"The City of Coalminers" Kirovsk by hunterV

Kirovsk Travel Guide: 61 reviews and 270 photos

Central city park, Kirovsk, Ukraine - Kirovsk

The Donets Basin City

The city is located in the hilly valley of the River Luhanka 70 km to the northwest of Luhansk, the regional center.
The territory of the city is 28.4 sq.km/11 sq.mi (even more with suburbs: 35 sq.km/13.5 sq.mi).
Thirty-seven thousand residents live in the city itself.
There are about 45 thousand residents in Kirovsk all in all, including the residents of the suburbs.
The city area lies in the valley located at the heights from 80 meters (262.5 feet) to 220 meters (722 feet) above sea level.
The air line west-east comprises 6.5 km/4 miles and the air line north-south - 7 km/4.4 miles.
The River Luhanka flows on the western outskirts of Kirovsk.
The city suburbs include three settlements: Donetskiy, Novotoshkovskiy ("New Toshkovka"), Chervonogvardeyskiy ("Red Guards Settlement").
The climate is continental with hot summer and frosty winter.
The frost in winter is rather severe - the temperature often falls to 10 or 15 degrees below zero (in January, the coldest month).

Some History

City entrance sign, Kirovsk, Ukraine

The history of settling that area begins with the Serbs who settled those lands on the invitation of the Empress Catherine II in the middle of the 18th century as warriors defending the southern borders of the Russian Empire.
The Serbs fouded an autonomous Serb territory there. It became known in history as Slav Serbia (1753-1764).
In the fifties and sixties of the 18th century the territory of the city was a part of what was known as Slav Serbia, an autonomous area presented to the Serbs by Empress Catherine II.
The empress presented the new settlers with a special charter that granted them "eternal property" with the right of inheritance of that land, freed the new settlers from all taxes and guaranteed them high wages.
The area existed for a short period – from 1753 till 1764 when a new territory was formed – New Russia Province.
The area around Kirovsk was given to a cavalry colonel Peter Golub who settled there in 1762 and became a Russian citizen. The first settlement was very small; it only consisted of four farmsteads with 20 settlers.
The deposits of coal were discovered in 1837 and rapid exploration and development of the area began. In 1884 the first coalmine was built that was called Golub Coalmine since 1888. It became the basis for the present-day coalmine called Coalmine #22, or Kirov Coalmine. Another coalmine of the city is still called Golub Coalmine in honor of the leader of the first settlers of the area. Besides, the city railway station is still called Golubivka in his honor.
Dmitry Mendeleyev, a famous Russian chemist, the author of the Periodical System of Elements, visited this coal-mining settlement in 1888 during his trip around the Donets Basin when he studied its coal-mining industry.
The coal-mining settlement was officially called Golub Coalmine until 1944 and then it was included into the neighboring city of Kadiyevka (now Stakhanov) as one of its districts. The district became an independent city on April 2, 1962. It was called Kirovsk because the biggest city coalmine was called in honor of Sergey Kirov, a Soviet Communist Party leader who was murdered in December 1934 in his office in Leningrad.
I have found an interesting story about Kirov’s death
Now there are streets, squares, factories and five other towns named after him in different parts of the former Soviet Union.

City Infrastructure

The biggest apartment houses in the city, Kirovsk

Kirovsk was called Golub Mine until September 1944 and was subjected to the neighboring city of Kadiyevka as Golub District.
On December 30, 1962 Golub District of Kadiyevka became the town of Kirovsk.
Thus Golub Coalmine got the name of the ”Soviet Saint” Sergey Kirov.
Kirovsk is located on the River Luhanka, the right tributary of the Seversky Donets, 57 km/35.5 miles away from Luhansk and 4 km/2.5 miles from the railway station of Golubovka.
The city is famous for its coal-mining industry, machine-building enterprises, light industry and food industry. They manufacture clothes for kids in cooperation with such American companies as Amerix and Low-Levi.
Also, there is a winery called Alco-Prima that bottles the wines imported from Russia, Azerbaijan and other FSU countries.
The city bakery is also well known for its products.
The city has 187 streets, lanes and blocks, among them 117 are related to the events and public figures of 1917-1991. There are 85 other streets located in the three suburbs of Kirovsk: Donetskiy, Novotoshkovskiy and Chervonogvardeyskiy.
There are nine secondary schools in the city including one Ukrainian gymnasium that I had the honor of visiting.
There is also a transport school, a music school and two arts schools, a swimming pool called Shakhtior in Russian ("Coalminer"). Many places in Kirovsk are called after coalminers: the soccer team, the stadium, the swimming pool, etc.
You can also get some useful information at the official web server of the Regional Gorky Library:
General Information about Kirovsk.
Town's web site in Russian.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Small and compact, rich in traditions, diverse city landscape
Cons:No hotel (you have to stay in Stakhanov, the neighboring city); big unemployment rate
In a nutshell:Old coalminers city

Last visit to Kirovsk: Jul 2010
Intro Updated Mar 9, 2013
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Reviews (63)

The Newspaper Article Favorites (9)

Der lange Weg nach Kirowsk Der von den Faschisten entfesselte Krieg war zu ein zweischneidiges Schwert geworden: im... more travel advice

”Visit the Ferry!” Off The Beaten Path (9)

”Visit the Ferry!” – this is what our friends in Kirovsk advised us to do on our way to Luhansk after our stay in... more travel advice

Sunflower fields are abundant here - Kirovsk

Passing the Fields Transportation (4)

We enjoyed the views on both sides of the Bakhmutka - the old Cossacks' road on the old border of the Russian... more travel advice

Kiss Comrade Lenin on the Cheek Things to Do (10)

The city local lore museum is perhaps the only place where it is possible to kiss Comrade Lenin's bust on the cheek or... more travel advice

Restaurants (10)
See All Young People's Bar
Local Customs (9)
See All Roadside Markers
Warnings and Dangers (2)
See All Sidewalks and Roads
Tourist Traps (1)
Trying to See a Lot
What to Pack (1)
Everything Is Available!

Nightlife (2)
See All Entertainment Complex
Shopping (4)
See All At the Market
Sports & Outdoors (1)
City Stadium
Hotels (1)
Former Hotel
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Comments (16)

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hopang Jun 9, 2012 at 9:08 AM

The beautiful parks, interesting monuments, great scenery and wonderful architectural buildings certainly look wonderful to visit and explore. Thanks for your virtual tour. Thanks also for visiting our Sweden travel pages. ~ho & pang
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toonsarah Jun 30, 2011 at 6:53 AM

You have done your usual very thorough job here. I enjoyed reading some of the history behind the place and its name. And I never knew that Shakhtar means Coalminer though of course I have heard of Shakhtar Donetsk!
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HORSCHECK Feb 20, 2011 at 8:14 AM

Victor, very comprehensive page about Kirov and the surrounding area. I especially like your off the beaten path tips, e.g. the railway station memorial in Golubivka is my sort of thing.
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LoriPori Jan 25, 2011 at 4:07 AM

Enjoyed reading about Kirovsk. Lots of interesting memorials. Like the Local Lore Museum and the Market Place shopping.
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yumyum Dec 25, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Great page Victor! Of course, I read the last 2 tips in detail as they were in German ;)
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balhannah Dec 18, 2010 at 8:52 PM

So sad reading about the Million's of people that have lost their lives. Interesting page
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globetrott Sep 10, 2010 at 12:27 PM

Lots of great updates here, Victor, thanks for sharing and for introducing this place to VT !
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BruceDunning Aug 9, 2010 at 10:10 AM

The statues and parks look appealing to wander through. YOu did a nice job of taking the pictures and the comments, as always are very helpful
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sourbugger Aug 2, 2010 at 10:37 AM

very interesting to see hoe lenin is still regarded in places such as this, comrade.
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Kuznetsov_Sergey Jul 2, 2010 at 11:03 AM

Great updates since September 2009! Thank you Victor for the great virtual tour in Ukranian Kirovsk. Long live Netherlands!