
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| Comment: |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad
http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=54.710045&lon=20.499973&z=13&l=1&m=h&v=2
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Region, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. The territory borders on NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania, and is geographically separated from the rest of Russia.
What remained of the largely destroyed Prussian and German town of Konigsberg, which had been founded in 1256, was occupied by the Soviet Army in 1945 and renamed to Kaliningrad in 1946. In the meantime, the name was briefly Russified as Kyonigsberg.
As of the 2002 Census, its population was 430,003, an increase from the 401,280 recorded in the 1989 Census. Its ethnic composition consists of 77.9% Russians, 8.0% Belarusians, and 7.3% Ukrainians.
Kaliningrad is the only Russian Baltic Sea port that is ice-free all year and hence plays an important role in maintenance of the Baltic Fleet.
Kaliningrad is located at the mouth of the navigable Pregolya River, which empties into the Vistula Lagoon, an inlet of the Baltic Sea.
Sea vessels can access Gdansk Bay and the Baltic Sea by way of the Vistula Lagoon and the Strait of Baltiysk.
Until circa 1900 ships drawing more than 2 meters of water could not pass the bar and come into town, so that larger vessels had to anchor at Pillau (now Baltiysk), where merchandise was moved onto smaller vessels. In 1901 a ship canal between Konigsberg and Pillau was completed at a cost of 13 million marks, which enabled vessels of a 6.5 meters draught to moor alongside the town. (See also Ports of the Baltic Sea.)
Khrabrovo Airport is located 24 kilometers north of Kaliningrad, and has a few scheduled/charter services to several destinations throughout Europe. There is the smaller Kaliningrad Devau Airport for general aviation. Kaliningrad is also home to Kaliningrad Chkalovsk naval air base. |
| Date taken: |
24 August 2004 |
| Views: |
169 |
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[ May 8, 2008 ]
