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The town of Volkov owes its name and fate
to the Volkhov River.
In ancient time the river was taking traders
"From the Varangians to the Greeks". In the 18th
century it has become a part of the Vyzhnevolotskaya system
- one of the important Russian waterways. Since then many
projects to improve navigation by the river have been created
but it was only in 1926 that one of them was implemented finally.
The opening of the Volkhovskaya hydropower
station took place on October 19, 1926. It was planned in
1918 as a part of Russia electrification system in the years
when the country was destroyed and devastated after World
War I and Civil War. The construction was a grandiose one
- about 12,000 workers were involved in 1925. In 1928 the
hydropower station supplied 62.6 % of Leningrad need in electrical
power and is still operating.
The Volkhovskaya hydropower station was
designed by a prominent engineer Genrikh Graftio. Shaped as
a fantastical ship, it is definitely the landmark of the town.
Another important enterprise of Volkhov,
the aluminium plant, produced first aluminium ingots on May
14, 1932.
The Zvanka railway station is another industrial
site of the town. In the 1930-ies it was one of the largest
junctions of the Northwest of Russia. In 1933 the industrial
community Zvanka with the neighbouring villages and communities
was reorganized into the town of Volkhovstroy that was renamed
Volkhov in 1940. The current population of the town is 50.5
ths. people.
In the years of Great Patriotic War Volkhov
happened to be the town connecting Leningrad in siege with
mainland. The trains brought supplies and food for the city
and took Leningrad residents out of the circle of siege. A
steam locomotive EU 708-64 - the first one to run along the
corridor that was won from the fascists in January 1943 is
now a monument to those stormy days. Another unusual memorial
of the victims of Great Patriotic War is located on the outskirts
of Volkhov - it is a stove left of a house burnt to ashes.
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