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Shakhty (p=ˈʂaxtɨ) is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the southeastern spur of the Donetsk mountain ridge, northeast of Rostov-on-Don. As of the 2023 Census, its population was 222,500.
It was previously known as Alexandro-Grushevskaya (until 1867), Gornoye Grushevskoye Poseleniye (until 1881), Alexandrovsk-Grushevsky (until 1920). It was renamed to its current name when it was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
By 1914, the population had reached 54,000. The main source of income was coal mining, which had been carried out in that region since the end of the 18th century. The population was poor, but the town had rail, telegraph and telephone networks, electricity and plumbing as well as libraries, hospitals and a post office. 1917 saw the city change hands three times, until it was taken on April 28, 1919, by the Don Army, under General . For twenty months it was independent of the Bolsheviks, but was ravaged by typhoid.
In 1920, the city was given its present name. The name, which literally means mines in Russian, was chosen due to the strong association with coal mining. In 1920–24 Shakhty was part of Donetsk Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR. During the 1920s, many of the churches and the archives were destroyed. In 1928, the city was the location of the Shakhty Trial, a precursor of the of the 1930s.
In 1941, an independent Cossack republic had been declared in Shakhty although this was suppressed by the NKVD before the German invasion.p.88, Stalingrad, Antony Beevor In July 22, 1942, during the Second World War, the city was occupied by the Nazi Germany; many coal pits and buildings were blown up by the Germans during their retreat in February 12, 1943. Twenty-nine of the townsmen were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1948, production levels in the mines reached what they had been before the war. During the Leonid Brezhnev years, the city was at the height of its development, with a population of over 250,000, and about ten million tons of coal being mined each year.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the city was the scene of many of Andrei Chikatilo's murders.
Perestroika proved devastating for the city, as mines were privatized and shut down, causing massive unemployment, which led to a severe rise in crime and drug abuse. Today's Shakhty is the main industrial center of the Eastern Donbas. The city is also one of the main producers and exporters of tile in Eastern Europe.
The monument was built by Yuri Alekseevich Levochkin. Its pedestal is made of Granite, and the statue itself is cast from bronze. The lower half stand 5.7 meters high, and the figure of Alexander II is another 2.4 meters. On the front side, there is an engraving in gold letters that reads, "Alexander II. Tsar the Liberator". Viewed from the back, there is a brief biographical note on the ruler—"Emperor Alexander II abolished serfdom in Russia in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from centuries of slavery, conducted military and judicial reforms, introduced the system of local self-government, city dumas and local administrations, brought to an end the long-lasting Caucasian War, and liberated the Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke. He was killed on March 1, 1881 and was a victim of a terrorist." The monument was erected on an initiative of the Historical Council of the City of Shakhty.
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