Magnitogorsk, Russia



The city of Magnitogorsk is one of the modern wonders of the 20th century as well as a constant reminder of the blunders of modern industry. Constructed from scratch in the southern Ural Mountains deep in the heart of the Russian Steppe. The city was willed into life in the first of Stalin's Five Year Plans and after the site was selected in 1929, its construction began with extreme rapidity. The city's history is inextricably linked with the steel plant that dominates the eastern bank of the Ural river and any look at the city must also look into the history and workings of this monstrous image of the age of machines.

This Website will take a look at the various aspects of the city that make it what it is today and will attempt to explain how it got that way.

see original page on http://www.macalester.edu/geography/courses/geog261/aritz/magnitogorsk.html

This page was produced by Aaron Ritz for Prof. David Lanegran's Geography 261 course at Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota in May, 2000.