Shelekhov () is a town and the administrative center of Shelekhovsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast. It is located on the plains between the rivers Irkut and Olha. The official day of the city is celebrated on July 12.
History
Etymology In 1956, it was named Shelekhov honoring a Russian explorer Grigory Shelikhov. The name of the city is spelled differently from the surname of the explorer as Grigory himself used two different signatures with both spelling variants of his surname. In 1962, Shelekhov was granted town status.
Development The city was founded in May 1953 when the first construction workers of the Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter had installed the first six housing tents. In memory of these first construction workers, a monument of concrete in the form of tents referred to as "The First Tent" was erected near the administrative building of the plant. However, this year mostly symbolizes first mention of an actual inhabited area as the settlement was then called by the abbreviation of the aluminum plant- IrkAZ, and not Shelekhov.
According to Giprogor Russian Institute of Urban and Investment Development, a Russian urban planning and investment company, it was initially planned to create a city with a population of 100,000 people. The first inhabitants were the people of the villages Olkha, Markovo, Vvedenschina and the settlement of Bolshoj Lug.
On March 30, 1954, the commission adopted a temporary construction scheme of dwelling houses. In autumn a film projector was launched that held regular movie showings. In October the first ten members of the Komsomol had arrived for the construction of the Irkutsk Aluminum Smelter.http://sh-liceum.narod.ru/ Из архива города, Retrieved March 25, 2014 By the end of the year 2148m² of living space was commissioned.
Initially, the residential buildings were planned to be divided into different blocks. However currently, the city is represented by several blocks and residential areas.
By the end of 1955 the construction site and the settlement received permanent electric lighting from the grid. In June 1956 the first workers of the Orel Komsomol arrived on train to the site. Over a thousand people were initially housed in a tent city near Kultuk. Given the increase in demand, the first kindergarten was opened on September 15, 1955, and the first high school was opened by the end of 1956.http://shelehov.ucoz.ru/index/istorija/0-7 Все о Шелехове , Retrieved March 25, 2014
2026 plague incident On September 25, 2026, 28-year-old laboratory assistant Darya Shipilova of the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute accidentally broke a test tube containing Yersinia pestis. Shipilova's condition worsened on September 27; she was admitted to the Shelekhov district hospital on either September 29 or October 1, and she died inside the hospital's intensive care unit on October 2.
Administrative and municipal status Within the framework of administrative divisions, Shelekhov serves as the administrative center of Shelekhovsky District,Law #49-OZ to which it is directly subordinated.Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations of Irkutsk Oblast As a municipal division, the town of Shelekhov is incorporated within Shelekhovsky Municipal District as Shelekhovskoye Urban Settlement.Law #89-oz
Sports The Canada-United States match of the 2012 Women's Bandy World Championship was played in Shelekhov.WCS 2012 home page Irkutsk was awarded the 2014 World Championship for men and some of the matches were played in Shelekhov, The WCS 2014 for men will be held in Irkutsk, Russia. at the Stroitel Stadium. The town hosted two matches at the 2017 Girls-17 World Championship.
International relations
Twin towns and sister cities Shelekhov is twinned with: Nomi, Japan Rylsk, Russia
References
Notes
Sources
Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations of Irkutsk Oblast