Elista (, ;["Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402] , Elst, )[The approximate pronunciation of the Cyrillic Kalmyk name in IPA is ˈeɮstʰ. The name in Oirat language clear script is or , Êlêsütü] is the capital city of the Kalmykia, Russia.
It was known as Stepnoy (Степно́й) from 1944 to 1957.
History
Elista was founded in 1865 as a small settlement, the name is from
Kalmyk language els(e)n 'sand(y)'.
[Е. М. Поспелов. "Географические названия мира", Москва, 1998, стр. 480.] In November 1920, Elista became the administrative center of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. By the early 1930s, Elista was transformed into a small city as the
collectivization policies of
Joseph Stalin forced many
Kalmyk people to abandon their traditional pastoral nomadic lifestyle in exchange for a modern, sedentary, and urban lifestyle. In October 1935, Elista was recognized as the capital of the
Kalmyk ASSR.
In late 1942, the city was briefly occupied by the
Nazi Germany army. Because of alleged
collaboration between the ethnic Kalmyks and the Germans, on December 27, 1943, the Kalmyk ASSR was dissolved and its ethnic Kalmyk residents were forcibly exiled to Siberia. Russian people were brought in to repopulate Elista, whose name was changed to
Stepnoy (Степно́й). It was called Stepnoy until 1957, when the survivors of the deportations were allowed to return from exile.
Some western tourists started to visit Elista from the mid-1990s, and more after it received publicity as the host city of the 1998 Chess Olympiad. The city is safe and has little traffic. On the outskirts of Elista, there are vast grasslands.
Geography
The city is located in the area of the
Yergeni hills, in the upper part of the Elista valley. The sources of the river are located in the western part of the city. The Elista crosses the urban area from west to east, dividing it into two sections, a larger northern part and a smaller southern one.
[Google Earth]
Climate
Elista has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen
Dfa), bordering upon a cool semi-arid climate (
BSk).
Winters are freezing with a January average of while summers are very warm to hot with a July average of and average maximum of .
The average annual precipitation is with winters being drier than summers.
Record temperatures range from in January 1935 to in July 2011.
Administrative and municipal status
Elista is the
capital city of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with four rural localities, incorporated as the
City of Elista—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.
[Appendix to Decree #137] As a municipal division, the City of Elista is incorporated as
Elista Urban Okrug.
[Law #308-IV-Z]
Features
Since 1991, the town has been characterized by the slow decay of
Soviet Union-built institutions, and the large construction projects instigated by the republic's millionaire president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
The town center has a number of renovated public parks focused on the main square, boasting statues to both Vladimir Lenin and the Gautama Buddha. To the east of the town lies the Olympic village of the 1998 XXXIII Chess Olympiad, known locally as "Chess City". The site has a public swimming pool and a museum of Kalmyk Buddhist art, which is also infrequently used as a conference center.
During his visit in 1998, Tenzin Gyatso chose a location west of the town center to build the Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume, a Buddhism temple for city residents. It was opened in December 2005. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Europe.
Transportation
Elista has a
Elista Airport which is open daily during the week, providing flights to
Moscow and various cities in the southern part of the Russian Federation. The airport was closed by the federal aviation authorities sometime in the fall of 2006, but was reopened sometime in 2007. Rail connections are available to
Stavropol.
Due to the high cost of air travel, people usually prefer to take the bus between Elista and Moscow. The trip is approximately 18 hours and makes several rest stops along the route. Nowadays there is an airline, Azimuth, that provides air flights to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Crimea and Rostov on Don at affordable cost with direct flights from Elista airport. The price starts at 2500 rubles one way and it saves traveler a lot of time instead of traveling by bus as it was in the past.
Within Elista itself, a network of about a dozen marshrutka (minibus) routes is run by private companies. Minibuses are available around every five minutes. This is the preferred option of most Kalmykians because of the minimal cost (10 Russian ruble).
Demographics
Population:
Ethnic composition (2021):
Twin towns – sister cities
Elista is
Sister city with:
Sport
Typhoon Elista were a motorcycle speedway team who regularly participated in the Soviet Union Championship from 15 April 1967 through to 1991. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the team disbanded.
The team raced at the Elista Motordrome or Avtodrom located at ().
Elista was previously home to a top tier football team. Uralan Elista played in the Russian Premier League from 1997 until 2000, and then 2001 until 2003 when the team was dissolved. The team have been re-created multiple times since, sometimes known as FC Elista, although always at an amateur level.
==Gallery==
See also
Notes
Sources
-
Justin Corfield, The History of Kalmykia: From Ancient Times to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov, 2015. .
External links
