Kursk

The Kursk fortress was given a particularly important role, since in these places the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, who made regular slave raids on Russia, traditionally crossed the Seym river, and their main road, the Muravsky Trail, passed east of the city.

In this regard, Kursk, despite not being part of the Belgorod Protection Line,[12] became one of the most important fortresses in the southern region.

The presence of six ravines that cut through the hill of the Nagornaya part significantly hampered the development of Kursk.

The only stone mansion that has survived in present time after redevelopment is located at the corner of Pionerov (former Troitskaya) and Gaidar (former Zolotarevskaya) streets.

Cossack and Pushkarnaya were on the slopes of the hills and in the valley of the Kur River, Yamskaya – away from the city, on the plain.

Each of these parts is divided into regular rectangular blocks located on both sides of the planned main streets – Bolshaya Moskovskaya (Lenina) and Kherson (Dzerzhinsky).

The territory of both parts of the city, where it was not limited by rivers and deep ravines, was planned to be surrounded by a ditch and a rampart.

The structure of the plan, correct and orderly on paper, required significant revision, additions and even minor changes.

Since 1783, decisions on redevelopment issues were made by a commission in the amount of 3 officials, namely the provincial land surveyor, the mayor and the city magistrate's ratman.

The new urban structure – a rectangular quarter with residents of the same income, one estate – greatly facilitated the accounting and control of the inhabitants by the authorities.

It was based on the two main streets Moskovskaya and Khersonskaya (now Lenin and Dzerzhinsky), converging at right angles on Red Square.

At the beginning of the 19th century, construction was carried out: offices were repaired, a new prison was built, and storm sewer grooves were laid along stone pavements, which almost half of Kursk's streets had.

The streets were named Sergievskaya, Tuskarnaya Naberezhnaya, Staraya, Novaya Preobrazhensky, General's line, Soldier's, Druzhininskaya, Pastukhovskaya.

[18] On 10 July 1808, five settlements (Sloboda) of Kursk (Podyacheskaya, Soldatskaya, Gorodovy Sluzhby, Malyrossiyskaya, Rassylnaya) became part of the city.

As to mine, they are ready, saddled ahead, near Kursk; as to my Kurskers, they are famous knights—swaddled under war-horns, nursed under helmets, fed from the point of the lance; to them the trails are familiar, to them the ravines are known, the bows they have are strung tight, the quivers, unclosed, the sabers, sharpened; themselves, like gray wolves, they lope in the field, seeking for themselves honor, and for their prince, glory.

[21]The seat of the minor principality of Kievan Rus', Kursk was raided by the Turkic-speaking Polovtsians in the 12th and 13th centuries.

[22] At the beginning of the 20th century, Kursk played a dominant role in the food industry (Kvilitsu AK, one of the largest breweries in Russia, operated in Kursk) and in other industries; in the 1900s, the city had 4 sitoproboynye shops (of which the largest was the Tikhonov works, whose products were exported to Germany, Austria-Hungary, etc.).

[23] On 20 September 1919, during the Russian Civil War, the city was taken over by the anti-Bolshevik troops under the command of General Denikin; however, on 19 November 1919, Kursk was retaken by the Red Army.

The Soviet government valued Kursk for its rich deposits of iron ore and developed it into one of the major railroad hubs in the Russian southwest.

On 29 October 2011, for the first time in 30 years, the city opened a new firehouse for the protection of the Central District, with modern equipment.

Particularly noteworthy is the so-called Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Russian: Курская магнитная аномалия), the world's largest known iron-ore reserve, where the iron content of the ore ranges from 35% up to 60%.

The oldest building in Kursk is the upper church of the Trinity Monastery, a good example of the transition style characteristic of Peter the Great's early reign.

The city cathedral was built between 1752 and 1778 in the splendid Baroque style and was decorated so sumptuously that many art historians attributed it to Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

The three-story cathedral bell tower derives peculiar interest from the fact that Seraphim of Sarov, whose father took part in construction works, survived an accidental fall from its top floor at the age of seven.

During the Soviet period, the cathedral was desecrated, and four lateral domes and twin belltowers over the entrance were pulled down.

[25] This battle stopped the German advance into the Kursk Salient, and was a turning point of World War II on the Eastern Front.

[26] Kursk is located on a major railway line between Moscow and Kharkiv, with trains also linking the city to Voronezh and Kyiv.

Long-distance buses arrive and depart from the bus station "Kursk", located in the North-West part of the city.

After completion of the implementation, the automated monitoring system drive will operate in "closed" mode: turnstiles will be installed at the entrance and exit of passengers.

Kursk State University is home to the Russian Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of conductor and trumpet soloist Sergey Proskurin.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in Kursk
Pre-1917 view of Kursk
Soviet troops and T-34 tanks advancing during the Battle of Kursk .
Stalin-era buildings flanking Kursk's Red Square
Sergievsko-Kazansky Cathedral in Kursk, 1752–1778
Central Bank of Russia building
Retro -tram—a replica of a Belgian tram of 1898 on Kursk streets
Kursk Train Station. View from Privokzal'naya Ploshchad', July 2009
Final between Dynamo Kursk and UMMC Ekaterinburg from the EuroLeague Women Final Four 2019