My land, my native Belgorod, the land of iron ore and grain. I My land, my native Belgorod, the land of iron ore and grain. I. Tchernukhin My native town - Belgorod

Belgorod is one of the oldest towns in the country Belgorod is one of the oldest towns in the country. It has a long and interesting history which dates back to the ancient times. 1 suppose you can guess that people settled on the Seversky Donets River in the Stone and Bronze Ages. By the way the first settlements of Slavs were established there approximately in the ll"1 century. Belgorod is the first mentioned in the annals of history in the year 1237

Originally it was a very small settle­ment of Slavs stop the chalky hill overlooking the Seversky Donets River, which was then a deep and navigable river. Everybody seems to know that the white Hill gave its name to the future fortress, town into which the little settlement had grown up by the 16 century.

Anyway, what happened in the end was Belgorod of Today, the town we observe in our everyday life and love by the whole heart

The fascist invaders came twice to occupy Belgorod in the course of three years. For the first time Belgorod was occupied on October 24, 1941, after a heavy battle at the village of Streletskoye in which the Red Army was defeated. The invaders brought destruction, sufferings, death and enslavement to the occupied land. Under the yoke of German fascists life was full of horror. On February 6, 1942, the fascists killed about 2,000 civil people, in­cluding children and women, on the bank of the Seversky Donets River.

Like many other Soviet cities and towns, Belgorod was razed to the ground during the Great Patriotic War. When the Red Army entered Belgorod, it found there only 150 inhabitants alive out of 34,500 before the War. The town lay in ruin.

On February 9, 1943, Belgorod was liberated by the Red Army Divisions (of the Voronezh Front), which had to leave the town a month later, on March 18, 1943. The German fascists returned to Belgorod and re­mained in it till the summer of 1943 when a great battle was fought at Prokhorovka. More than 4 million men, over 69,000 guns, 13,000 tanks, 12,000 aircraft took part in the fighting which lasted 50 days and nights (July 5 -August 23, 1943). The victory in the battle of Kursk Bulge was of great importance as it was a turning point (after the Stalingrad Battle) in the Great Patriotic War. On August 5, 1943, Moscow fired a salute in honour of the liberation of Belgorod and Oryol for the first time during the war years.

To commemorate the battle of Kursk Bulge the Kursk Bulge Diorama Museum was opened in the centre of Belgorod on August 3, 1987.

About 100,000 people were awarded orders and medals and 180 people were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union for displaying courage and heroism in the Battle of Kursk Bulge. Belgorod is called the "Town of the First Salute".

As soon as Belgorod was liberated, restoration work began As soon as Belgorod was liberated, restoration work began. Life on the devastated land began to be reborn. Already in September, 1943, the town had a population of 8,000. The inhabitants of Belgorod began its re­construction enthusiastically. The destroyed industrial enterprises were reconstructed, a lot of new ones were built up, agriculture was reorganized -that was all done in the shortest time possible. Blocks of beautiful buildings rose up in the town and thousands of people moved into new homes. Belgorod has changed beyond recognition since then.

The Belgorod region came into being on January 6, 1954, when a special decree was signed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR according to which Belgorod became the centre of the Belgorod region, separate from the Kursk region. Here is a map of the region which shows that the Belgorod region lies centrally in the European part of the Russian Federation and in the south and the west it borders on the Lugansk, the Kharkov and the Sumy region of the Ukraine, in the north and the north­west on the Kursk region, and in the east on the Voronezh region. The Belgorod region extends about 190 km from the north to the south and about 270 km from the west to the east.

Belgorod region 27,100 sq km Lipetsk region 24,100 sq km The chart over there shows the areas of the neighbouring regions of the Russian Federation Belgorod region 27,100 sq km Lipetsk region 24,100 sq km Kursk region 29,800 sq km Tambov region 34,500 sq km Voronezh region 52,400 sq km

In the Belgorod region a widespread network of educational and up­bringing institutions has been created. It is sufficient for satisfying educational needs of local population. Educational space of the region includes 1, 801 institutions. Among them there are 811 secondary schools, 6 pedagogical, 37 technical colleges, 23 boarding schools and 743 pre-school institutions. The number of scholars attending secondary schools and special technical schools accounts for 233, 300. 52,100 children attend 76 pre­school institutions. This is our school number 33, 1st September, 2008

The regional system of higher and general professional education in­cludes five independent higher educational institutions. They are represented by Belgorod State University, the Technological University of build­ing materials, the state Academy of agriculture, University of consumer co­operation and the Institute of Law of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Russian Federation. You can see Belgorod State University.

The federal program "Children of Russia" is being implemented in the region. It includes "Orphans", "Talented children", "Organisation of summer recreation for children" programs.

The typical landscape of the territory of the Belgorod region has always been the forest and the steppe. In the past oak forests probably covered the greatest part of the region with large stretches of steppe in the south-east. In the course of the centuries the forest area was progressively diminished. Natural wood-lands now occupy about 300,000 hectares. The greatest den­sity of woodland occurs in the Shebekinsky and the Borisovsky district.

The protection of the environment is an important problem The protection of the environment is an important problem. The pollution of the environment influences the life of plants, animals and human beings as well. The fact is that our factories sometimes put their waste materials into water and atmosphere and pollute the environment. In general, the ecological situation in our region is perhaps better than in other regions. But we must pay more attention to the protection of our nature.

So, I´d like to live and to work only in my home town – Belgorod. I wish Belgorod to be the most attractive for tourists and successful town! Good luck!