Kola, Russia

For other uses, see Kola.

Kola (English) Кола (Russian)
-  Town  -
Location of Murmansk Oblast in Russia
Kola Location of Kola in Murmansk Oblast
Coordinates:
Coat of arms of Kola
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Murmansk Oblast
Administrative district	Kolsky District
Administrative center of	Kolsky District
Municipal status (as of November 2009)
Municipal district	Kolsky Municipal District
Urban settlement	Kola Urban Settlement
Administrative center of	Kola Urban Settlement
Statistics
Population (2010 Census)	10,437 inhabitants
Time zone	MSK (UTC+03:00)
Founded	1565
Town status since	August 2, 1965
Postal code(s)	184380
Dialing code(s)	+7 81553
[[:commons:Category:{{#property:Commons category}}|Kola]] on Wikimedia Commons

Kola on the 1601 Dutch map of Northern Europe

Kola (Russian: Ко́ла; Northern Sami: Guoládat; Skolt Sami: Kuâlõk) is a town and the administrative center of Kolsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kola and Tuloma Rivers, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) south of Murmansk and 24 kilometers (15 mi) southwest of Severomorsk. It is the oldest town of the Kola Peninsula. Population: 10,437 (2010 Census); 11,060 (2002 Census); 16,541 (1989 Census).

History

The district of Kolo was first attested in Russian chronicles in 1264. The first documented mention of the town itself dates to 1565— the area was settled by the Pomors, who built the fort of Kola.

Over time, Sweden extracted the Kola Peninsula from both Russia and Denmark-Norway in a series of wars and resulting treaties. However, in the later Treaty of Teusina in 1595, Sweden acknowledged Russian rights in Kola. Claims from Denmark-Norway remained, however, and in 1582, a Russian voivode was appointed to Kola to provide for better defenses of the peninsula. The voivode governed the territory which became known as Kolsky Uyezd.

During the Russo-Swedish War of 1590–1595, the Swedes failed to capture the fort. In the 17th century, it prospered as a starting point for naval expeditions of the Pomors to Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. The brethren of the Pechenga Monastery moved there as well.

Although it was incorporated as a town in 1784, Kola declined after Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea, and was used by the Tsarist government as a place of exile. Kola was reduced to ashes by a twenty-hour bombardment in 1854 by a three-ship squadron led by the Royal Navy sloop HMS Miranda, at the time of Crimean War. As a consequence, Kolsky Uyezd was abolished and merged into Kemsky Uyezd. Kola, while retaining its town rights, lost the status of the center of the uyezd to Kem. The ruined town was later eclipsed by nearby Murmansk, of which it is now commonly considered to be a satellite.

On October 16, 1925—when the Murmansk Governorate Commission meeting initiated work on compiling the lists of the urban and rural localities—Murmansk, Alexandrovsk, and Kola were categorized as urban; however, a recommendation was sent to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) to demote the latter two to rural localities due to economic conditions, sparse population, low trade volume, lack of industrial enterprises, and "general regress". On March 15, 1926, the VTsIK approved the recommendation, and Alexandrovsk and Kola were re-categorized as rural localities.

At the end of 1934, the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee developed a plan to enlarge the city of Murmansk by merging surrounding territories into it. Kola was one of the rural localities slated for this merger, and a settlement soviet subordinated to Murmansk was planned to be organized on its territory. The plan was not confirmed by the Lenigrad Oblast Executive Committee, but Kola was re-classified as an urban locality by the VTsIK Resolution of August 20, 1935, when it was granted work settlement status. It retained this status until it was granted the status of a town under district jurisdiction by the August 2, 1965 Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Decree.

Landmarks

Although earthen ramparts and ditches of the original fortress still survive, Kola's main landmark is the Annunciation Cathedral (1800–1809), which may have been the first stone building constructed in the Kola Peninsula. Other sights include the Museum of Pomor Way of Life and Murmashi, the northernmost spa in Russia.

External links

• (Russian) Kola entry at Mojgorod.ru