Sights of the Murmansk region > Pechenga district

Pechenga district

Official date of Pechenga district foundation is 21 July 1945. Its administrative center is Nickel. Pechenga district is located in the northwest of the Murmansk region. It has land borders with Finland and Norway.

Now Pechenga municipality district includes city settlements Zapolyarny, Nickel, Pechenga and rural settlement Korzunovo. There are about 45, 3 thousands inhabitants of Pechenga district.

The area of the district is 8,7 square kilometers.

The regional landscape was mainly formed after the last Ice Age. A hilly and low mountainous relief is characteristic of the district.

The rivers are good for fishing. The Lapps were the first to inhabit the territory. The first permanent Russian (pomor or coast dweller) settlements appeared this place in the 16" century. The Pechenga monastery is the most northern Orthodox monastery in the world.

In the 16 century the monastery guided by Tryphon managed a very prosperous farm. After several years later monastery was ruined. In 1997 the second revival of the monastery began. Nowadays only the Church of Nativity (Rozhdestva) has been preserved at the monastery. Across has been set up at the assumed burial place of St Tryphon in Luostary.

During World War II the Pechenga Valley became a combat zone for some of the most difficult battles. Now here there are several monuments and memorials from this war.

Defenders of Pechenga land were the first people who restored towns and villages burned and ruined by the war. Nickel was founded in 1935. A combine was constructed in 1930s by Petsamo-Nickel, Finnish Company. During World War II, the facilities were practically destroyed and then reconstructed in 1946. Now the Pechenganickel Combine is one of divisions of OJSC Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company and placed on two industrial platforms - in Zapolyarny, The Combine includes two mines and melting shop.

Nickel and There are 7 hydroelectric power stations on the boundary Paz-river - five Russian and two Norwegian. The Pasvik reserve was founded in 1992 with the cooperation of Russian and Norwegian ecologists. The area of the reserve is only 14,7 hectares, with a third of it being the water area of the river Paz and lakes through which it passed. One of the goals of the reserve is protection and research of their distribution.

Four kilometers from Rayakoski point Muotkavaara is situated. There three borders connect together: Russian, Norwegian and Finnish.

A few kilometers from Zapolyarny there is The Kola Super deep Well. It is the deepest borehole in the world. Its depth is 12,262 m.

Our district has good contacts with closest neighbors: Sor-Varanger(Norway) and Inary (Finland) communes.