Penza Oblast
Пензенская область (Russian)
—  Oblast  —
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 53°15′N 44°34′E / 53.25°N 44.567°E / 53.25; 44.567Coordinates: 53°15′N 44°34′E / 53.25°N 44.567°E / 53.25; 44.567
Political status
Country	Russia
Federal district	Volga[1]
Economic region	Volga[2]
Administrative center	Penza
Government (as of March 2011)
- Governor	Vasily Bochkaryov[3]
- Legislature	Legislative Assembly
Statistics
Area (as of the 2002 Census)[4]
- Total	43,200 km2 (16,679.6 sq mi)
Area rank	59th
Population (2010 Census)[5]
- Total	1,386,186
- Rank	32nd
- Density[6]	32.09 /km2 (83.1 /sq mi)
- Urban	67.1%
- Rural	32.9%
Time zone(s)	MSK (UTC+04:00)[7]
ISO 3166-2	RU-PNZ
License plates	58
Official languages	Russian[8]
http://www.penza.ru/

Penza Oblast (Russian: Пе́нзенская о́бласть, Penzenskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Penza. Population: 1,386,186 (2010 Census).^[5]

Geography[link]

Main rivers[link]

Sura River

Penza Oblast has over 3000 rivers, the overall length is 15 458 km. The biggest rivers are:

• Sura
• Moksha
• Khopyor
• River Penza gave its name to city Penza.

Administrative divisions[link]

Demographics[link]

Population: 1,386,186 (2010 Census);^[5] 1,452,941 (2002 Census);^[9] 1,504,309 (1989 Census).^[10]

Ethnic composition (2010):^[5]

• Russians - 86.8%
• Tatars - 6.4%
• Mordvins - 4.1%
• Ukrainians - 0.7%
• Chuvash people - 0.4%
• Armenians - 0.3%
• others - 1.3%
• 43,283 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.^[11]

• Births: 7,962 (Jan-July 2008)
• Deaths: 13,608 (Jan-July 2008 [1])

Climate[link]

Troitse-Scanov Convent

Tourists near Oldman Khopyor at river source

Tourism[link]

• Troitse-Scanov Convent
• State Lermontov Museum and Reserve of Tarkhany

References[link]

External links[link]

• Media related to Penza Oblast at Wikimedia Commons
• The regional catalog of Penza City and Penza Oblast enterprises (Russian)
• "PenzaNews" news agency (English)

Penza (English) Пенза (Russian)
-  City[1]  -
Penza from the highest point of the city
Location of Penza Oblast in Russia
Penza Location of Penza in Penza Oblast
Coordinates: 53°12′N 45°01′E / 53.2°N 45.017°E / 53.2; 45.017Coordinates: 53°12′N 45°01′E / 53.2°N 45.017°E / 53.2; 45.017
Coat of arms
Administrative status (as of October 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Penza Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to	city of oblast significance of Penza[1]
Administrative center of	Penza Oblast, city of oblast significance of Penza[1]
Municipal status (as of October 2011)
Urban okrug	Penza Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of	Penza Urban Okrug[2]
Mayor[citation needed]	Roman Chernov[citation needed]
Representative body	City Duma[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	288.5 km2 (111.4 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	517,137 inhabitants[3]
- Rank in 2010	34th
Population (2002 Census)	518,025 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2002	29th
Density	1,793 /km2 (4,640 /sq mi)[5]
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[6]
Founded	1663[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	440000[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 8412[citation needed]
Official website
Penza on WikiCommons

Penza (Russian: Пе́нза; IPA: [ˈpʲenzə]) is a city and the administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia, located on the Sura River, 625 kilometers (388 mi) southeast of Moscow. Population: 517,137 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[3] 518,025 (2002 Census);^[7] 542,612 (1989 Census).^[8]

The city is served by the Penza Airport.

History[link]

Penza was founded in 1663 as a frontier outpost on the then southeastern border of Russia.^{[citation needed]} It bears the name of the river that it was originally built upon. As it was originally a frontier city, most houses were built of wood and the town developed without any master plan. During the 18th century, Penza became an important trade center.

In 1774, the insurgent army led by Yemelyan Pugachev occupied Penza after the citizens of the city welcomed the rebellious Cossacks. The first stone houses started to appear after 1801, and by 1809 Penza's population had grown to more than 13,000 people.

In 1918, Vladimir Lenin sent a telegram to communists in the Penza area, complaining about the "insurrection of five kulak districts". He urged the public hanging of 100 "landlords, richmen, bloodsuckers", grain seizure, and hostage taking. This telegram has been used in several historical works on the period and on Lenin.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} During the Russian Civil War, the Czechoslovak Legions launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising in Penza.

During the Soviet period, the city developed as a regional industrial center. The Ural mainframe was made here between 1959 and 1964.

Administrative and municipal status[link]

Administratively, it is incorporated as the city of oblast significance of Penza—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] Municipally, the city of oblast significance of Penza is incorporated as Penza Urban Okrug.^[2]

Education and culture[link]

Administration of Penza Oblast

Currently, the city of Penza is seen as a regional center for higher education. It has six universities (The Penza State University, The Pedagogic University, The Academy of Agriculture, The Technology Institute, the University of Architecture and Construction and The Artillery and Engineering Institute), 13 colleges and 77 public schools. Besides this, Penza is home to three theatres, four museums, and three art galleries including The Museum of One Painting named after G. V. Myasnikov.

Facilities of higher education include:

• Penza State University
• Penza State Pedagogical University
• Penza State University of Architecture and Construction
• Penza Artillery Engineering Institute
• Penza State Technological Academy
• Penza State Agricultural Academy
• Penza branch of the Moscow's Institute of Economics, Management and Law
• Penza branch of the Russian State University of Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship

Transportation[link]

Penza is major railway junction and lies on the M5 highway linking Moscow and Chelyabinsk. Penza airport serves domestic flights. Local public transport includes buses trolleybuses and marshrutkas (shared taxis).

Climate[link]

A heat wave in the months of June, July, and August^[when?] raised temperatures from previous norms by often 15 °C (27.0 °F) in Penza. Some of the highest fluctuations in temperatures were recorded with seven straight days of temperatures 40°C and higher compared to the previous year where the highest temperatures for the same time were on average 20°C lower.^[14][15]

Sports[link]

Penza first hosted the Russian Sidecarcross Grand Prix in 2009, and will do so again in 2010, on 15 August.^[16]

The city football team FC Zenit Penza was established in 1918 but now plays in the Russian Amateur League. Penza has also a professional rugby union club, Imperia-Dynamo Penza, from Russia's Professional Rugby League.

Honors[link]

A minor planet, 3189 Penza, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after the city.^[17]

Notable people[link]

Natives of Penza include Vsevolod Meyerhold, Andreï Makine, Nikolai Ishutin, Aristarkh Lentulov, Ivan Mozzhukhin, and Lavrenty Zagoskin. The poet Mikhail Lermontov grew up near Penza in the manor of Tarkhany, which belonged to his grandmother. Other notable people include former Soviet national team hockey players Aleksandr Golikov, Vladimir Golikov, Yuri Moiseev, Vasily Pervukhin, Sergei Yashin, Aleksandr Kozhevnikov, and Sergei Svetlov, who were born here. Former Russian rhythmic gymnasts, Olympic champion, world champion and European champion Natalia Lavrova of the National Team was born and lived in Penza, she died with her sister in a car accident at the Penza Oblast in April 2010.

International relations[link]

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Penza is twinned with:

• Békéscsaba, Hungary (1970)
• Busan, South Korea (2007)^[18]
• Gansu, China^[19]
• Ramat Gan, Israel (2007)^[20]
• Ternopil, Ukraine

See also[link]

• List of world's largest cuckoo clocks
• Penza Planetarium

References[link]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Законодательное Собрание Пензенской области. Закон №774-ЗПО от 9 марта 2005 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Пензенской области», в ред. Закона №2128-ЗПО от 10 октября 2011 г «Об исключении отдельных населённых пунктов из учётных данных административно-территориального устройства Пензенской области и внесении изменений в отдельные Законы (положения Законов) Пензенской области». Вступил в силу через десять дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Пензенские губернские ведомости", №6, стр. 49, 18 марта 2005 г. (Legislative Assembly of Penza Oblast. Law #774-ZPO of March 9, 2005 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Penza Oblast, as amended by the Law #2128-ZPO of October 10, 2011 On Excluding Several Inhabited Localities from the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of Penza Oblast and on Amending Various Laws (Clauses of the Laws) of Penza Oblast. Effective as of the day ten days after the day of the official publication.).
• Законодательное Собрание Пензенской области. Закон №690-ЗПО от 2 ноября 2004 г. «О границах муниципальных образований Пензенской области», в ред. Закона №2128-ЗПО от 10 октября 2011 г «Об исключении отдельных населённых пунктов из учётных данных административно-территориального устройства Пензенской области и внесении изменений в отдельные Законы (положения Законов) Пензенской области». Вступил в силу через 10 дней после официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Пензенские губернские ведомости", №17 (без приложения), 16 ноября 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Penza Oblast. Law #690-ZPO of November 2, 2004 On the Borders of the Municipal Formations of Penza Oblast, as amended by the Law #2128-ZPO of October 10, 2011 On Excluding Several Inhabited Localities from the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Divisions of Penza Oblast and on Amending Various Laws (Clauses of the Laws) of Penza Oblast. Effective as of after 10 days from the official publication.).

External links[link]

• Official website of Penza (Russian)
• "PenzaNews" news agency

v t e Cities and towns in Penza Oblast Administrative center: Penza Belinsky Gorodishche Kamenka Kuznetsk Nikolsk Nizhny Lomov Penza Serdobsk Spassk Sursk Zarechny

vep:Penz

Natalia Lavrova
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1984-08-04)4 August 1984 Penza, Soviet Union
Died	23 April 2010(2010-04-23) (aged 25) Penza Oblast, Russia
Hometown	Penza
Discipline	Rhythmic gymnastics
Medal record Women's gymnastics Competitor for  Russia Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens Group All-around Gold 2000 Sydney Group All-around

Natalia Lavrova (Russian: Наталья Александровна Лаврова Natal'ya Aleksandrovna Lavrova) (4 August 1984 – 23 April 2010) was a dual Olympic gold medalist. Lavrova won a gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics group event at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

She was born in Penza, Soviet Union. Lavrova's first coach was Olga Stebeneva at the Dinamo club in her hometown of Penza.

Lavrova died in car accident in Penza Oblast in 2010. She was a passenger in a car driven by her pregnant sister Olga Popova (Ольга Попова) which collided with another vehicle near her home town of Penza, some 600 kilometers south-east of Moscow.^[1] Her sister was killed in the crash as well while the driver of the other car was injured.^[2][3] The car (VAZ 2114) was completely burnt by fire after the accident.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Natalia Lavrova at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Pictures of the accident

Aleksandr Kuprin
Kuprin
Born	August 26 [O.S. September 7] 1870 Narovchat, Penza Oblast
Died	August 25, 1938(1938-08-25) (aged 68) Leningrad
Occupation	writer, pilot, explorer, and adventurer
Genres	short stories
Literary movement	Naturalism
Notable work(s)	Junior Captain Rybnikov
Influences Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy
Signature

Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Купри́н), (7 September [O.S. 26 August] 1870 in the village of Narovchat in the Penza Oblast^[1] - August 25, 1938 in Leningrad) was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer and adventurer who is perhaps best known for his story The Duel (1905).^[2] Other well-known works include Moloch (1896), Olesya (1898), Junior Captain Rybnikov (1906), Emerald (1907), and The Garnet Bracelet (1911) (which was made into a 1965 movie). Vladimir Nabokov styled him the Russian Kipling for his stories about pathetic adventure-seekers, who are often "neurotic and vulnerable."^[1]

Early life[link]

Kuprin was a son of Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a minor government official who died of cholera during 1871 at the age of thirty-seven years.^[3] His mother, Liubov' Alekseevna Kuprina, Tatar princess (of the Kulunchakovs),^[4] like many other nobles in Russia, had lost most of her wealth during the 19th century.^[1] Kuprin attended the Razumovsky boarding school during 1876, and during 1880^[3] finished his education in the Second Moscow Military High School (Cadet Corps) and Alexander Military School, spending a total of ten years in these elite military institutions.^[1] His first short story, The Last Debut,^[3] was published during 1889 in a satirical periodical.^[1][4] "In February 1902, Kuprin and Maria Karlovna Davydova were married, their daughter Lidia born in 1903."^[3] Kuprin's mother died during 1910.

Literary career[link]

Kuprin ended military service during 1894, after which he tried many types of job, including provincial journalism, dental care, land surveying, acting, circus performer, church singer, doctor, hunter, fisher, etc.^[1] Reportedly, "all of these were subsequently reflected in his fiction."^[1] His first essays were published in Kiev in two collections. Reportedly, "although he lived in an age when writers were carried away by literary experiments, Kuprin did not seek innovation and wrote only about the things he himself had experienced and his heroes are the next generation after Chekhov's pessimists."^[1]

Kuprin in Gatchina (cartoon from the 1910s)

Although the 1896 short story Moloch first made his name known as a writer,^[1] it was his novel The Duel (1905) which made him famous.^[5] "Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Nobel Prize-winning Ivan Bunin"^[3] and Leo Tolstoy who acclaimed him a true successor to Chekhov. After publication of The Duel he paid less and less interest to fancy literature and began to spend time in pubs and brothels. His sensationalist novel about the lurid life of prostitutes, The Pit (1915), was accused by Russian critics of excessive Naturalism.

Although not a conservative, he did not agree with Bolshevism. While working for a brief time with Maxim Gorky at the World Literature publishing company, he criticized the Soviet regime. During spring 1919, from Gatchina near Petrograd, Kuprin left the country for France.^[1] He lived in Paris for most of the next 17 years, succumbing to alcoholism. He wrote about this in much of his work.^[1] He eventually returned to Moscow on May 31, 1937, just a year before his death, at the height of the Great Purge.^[1] His return earned publication of his works within the Soviet Union.

Kuprin died during the spring of 1938 in Leningrad and is interred near his fellow writers at the Literaturskiye Mostki in the Volkovo Cemetery (Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery) in Leningrad.^[1] A minor planet 3618 Kuprin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after him.^[6]

Reportedly, "even today, Alexander Kuprin remains one of the widest read classics in Russian literature", with many films based on his works, "which are also read over the radio", partly due to "his vivid stories of the lives of ordinary people and unhappy love, his descriptions of the military and brothels, making him a writer for all times and places."^[1]

Bibliography[link]

• The Last Debut (Poslednii debiut) (1889)
• Psikheia (1892; translated as Psyche, 1929)
• Lunnoi noch'iu (On a Moonlit Night, 1893)
• V pot'makh (In the Dark 1893)
• Doznanie (The Inquiry, 1894).
• Moloch (1896)
• Olesja (1898)
• At the Circus (1902)
• The Horse Thieves (1903)
• Poedinok (1905; translated as The Duel, 1916)
• The River of Life (1906)
• Yama (The Pit) (1909–1915)
• The Garnet Bracelet (1911)
• Iunkera (Junkers, written 1928–1932, published 1933) (autobiographical)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Alexander Kuprin

• Kuprin, dedicated website
• Biography, by Nicholas Luker
• Aleksandr Kuprin's IMDb.com page
• Biography, at The Literature Network
• Online stories in English - Read Yama (The Pit) and the short story The Outrage—a True Story
• Works by Aleksandr Kuprin at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
• Works by Aleksandr Kuprin at Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML)
• Grave of Kuprin

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Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Rodionov
250px
Born	May 23, 1977 Chibirley, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	May 23, 1996 Chechen Republic, Russian Federation
Allegiance	Russia
Years of service	1995-1996
Rank	Private
Unit	2631 Border Troops
Battles/wars	First Chechen War
Awards	(posthumously)

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Rodionov (Russian: Евгений Александрович Родионов; May 23, 1977 - May 23, 1996) was a Russian soldier who was taken prisoner and later executed in Chechen captivity for his refusal to convert to Islam and go over to the enemy side. The circumstances of his death have garnered him much admiration throughout Russia, and even prompted calls for his elevation to sainthood.

Career and capture[link]

Rodionov was born in the village of Chibirley, Penza Oblast. Though he aspired to be a cook, he was conscripted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1995. Private Rodionov was deployed to Chechnya, where he served in border troops. On February 13th 1996, he went to mount guard over the road accompanied by privates Andrey Trusov, Igor Yakovlev and Alexander Zheleznov. During the watch they stopped an ambulance, in which brigade general of “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria” Ruslan Khaikhoroev and a dozen of enforcers were transporting weapons. During their attempt to examine the ambulance young soldiers were overpowered and taken prisoners. After it was learned about their absence, the soldiers were initially announced as deserters. Military police came home to Yevgeny Rodionov’s mother to search for her missing son. Only later, after detailed survey of the place and detection of traces of blood and fight the military recognized that the missing soldiers had been taken prisoners. On his 19th birthday Rodionov was beheaded on the outskirts of the Chechen village Bamut. According to his killers, who later extorted money from his mother in exchange for knowledge of the location of his corpse, they beheaded him after he refused to renounce his Christian faith or remove the silver cross he wore around his neck. Ruslan Khaikhoroev later admitted the murder. In presence of foreign representative of OSCE he confessed: «… he had a choice to survive. He could have changed his faith, but he refused to take off his cross. He tried to escape…». On May, 23rd, after 100 days of imprisonment and tortures, Yevgeny Rodionov was again ordered to remove the cross he was wearing and accept Islam. After his refusal Yevgeny Rodionov was beheaded, when still alive. Andrey Trusov shared his fate, while Igor Yakovlev and Alexander Zheleznov were shot dead.

Veneration[link]

Yevgeny Rodionov was posthumously awarded the Russian Order of Courage. There was a growing movement within the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a Christian saint and martyr for faith. Some Russian soldiers, feeling themselves abandoned by their government, have taken to kneeling in prayer before his image.[1] One such prayer reads:

Thy martyr, Yevgeny, O Lord, in his sufferings hath received an incorruptible crown from Thee, our God, for having Thy strength he hath brought down his torturers, hath defeated the powerless insolence of demons. Through his prayers, save our souls.

As of 2003^[update], religious icons depicting Yevgeny had become popular. His mother has one herself; she has suggested that the icon of her son sometimes emits a perfume which she believes to be holy, to the extent that it actually drips with it.[2]

Because of the huge devotion given to the Neo-martyr Yevgeny, the pious faithful sought official canonization from the Moscow Patriarchate. Initially, it refused, which divided the Orthodox in Russia. Maksim Maksimov, Secretary of the Canonization Commission, explained the Synod's position in Tserkovny Vestnik (Church Bulletin), the official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church. His arguments can be summarized in three points:

1. The only evidence that the soldier was executed for this faith is the testimony of his mother, who in her love made a god of her son;
2. The Russian Orthodox Church has never canonized anyone killed in war;
3. The period of new martyrs ended with the collapse of the Bolshevik regime.

However, he emphasized that the deceased can be honoured without canonization. Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow personally blessed the popular account of Yevgeny's life but worried that his cult would balloon into anti-Muslim rage.

Opponents of the decision, including Alexander Shargunov, a well-known priest, argued that an outbreak of people's love is enough for the truth and that Yevgeny's grave works miracles, curing the sick and reconciling enemies. They also point out that the soldier did not die at war but in captivity and that to say that the time of martyrs is over is nearly heresy.

Chechclear[link]

Rodionov has been misidentified as the unnamed Russian soldier whose beheading by Chechen rebels in 1996 was filmed and has since become a viral video on the internet (Chechclear).

References[link]

• "Boy soldier who died for faith made 'saint'", The Daily Telegraph, January 24, 2004
• "A Drive to Turn a Soldier Into a Saint", The Moscow Times, October 19, 2004
• "From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint", The New York Times, November 21, 2003
• "The First Saint of the Chechen War", RIAN, October 5, 2004
• "Russian Soldier Goes Through Chechen Captivity Hell", Pravda Online, January 8, 2003