Stavropol.

Stavropol is an administrative center of Stavropol region. It’s located on bank of Tashla River, 1450 km to the South from Moscow. There is a street with interesting name "45th parallel" in the city. It has been called so thanks to the situating at this latitude exactly.

Stavropol fortress was put in 1777. The status of the city was given to it in 1785. In 1938, it was renamed Voroshilovsk, but in 1943 its initial name was returned to the city.

Translated from Greek, name “Stavropol” means "city of the cross". There are some versions concerning an origin of the name of the city. According to one of them, the big cross executed from a stone was found at the laying of the fortress. Another version tells that the city got its name because the fortress had a shape of a polygon at the bottom of which there were two crossed axes.

Industry is well developed in Stavropol, especially mechanical engineering, metalwork, tool engineering, chemical, oil and gas, food industries. More than four hundred enterprises function in the city.

Stavropol is one of the greenest cities of Russia. After all, the woods occupy here 5000 hectares. Also one can feast his eyes with the landscaping with its structure changes every week.

One of the sights of Stavropol is located on Karl Marx Avenue, 94. This is a governor’s house. The construction of it was finished in 1902. The building from a red brick is decorated with volume head mouldings, and with a balcony which is supported by four caryatides. In Soviet period, the third floor was overbuilt. Such governors as N. Nikiforaki, A.Velyaminov, Bronislav Yanushevich, S. Obolensky worked here before revolution. The building was taken by Soviet authorities in Soviet period. City government is located now in it.

There is one more sight on Karl Marx Avenue. This is a boulevard named after A.Yermolov. It was arranged at the order of general lieutenant P. Grabbe in 1839. The great poet M. Lermontov often took a promenade here. The boulevard has been described also in works of Leo Tolstoy. It’s decorated by numerous fountains and monuments to Lenin, K. Marx, K. Khetagurov, A. Yermolov, N. Nikiforaki.

Especially the Tiflis gate (triumphal arch) should be noted, which is also located on Boulevard named after A. Yermolov. The arch was constructed in style of classicism in 1841. It got its name because it had been located near the Tiflis frontier post. There was a time when it served a border between Russia and the Caucasus. Besides, it was a monument to Patriotic war of 1812. In the 1930’s, the arch was destroyed. In 1998, it was reconstructed according to old drawings.