Rostov-on-Don City

The collection is dedicated to the history of Rostov-on-Don, the largest city in Southern Europe. It includes digital copies of official documents, archival materials, research papers, reference books, periodicals, albums, photographs, and maps stored in the collections of the Presidential Library.

The history of Rostov-on-Don dates back to 1749, when Empress Elizabeth Petrovna issued a decree establishing the Temernitskaya Customs, which became the sole port in the 18th century. Thanks to this port, Russia was able to trade with ports on the Azov, Black, and Mediterranean Seas.

More information about the Temernitskaya Customs is available in the archival document titled The Case on the Submission of the Mayor of Taganrog, Regarding the Approval of Tolls for the Bridge and Transportation in the City of Rostov Across the Don River and Customs Transportation Across the Temernitsa River.

In the 1760s, a fortress called St. Demetrius of Rostov was built near a port, and in 1797, it was transformed into the city of Rostov-on-Don. At the end of the 18th century, Armenian settlers founded the city of Nakhichevan next to the fortress. Nakhichevan became part of Rostov-on-Don in 1928. (A plan of the right bank of the Rostov-Nakhichevan port with indications of ready-made and projected embankments and the proposed expansion of the Rostov-Pier station)

During the second half of the 19th century, education and charity in Rostov-on-Don were actively developing. It is available in the essays Results of Public Education in Rostov-on-Don (1761-1870) and Report of the Roman Catholic Charitable Society for the Poor in Rostov-on-Don for 1905.

During the Great Patriotic War, the city of Rostov was twice occupied by Nazi troops. This caused significant destruction, and the details of the first occupation in 1941 are documented in the collection Liberation of Rostov from the German Invaders. The city was eventually liberated during the Rostov Offensive in 1943, after which it played a significant role in the war effort.

In the second half of the 20th century, Rostov-on-Don became a major scientific, industrial, and cultural center. During the 1980s, the Institute of Agricultural Engineering was founded at Rostselmash.

The main sources for the collection are the Russian State Library, the State Public Historical Library of Russia, the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, and private collections.