Mazyr
Mazyr (; ) is a town in the
Homiel Province of
Belarus on the
Pripyat River about 210 km east of
Pinsk and 100 km northwest of
Chernobyl. The population is 111,770 (2004 estimate). The total
urban area including
Kalinkavičy across the river has a population of 150,000. Mazyr is known for as a center of oil refining, machine building, and food processing in Belarus. It is home to one of the largest
oil refineries in Belarus, pumping out 18 million metric tons per year. The
Druzhba pipeline carries crude oil from
Russia splitting in two at Mazyr. One pipeline branch is directed into
Poland and the other one to
Ukraine.
The right bank of the
Pripyat River, where the city is located, is elevated above the left bank at substantial heights (up to 80 m). The overfall of surface of that scale is assumed to be a consequence of a
glaciation: the
Pripyat River is running right along the edge where an ancient
glacier was located. Since both the banks of the river are sandy, the right bank is cut through by a number of great
ravines (more than 2.5 km length, up to 200 m width). The city is also located on the ravines, so its streets look much like streets of a mountain town. One of the ravines is proclaimed a reserve. Some of the nearby ravines are currently also equipped with elevators and transformed into skiing winter resorts.
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St. Michael's church and a former monastery of cistercians in Mozyr |
During the
World War Two, many
Jews were executed in Mazyr. There are several memorials devoted to this fact in the modern city.
In
1986, the city suffered from heavy
radioactive fallout from the
Chernobyl accident.
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Satellite photo of Mazyr (from Google Maps). Ravines can be seen very clearly.
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FC Slavia - www.slavia-mozyr.com
