"Volgograd-city" a Volgograd Travel Page by xenia

Volgograd, mostly know as former Stalingrad, is a large city in the South of Russian Federation. Now the population of the city is about 1'000'000 people. This is a very long city. Its length now is about 90 km and it's about 8 km wide. The entire city stands on the right (western) bank of the longest river in Europe, the Volga river.
Because of its location on the trade crossways pretty soon city became a trade and industrial center in that area. In 1920-th city became the country's center of tractor building. 1-st tractor in Russia was built in Stalingrad Tractor Plant, which also played very important role in Stalingrad Battle, producing and repairing tanks even when it's being shelled. Also the biggest steel-producing plant, called "Red October" is located in Volgograd.
The city was founded in 1589 as a fortress and was called Tsaritsyn. Its purpose was to defend the southern boundaries of Russian Empire. In 1925 Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad, which is the best known name of the city.
In August 1942 Stalingrad was bombed by the German war planes and that neverending ride lasted till the beginning of February 1943. As a result of that battle German Army under commandership of Paulus was defeated and that's the time, when Soviet Army broke out its victory moving on European roads.
In 1961 Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd. Because of its historical past, city has very many monuments, built in commemoration of its defenders. The most known of them is Mamayev Hill. On the of the hill, which for some reason is called Mamayev (Mamay's) there a complex of monuments. On the very top of it, there's a huge statue. Mother Russia is 52 meters high statue of a woman, which represents Russia itself in WW II, which for Russian people was Great Patriotic War. The complex has already celebrated its 25-th aniversary. And, interesting fact, this statue is almost exactly twice as tall as all-known Statue of Liberty in New York City!