Kola (town)

Kola ( _ru. Ко́ла, _se. Guoládat, _sm. Kuâlõk) is a town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kola and Tuloma Rivers, 12 km south of Murmansk and 24 km south-west of Severomorsk. It is the oldest town of the Kola Peninsula. Population: 11,060 (2002 Census).

The district of Kolo was first attested in Russian chronicles in 1264. The area was settled by the Pomors, who built the fort of Kola in 1565. The Swedes failed to capture the fort during the Russo-Swedish War of 1590–1595. In the 17th century, it prospered as a starting point for naval expeditions of the Pomors to Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya. The brethren of the Pechenga Monastery moved there as well.

Although it was incorporated as a town in 1784, Kola declined after Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea. Used by the tsarist government as a place of exile, it was reduced to ashes during the Crimean War, when a British warship bombarded it for twenty hours. As a consequence, the uyezd centre was moved from Kola to Kem. The ruined town was later eclipsed by nearby Murmansk, of which it is now commonly considered to be a satellite. It was officially classified as a rural settlement between 1926 and 1965.

Although earthen ramparts and ditches of the original fortress still subside, Kola's main landmark is the Annunciation Cathedral (1800–1809), which may have been the first stone building constructed in the Kola Peninsula. Other sights include the Museum of Pomor Way of Life and Murmashi, the northernmost spa in Russia.

External links

*ru icon [http://www.mojgorod.ru/murmansk_obl/kola/index.html Kola entry at Mojgorod.ru]