Описание (английский)
Elista is the capital city of the Republic of Kalmykia, Russia.
Elista
was founded in 1865 as a small settlement; the name is from Kalmyk
els(e)n "sand(y)". In November 1920, Elista became the administrative
center of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. By the early 1930s, Elista was
transformed into a small city as the collectivization policies of Joseph
Stalin forced many Kalmyks
to abandon their traditional pastoral nomadic lifestyle in exchange for
a modern, sedentary, and urban lifestyle. In October 1935, Elista was
recognized as the capital of the Kalmyk ASSR.
On December 27, 1943, the Kalmyk ASSR was dissolved and its ethnic
Kalmyk residents were forcibly exiled to Siberia. Russian people were
brought in to repopulate Elista whose name was changed to Stepnoy
(Степно?й). It was called Stepnoy until 1957, when the survivors of the
deportations were allowed to return from exile.
Some western tourists started to visit Elista
from the mid-1990s, and
more after it received publicity as the host city of the 1998 Chess
Olympiad. The city is safe and has little traffic. On the outskirts of
Elista, there are vast grasslands.Since 1991, the town has been
characterized by the slow decay of Soviet-built institutions, and the
large construction projects instigated by the republic's millionaire
president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
The town center has a number of renovated public
parks focused on the main square, boasting statues to both Lenin and the
Buddha. To the east of the town lies the Olympic village of the 1998
XXXIII Chess Olympiad, known locally as "City-Chess". The site has a
public swimming pool and an excellent museum of Kalmyk Buddhist art, and
is also infrequently used as a conference center.
During his visit in 1998, his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama chose a
location west of the town center to build a new Buddhist temple for city
residents. It was opened in December 2005.