Volgograd
Travel Guide Europe Russia Southern Russia Volgograd
Introduction
Volgograd is a longstreched city on the bank of the river Volga in Southern Russia. Volgograd originated with the foundation in 1589 of the fortress of Tsaritsyn at the confluence of the Tsaritsa and Volga Rivers. The city might be known the best for the bloody battle that took place here during World War II, when the city was still called Stalingrad.
Neighbourhoods
Sights and Activities
Rodina-Mat Zovyot!
Rodina-Mat Zovyot! (translated: The Motherland Calls!), a statue built by Yevgeny Vuchetich is a symbol of Volgograd. The statue was erected at the height of Mamayev Kurgan, as a monument dedicated to the victims of the battle of Stalingrad. The figure of the woman stands 52 metres high, and the sword that she holds is 33 metres. A native of the city, Valentina Izotova, posed for the statue. The statue stands on a platform that has 200 steps leading up to the actual statue. The 200 steps are symbolic for the 200 days that the siege lasted. At the time of erection it was the tallest statue in the world. The statue is held in place by its weight and not fixed to its foundations. Over the years, changes to groundwater level had caused movements to the foundations and the statue is currently leaning at a precarious angle with a tilt of an estimated 20 centimetres (8 inches). If the tilt continues by just a few more centimetres before corrective measures can be put in place, it will most likely collapse.
Events and Festivals
Weather
Getting There
By Plane
Volgograd International Airport (website in Russian only) (IATA: VOG, ICAO: URWW) is an airport located 15 kilometres northwest of the city. There are flights to Moscow, St Petersburg, Surgut, Yekaterinburg and Yerevan, the latter being the only international connection.
By Train
By Car
By Bus
By Boat
Getting Around
By Car
By Public Transport
Volgograd has a metrosystem, that runs parallel to the river.
By Foot
By Bike
Eat
Drink
Work
Learn
Keep Connected
Internet
Phone
See also International Telephone Calls
Post
Russian Post is the national postal service of Russia. It's English version is currently under construction, but mainly involves the track&trace system. The domestic post is reasonably reliable, and sending international mail is fairly reliable but slow, taking at least a few weeks to European countries, longer to the USA or Australia for example. The delivery of mail sent from abroad to Russia is highly unreliable, and people or companies tend to use foreign adresses, from where a private carrier sends it to Russia. Alternatives like poste restante are non-existent with Russian Post. Most cities and large towns in Russia have a Central Post Office (Glavpochtamt), which also sells stamps and envelopes, and usually has fax services and Internet availability, though the latter mostly not in smaller places. Also, many hotels have postal services, including mail boxes. Post offices tend to keep long hours, usually from 8:00am or 9:00am until 8:00pm or 9:00pm Monday to Friday, and closing earlier during weekends. The main central post offices in the biggest cities keep even longer hours. For sending parcels, you can also try services by DHL Russia and FedEx Russia. For all mail you can use the regular alphabet, though maybe include the country's name in Cyrillic. For sending post to Russia (or trying to receive it) note that addresses should be in reverse order: Russia, postal code, city, street address, name.
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This is version 5. Last edited at 13:38 on Jan 3, 11 by Utrecht. 7 articles link to this page.
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