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The capital city of Chechnya republic.
Grozny is a city located on both banks of the Sunzha River in the North Caucasus, in the south of European Russia, the capital of the Chechen Republic.
The population of Grozny is about 326,400 (2022), the area - 324 sq. km.
The phone code - +7 8712, the postal codes - 364000-364099.
In 1801-1810, Georgia became part of the Russian Empire, in 1803-1813 - Eastern Transcaucasia (The Treaty of Gulistan). But these lands were separated from the main territory of the country by the Caucasus Mountains inhabited by warlike mountain peoples, who raided the lands that recognized the power of Russia and interfered with the development of relations with Transcaucasia.
After the wars in Europe against Napoleonic France ended, the government of Emperor Alexander I was able to intensify its actions in the Caucasus concentrating significant military resources there. The plan to conquer the mountain Caucasus proposed by General Aleksei Ermolov included abandoning tactics of punitive expeditions in favor of sieges of mountain areas and the creation of defensive lines (outposts and fortresses). All hostile settlements should be completely destroyed.
There were two centers of resistance in the Caucasus: to the east of the Georgian Military Road - Chechnya and Mountain Dagestan, to the west - Abkhazians and Circassians. The peoples loyal to Russia (Ossetians and Ingush) lived in the center of the Caucasus Mountains. In the territory of present Grozny, there were about 20 Chechen villages that were destroyed by the troops of General Ermolov.
In 1818, the fortress of Groznaya (“formidable”) was founded in the lower reaches of the Sunzha River. The main purpose was to block the Chechens from entering the plain through the Khankal gorge. The Russian poets Alexander Griboedov, Alexander Polezhaev, Mikhail Lermontov, the classic of Russian literature Lev Tolstoy, the Decembrist and writer A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, and other famous figures of Russian culture visited this fortress.
Since January 1850, at the request of the mountaineers, three-day fairs began to be held in the fortress once a month. Every year, up to 40 thousand Chechens came to the border line to trade. It was forbidden to trade weapons, iron and bread. Groznaya became the largest trade center in the region. In the vicinity of the fortress, several brickworks were built. Artisanal oil production was carried out, the production of kerosene began. The fortress was gradually losing its military significance.
In 1859, hostilities in Chechnya ended. The population of the fortress was about 1,100 people. In 1860, Terek Oblast was formed in the territory of the present-day northeastern Caucasus. In 1870, the fortress of Groznaya was transformed into a district town (Grozny), which began to grow rapidly. In 1871, its population was about 4 thousand people; in 1875 - more than 9 thousand.
In the early 1890s, industrial oil production began in this town. The line of the Vladikavkaz railway, laid from Beslan to Grozny, was completed by 1893, the first oil well was drilled in the same year. The founder of the Nobel Prize Alfred Nobel took part in the development of the oil industry of Grozny. It became one of the largest industrial centers of the Caucasus.
In 1897, about 16 thousand people lived in Grozny, among whom only 379 were Chechens. The low population of Chechens was explained by severe restrictions on their living in the town. In 1917, the population of Grozny was 45 thousand people, Chechens - 3 thousand. Oil production reached a record level of about 13 million barrels per year (22% of all production in the Russian Empire).
From 1917 to 1920, during the revolutionary events and the ensuing Civil War on the territory of the former Russian Empire, the power in Grozny changed several times.
At the end of 1920 and the beginning of 1921, two new Soviet autonomies were organized in the foothill and mountainous regions of the North Caucasus with a predominant non-Russian population - the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was divided into 7 national districts, one of which was the Chechen National District with its center in Grozny.
In 1928, the operation of the Grozny-Tuapse oil pipeline began. The first paraffin plant in the USSR was built in the city. A tram line was opened, a bakery, a garment factory, a cannery, and a number of other catering and light industry enterprises were built.
The construction of multi-storey residential buildings began in the city center, all central streets were paved. On May 1, 1931, the Chechen National Theater was opened. From January 15, 1934, after the unification of the Chechen and Ingush Autonomous Regions, Grozny became the center of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region, and from December 5, 1936 - the capital of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. According to the 1939 census, the population of Grozny was about 172 thousand people.
With the outbreak of the war, the city’s industry began to manufacture more than 90 types of various military products (mortars, aviation gasoline, fuels, lubricants, etc.). Grozny took second place in the USSR in oil production after Baku, was almost equal in oil refining and first in the production of aviation gasoline. Almost all Soviet fighter aircraft used aviation gasoline produced in Grozny.
According to the plan of the German military command for the summer campaign of 1942, the main strike was in the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. Army Group A was tasked with capturing the Grozny and Baku oil regions, Army Group B - to capture Stalingrad. Grozny was planned to be captured by August 24, and Baku - in the first half of September. In late August, the front approached the borders of the Chechen-Ingush Republic.
However, the Germans could not break through the front and the offensive was stopped about 100 km west of Grozny. When the Germans realized that they would not succeed in capturing Grozny, on October 10-15, 1942, they bombed its oil fields, oil storage facilities, and oil refineries.
On February 23, 1944, the deportation of Chechens and Ingush began. March 7, 1944, in connection with the deportation, the city became the center of the Grozny district as part of Stavropol Krai. On March 22, 1944, it again received the status of the center of a separate region - Grozny Oblast.
In the first half of the 1950s, unlike the rural population, the number of inhabitants of Grozny grew rapidly. The reasons for this were the natural growth of the population, the resettlement of residents of nearby villages, and migration from other regions of the USSR. The population of the city reached 233 thousand people.
On January 9, 1957, after the rehabilitation of Chechens and Ingush, Grozny again became the capital of the recreated Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The mass return of Chechens and Ingush to their homeland began. The deportees did everything possible to return their homes and land. Due to the indifference of the Soviet authorities, this problem was left to chance and caused conflicts. Chechens and Ingush often had to buy their homes from new owners.
In 1958, riots in Grozny lasted several days. A massive (up to 10 thousand people) anti-Chechen demonstration and rally in the center of the city turned into a Chechen pogrom and anti-Soviet protest. During its course, several party and state buildings, as well as the post office and the railway station, were captured. On the night of August 28, the rally was dispersed by forces of military units, its participants were later arrested and imprisoned.
In the 1960-1980s, all the products of petrochemicals and oil refining in the republic were produced by the enterprises of Grozny. During this period, it was one of the largest industrial, scientific, and cultural centers of the North Caucasus. In 1984, 383.5 thousand people lived in the city. In 1990, the population of Grozny was 401 thousand people. It was the second city after Rostov-on-Don in terms of industrial power and the third in terms of population, after Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar.
On October 1, 1991, the National Congress of the Chechen People under the leadership of Dzhokhar Dudayev announced the division of Chechen-Ingushetia into the sovereign Chechen Republic of Ichkeria with its capital in Grozny and the Ingush Republic as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
In late 1994 - early 1995 and in late 1999 - early 2000, Grozny was stormed by the Armed Forces of Russia during the First and Second Chechen Wars, and in August 1996 - by the combined forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. During all these events, the city was severely destroyed, and its central area was completely destroyed. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Almost the entire Russian population left the city.
In 2003, Grozny was recognized by the United Nations as the most destroyed city in the world since the Second World War. By 2009, a significant part of the city was restored. The remaining residents were allocated compensation for destroyed housing.
Today, the entire infrastructure has been restored in Grozny. There is a large number of social facilities available: health care, education, culture, sports facilities.
On the street in the restored Grozny
Apartment building in Grozny
Grozny architecture
Grozny is located in the central part of the Chechen Republic, about 150 km west of the Caspian Sea and 550 km east of the Black Sea. The City Day of Grozny is celebrated on the first Sunday of October.
The climate of Grozny is temperate continental with mild winters, hot and long summers. This city is not protected from the northern cold winds, and therefore, unlike the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Krai, winters are much colder here. The average temperature in January is minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 23.9 degrees Celsius.
According to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, Chechens make up about 94% of the city’s population, Russians - 3%. The main religious denomination in Grozny, as throughout Chechnya, is Sunni Islam. In 2009, an Islamic complex with a total area of almost 14 hectares was built in the city center.
On its territory you can see the mosque “The Heart of Chechnya”, the office of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Chechnya with the residence of the Mufti of Chechnya, Russian Islamic University named after Kunta-haji Kishiev, an Islamic library, a student dormitory, and a hotel.
On the streets of Grozny, instead of numerous billboards, in addition to portraits of Akhmad and Ramzan Kadyrov and Vladimir Putin, you can see quotes from the Quran. Do not forget that Grozny is a city of Muslim culture, so do not dress provocatively. Women are better off avoiding wearing miniskirts and deep-necked blouses. There is also a negative attitude towards women who smoke. There are no night clubs in the city.
The airport “Grozny” (“Severniy”) is located about five kilometers from the city center. It mainly serves regular daily flights from Moscow. The railway station of Grozny serves daily trains Moscow - Grozny and Volgograd - Grozny.
There are almost no historical objects in Grozny. There are several pre-revolutionary buildings and Soviet monuments. All other places of interest were created over the past decade. The Chechen Drama Theater, the M. Lermontov Drama Theater, the Chechen State Philharmonic Society play an important role in the cultural life of the city.
The Sunzha River crosses Grozny from southwest to northeast. The city center is located at the intersection of the Sunzha with the avenues of Vladimir Putin and Akhmad Kadyrov. The main street of Grozny is Akhmad Kadyrov Avenue (former Lenin Avenue). It crosses almost the whole city and beyond the Leninsky bridge across the Sunzha River turns into Vladimir Putin Avenue (former Victory Avenue). In this district, the main tourist sites are concentrated.
Mosque “The Heart of Chechnya” (The Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque) - one of the largest mosques in the world built in the style of Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the Blue Mosque) in Istanbul in 2006-2008. The central hall of the mosque is covered with a huge dome (diameter - 16 m, height - 32 m). The height of the four minarets is 63 meters, one of the highest minarets in the south of Russia. The mosque can accommodate up to 10 thousand worshipers. It is surrounded by a 14-hectare park.
Grozny City - a complex of seven high-rise buildings (residential buildings, a hotel, and an office and business center) constructed on the banks of the Sunzha River in the center of the city.
As part of “Grozny City 2”, it is also planned to build a 102-story 435-meter multi-functional tower Akhmad Tower (the second tallest building in Russia and Europe after the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg). It is also planned to build a 54-story 189-meter multifunctional center “Chess Academy” nearby.
Memorial Complex of Glory named after Akhmad Kadyrov. It is simultaneously dedicated to the first president of the Chechen Republic and military glory (Grozny has the status of a city of military glory). Several monuments are erected on this territory including a monument to tankmen who fought on the fields of the Second World War. A special place in the complex is occupied by the museum named after Akhmad Kadyrov. Mayakovskogo Street, 9v.
National Museum of the Chechen Republic - a museum of local history with exhibitions devoted to archeology, ethnography, wars, and prominent personalities of Chechnya. Putina Avenue, 1b.
State Gallery named after Akhmad Kadyrov. The exposition consists of almost 800 paintings and objects of decorative art related to contemporary art. It also hosts temporary exhibitions of local artists. Isayev Avenue, 75.
Grozny Triumphal Arch located at the entrance to the city on the Gudermes-Grozny highway. The construction consists of two connected arches with towers on the sides. The towers, although they are decorative, repeat the outlines of traditional Chechen defensive structures.
Church of St. Michael the Archangel - an Orthodox church founded by Terek Cossacks at the end of the 19th century. In 2009, the church was restored. It is located at the intersection of Akhmad Kadyrov Avenue and International Lane.
Grozny Sea (Chernorechenskoe Reservoir). It appeared in the southwestern part of Grozny after the construction of the dam on the Goita River in 1961. The area is almost 1.2 square km, the average depth is 6 meters. Here you can find a tourist complex with football fields, a hotel, a floating restaurant, a light and music fountain. Nearby there is an arboretum.
Circuit “Groznaya Fortress” in the Zavodskoy district. The length of the circle is about 3 km. The total area of the complex is 60 hectares. Several tracks were built here (karting, autocross, pair races, and drifting). Local competitions are held regularly.
The Akhmat-Arena - a home stadium of the Russian professional football club Akhmat Grozny. Capacity - 30.5 thousand people. In addition to sporting events, concerts and exhibition events are held here.
New Year tree in Grozny
The Press House in Grozny
The process of reconstruction of Grozny
Theater and Concert Hall in Grozny
The Heart of Chechnya mosque in Grozny
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