Ust-Dzheguta is one of the small cities in the upper Kuban, on the territory of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia. Her most famous native is singer Dima Bilan. And what is this city like? When it was founded, who lives there and what do the residents of Ust-Dzheguty do? This article provides answers to all these questions.
City location
Ust-Dzhegutu on the map of the North Caucasus should be sought a little south of Cherkessk. The distance between them is from 8 to 18 kilometers, depending on how you count.
If a resident of the capital of the KCR in Ust-Dzhegutu easily gets on foot any day, how can a representative from another region be there?
The fact is that the A-155 highway runs through this city, which connects the famous Dombai resort with Circassian, Nevinnomyssk and the busy E-50 highway. The latter is one of the most important roads in the south of Russia. It connects the Krasnodar Territory with the region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and then through the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria and three other republics of the North Caucasus leads to Makhachkala.
Ust-Dzheguta is located at an altitude of 627 meters above sea level. The city is characterized by a moderately warm and humid climate.
It is interesting that its name has four spellings in the main languages of the republic:
- Karachay;
- Circassian
- Abaza
- Russian and Nogai.
History and population
The population in 2018 amounted to 30.3 thousand people. This is more than the indicator of the last Soviet census of 1989 (29 thousand), but less than the level of the beginning of the 2000s, when the number of inhabitants was almost 33 thousand people.
In the ranking of 1113 cities of Russia in terms of population, Ust-Dzheguta takes 498th place.
Its national composition is diverse. About half of the residents are Karachais, in second place are Russians (1/3 of the inhabitants), and in the third place are representatives of the small people of the Abazins. Their 6.8%, that is 2.2 thousand people.
In addition, 1% of the inhabitants are Circassians and Gypsies, and the rest are Tatars, Ukrainians, Armenians, Nogais.
The village was founded in 1861 and was originally a village of Ust-Dzhegutinsky. In 1935, it became a district center, and in 1975 received the status of a city.
Religiously, the composition of the population is heterogeneous - Muslims, Orthodox, Baptists, Pentecostals. A beautiful mosque, an Orthodox church and four Protestant churches were built in the city.
How to get there
Until 2009, Ust-Dzheguta was the terminal station on the railway line, which in the city of Nevinnomyssk connected to the North Caucasian railway. She could be reached in a trailed carriage from Moscow, he walked as part of a train from Nalchik, as well as in a rail bus from Nevinnomyssk.
Now only buses go to the city. From Cherkessk they leave daily from 09:50 to 19:50. The trip takes 10 to 25 minutes.
As a rule, all flights follow from Stavropol to the southern or central part of Karachay-Cherkessia, that is, to Teberda, Karachayevsk, Pregradnaya or Zelenchukskaya. However, there are exceptions:
- 11:46, 19:46. Buses from Stavropol, they go exactly to Ust-Dzheguty.
- 12:45, 14:45 and 18:55. Flights from Pyatigorsk.
- 13:55, 17:55. Buses from Nevinnomyssk.
From Ust-Dzheguty, the schedule is as follows:
- To Pyatigorsk flights at 07:38, 09:50, 11:32. Drive 2.5 hours or more.
- Buses begin to go to Cherkessk at 07:40, there are many passing flights, the final destination of which is Stavropol.
Urban economy
In terms of economy in Ust-Dzhegut, as in many small cities of Russia, there is no particular prosperity. There are three plants - cement, lime and silicate bricks. In the past there was a factory of reinforced concrete products, but it went bankrupt in the early 2000s.
Of the important objects built in the 2000s, a bridge across the Kuban should be noted. It is the largest flyover bridge in the North Caucasus Federal District.
On the left bank of the Kuban there is a greenhouse complex. His specialization is the cultivation of cucumbers, tomatoes and roses, he is part of the Abazinsky district of Karachay-Cherkessia.
The high-rise microdistrict, which was built together with the plant in the 1980s, is part of Ust-Dzhegut.
Sights of the city and surroundings
There are few attractions in Ust-Dzhegut. Passing the city in transit, it is worth visiting the memorial complex with the Eternal Flame, which was erected in memory of soldiers and civilians who died during the Second World War.
There is no local history museum in the village, but there is a small museum at the gymnasium No. 6. Its task is to create a sense of pride in a small homeland.
On the north side of Ust-Dzheguty there is a burial mound of the Bronze Age, that is, the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. e. A little south of the city, on the left bank of the Kuban, is the Shaitan-Tamak cave. It was opened in 1957. The length of the cave is 1800 meters, the corridors are low and wide. Inside it there are two grottoes and three halls: Date, Archaeological, Crystal.
If you drive a little further towards Karachaevsk, then you should stop between the villages of Kumysh and Humara to visit the Khumara settlement and the museum-monument to the defenders of the Caucasus passes. The history of the settlement covers a period of 2000 years, from the 7th century BC. e. until the 14th century AD e. Mounds, foundations of dwellings and a fragment of an ancient water supply system have been preserved in it.