Elista

History

Elista was founded in 1865 as a small settlement, the name is from Kalmyk els(e)n 'sand(y)'. In November 1920, Elista became the administrative center of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. By the early 1930s, Elista was transformed into a small city as the collectivization policies of Joseph Stalin forced many Kalmyks to abandon their traditional pastoral nomadic lifestyle in exchange for a modern, sedentary, and urban lifestyle. In October 1935, Elista was recognized as the capital of the Kalmyk ASSR. In late 1942, the city was briefly occupied by the German army. Because of alleged collaboration between the ethnic Kalmyks and the Germans, on 27 December 1943 the Kalmyk ASSR was dissolved and its ethnic Kalmyk residents were forcibly exiled to Siberia. Russian people were brought in to repopulate Elista, whose name was changed to Stepnoy (Степно́й). It was called Stepnoy until 1957, when the survivors of the deportations were allowed to return from exile.

Some western tourists started to visit Elista from the mid-1990s, and more after it received publicity as the host city of the 1998 Chess Olympiad. The city is safe and has little traffic. On the outskirts of Elista, there are vast grasslands.

Geography

The city is located in the area of the Yergeni hills, in the upper part of the Elista valley. The sources of the river are located in the western part of the city. The Elista crosses the urban area from west to east, dividing it into two sections, a larger northern part and a smaller southern one.

Climate

Elista has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), bordering upon a cool semi-arid climate (BSk). Winters are freezing with a January average of −6.1 °C while summers are very warm to hot with a July average of 25.4 °C and average maximum of 32.2 °C. The average annual precipitation is 390 mm with winters being drier than summers.{{cite web |access-date=December 31, 2010 |access-date = December 4, 2012

| Jan record high C =14.5 | Feb record high C =17.6 | Mar record high C =27.9 | Apr record high C =32.1 | May record high C =37.2 | Jun record high C =39.8 | Jul record high C =43.3 | Aug record high C =42.9 | Sep record high C =38.7 | Oct record high C =32.7 | Nov record high C =23.5 | Dec record high C =18.1 | year record high C = | Jan record low C =-34.0 | Feb record low C =-32.0 | Mar record low C =-27.2 | Apr record low C =-11.2 | May record low C =-1.3 | Jun record low C =3.3 | Jul record low C =7.8 | Aug record low C =4.6 | Sep record low C =-3.2 | Oct record low C =-14.7 | Nov record low C =-27.7 | Dec record low C =-30.2 | year record low C =

| access-date = 12 February 2017}}{{cite web | access-date = 2 August 2023}}}}

Administrative and municipal status

Elista is the capital of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with four rural localities, incorporated as the City of Elista—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the City of Elista is incorporated as Elista Urban Okrug.

Features

Since 1991, the town has been characterized by the slow decay of Soviet-built institutions, and the large construction projects instigated by the republic's millionaire president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The town center has a number of renovated public parks focused on the main square, boasting statues to both Lenin and the Buddha. The main square features the Pagoda of Seven Days (), a Buddhist structure housing a large prayer wheel. To the east of the town lies the Olympic village of the 1998 XXXIII Chess Olympiad, known locally as "City-Chess". The site has a public swimming pool and a museum of Kalmyk Buddhist art, which is also infrequently used as a conference center.

During his visit in 1998, the 14th Dalai Lama chose a location west of the town center to build the Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume, a Buddhist temple for city residents. It was opened in December 2005. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Europe.

Transportation

Elista has a small regional airport which is open daily during the week, providing flights to Moscow and various cities in the southern part of the Russian Federation. The airport was closed by the federal aviation authorities sometime in the fall of 2006, but was reopened sometime in 2007. Rail connections are available to Stavropol.

Due to the high cost of air travel, people usually prefer to take the bus between Elista and Moscow. The trip is approximately 18 hours and makes several rest stops along the route. Nowadays there is an airline, Azimuth, that provides air flights to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Crimea and Rostov on Don at affordable cost with direct flights from Elista airport. The price starts at 2500 rubles one way and it saves traveler a lot of time instead of traveling by bus as it was in the past.

Within Elista itself, a network of about a dozen marshrutka (minibus) routes is run by private companies. Minibuses are available around every five minutes. This is the preferred option of most Kalmykians because of the minimal cost (10 rubles).

Demographics

Population:

Ethnic composition (2021):

• Kalmyks – 76.9%
• Russians – 19.1%
• Kazakhs – 0.6%
• Others – 3.4%

Twin towns – sister cities

Elista is twinned with:

• KAZ Aktau, Kazakhstan
• GEO Khoni, Georgia
• RUS Kyzyl, Russia
• CHN Lhasa, China
• MNG Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• RUS Ulan-Ude, Russia

Sport

Typhoon Elista were a motorcycle speedway team who regularly participated in the Soviet Union Championship from 15 April 1967 through to 1991. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the team disbanded. The team raced at the Elista Motordrome or Avtodrom located at ().

Elista was previously home to a top tier football team. Uralan Elista played in the Russian Premier League from 1997 until 2000, and then 2001 until 2003 when the team was dissolved. The team have been re-created multiple times since, sometimes known as FC Elista, although always at an amateur level.

Gallery

File:The Soviet Union 1961 CPA 2580 stamp (Capitals of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics. Pushkin Street, Elista, Kalmyk).jpg|Elista's Pushkin Street on a 1961 stamp File:Geden Sheddup Choikorling.jpg|Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery File:Golden Temple Elista.jpg|The Golden Temple File:City Chess Elista Kalmykia.jpg|Elista's Chess City File:Shaxmaty2.jpg|Playing chess near the Seven Days Pagoda, Elista

Notes

References

Sources

• Justin Corfield, The History of Kalmykia: From Ancient Times to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov, 2015. .

References

1. {{ru-pop-ref. 2010Census
2. "Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402
3. The approximate pronunciation of the Cyrillic Kalmyk name in [[International Phonetic Alphabet. IPA]] is [ˈeɮstʰ]. The name in [[Oirat language. Oirat]] [[clear script]] is {{MongolUnicode. ᡄᠯᡄᠰᡉᡐᡉ or {{MongolUnicode. ᠡᠯᠡᠡᠰᠦᠲᠦ, ''Êlêsütü''
4. Е. М. Поспелов. "Географические названия мира", Москва, 1998, стр. 480.
5. [[Google Earth]]
6. Kottek, M.. (2006). "World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated". Meteorol. Z..
7. "Климатические таблицы. Данные для Элисты.". Weather and Climate.
8. Appendix to Decree #137
9. Law #308-IV-Z
10. "Таблица 1. Национальный состав населения".
11. (2015). "Инвестиционный паспортгорода Элисты". Elista.
12. "Soviet Union Team Championship".
13. "Soviet Union & Russian Team Championship".