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.
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.