Elista

Elista is the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, located on Elista Street, 1250 kilometers from the capital of Russia. The area of the village is 92 square kilometers.The settlement on the site of the modern city appeared in 1865.The settlement became famous thanks to cattle fairs and the largest steppes.

In 1912, a telegraph appeared in the village of Elista, and Soviet power was established six years later.

In 1925, by decree of the authorities, the village became the regional center of Kalmykia. Two years later, large-scale construction of residential buildings, cultural and construction buildings begins.

From August to December 1942, the city was under the occupation of German troops.

Since 1944, the Kalmyk Republic was liquidated, and the city was given the name Steppe.

In 1957, it was decided to restore the Kalmyk Republic and the city of Elista.

In 1969, a railway station, a expanded clay plant, a reinforced concrete plant and a brick factory were opened in the city.

In the next 10 years, new residential buildings were built, cultural and educational institutions were opened. In the 1990s, many cultural sites and monuments were built in Elista. The city became the Buddhist center of the country. In 1998, the city hosted the World Chess Olympiad.

Elista has a temperate and sharply continental climate.

Winters are mild and short here. Summer is very warm and long.The warmest month is July - the average temperature is 24.9 degrees, the coldest month is February - the average temperature is -4.1 degrees.The average annual precipitation is 350 mm .

The total number of inhabitants for 2021 is 103.5 thousand people.

The graph data shows a slight decrease in the population from 103,749 in 2010 to 103,535 in 2021.

The following nationalities live in the city: Kalmyks - 65.8%, Russians - 25%, Kazakhs - 0.6%, Ukrainians - 0.5%, not specified - 8.1%. As of January 2019, Elista ranked 167th out of 1117 cities of the Russian Federation in terms of the number of inhabitants.

1. The Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha is a religious Buddhist structure located in the center of Elista. This temple has been functioning since the end of 2005. Inside the temple there is a library, a prayer hall, a Tibetan doctor's office and meditation rooms.

2. The Seven Days Pagoda is a fifteen-meter-high structure that was installed on the central square of Elista in 2005. The pagoda consists of 7 tiers, which symbolize the seven days of the week. There is a group of small fountains next to the pagoda.

3. Ostap Bender and 12 chairs - this sculpture of Ostap Bender designed by architect A. Khachaturian was installed in 1999. The monument to the Great Combinator is located in the Chess Microdistrict of the city of Elista.

Public transport is represented by municipal buses and minibuses.

The city has a dead-end railway station that connects Elista with Stavropol, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Zheleznovodsk, Krasnodar, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Maykop.

Elista Airport is located not far from the city, from which flights to Moscow and Sochi are carried out.

According to experts, somewhere in the depths of the bowels of Kalmykia lies a lot of minerals. Salts and building materials, gas and oil, phosphates and uranium ores. The geographical position of Elista can also be positively assessed, which theoretically can be used for the development of modern transport communications in almost all directions.

Fashionable today, clean energy is also quite promising in this region, as there are natural opportunities for the construction of appropriate facilities using wind and solar energy. Experts also note the fact that the existing human resources potential is significant. For example, in Elista, more than 70% of the able-bodied population have vocational education, including secondary and higher education. Nevertheless, significant development, effective use of available resources, contrary to known forecasts, has not yet been observed. Lack of fresh water, steppes, certain climatic conditions - these are the conditions on which the agricultural industry is based. Of the total amount of land, only 8% can be used for arable farming. But it is this industry, with the addition of forestry and hunting, that together accounts for more than a third of the total gross regional product. Trade - about 8%, construction and transport - about 6% each. The entire industry combined gives less than 10%. The main objects are the production facilities of housing and communal services. There are enterprises that produce food products, such as Khleb JSC, Rudo-El LLC. Various reinforced concrete products are manufactured. There is a furniture factory and a dose of Stoydetal, which produces various building products made of wood. The oil industry is represented by JSC "Kalmneft", located in Elista. As mentioned above, the existing economic potential in the city is not fully used. Indirect confirmation of this is about seven candidates for potential jobs as of autumn 2021. At the same time, the entire region, according to available statistics, was included in the top ten most problematic in Russia when assessing the level of unemployment.