Shelekhov

 

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[8] 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 15 September 1955 and the first high school was opened by the end of 1956.^[9]

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Shelekhov serves as the administrative center of Shelekhovsky District,^[4] to which it is directly subordinated.^[2] As a municipal division, the town of Shelekhov is incorporated within Shelekhovsky Municipal District as Shelekhovskoye Urban Settlement.^[5]

The Canada-United States match of the 2012 Women's Bandy World Championship was played in Shelekhov.^[10] Irkutsk was awarded the 2014 World Championship for men and some of the matches were played in Shelekhov,^[11][12] at the Stroitel Stadium.[1] The town hosted two matches at the 2017 Girls-17 World Championship.^[13][14][2]

Shelekhov is twinned with:

•   Nomi, Japan
•   Rylsk, Russia

• Законодательное Собрание Иркутской области. Постановление №9/5-ЗС от 15 апреля 2009 г. «Устав Иркутской области», в ред. Закона №2-У от 14 декабря 2017 г. «О поправках к Уставу Иркутской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Областная", №45, 24 апреля 2009 г. (Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast. Resolution #9/5-ZS of April 15, 2009 Charter of Irkutsk Oblast, as amended by the Law #2-U of December 14, 2017 On the Amendments to the Charter of Irkutsk Oblast. Effective as of the day following a ten-day period after the day of the official publication.).
• Законодательное Собрание Иркутской области. Закон №49-ОЗ от 21 июня 2010 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Иркутской области», в ред. Закона №12-ОЗ от 23 марта 2017 г. «О внесении изменений в статьи 25 и 33 Закона Иркутской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Иркутской области" и Закон Иркутской области "О порядке рассмотрения Законодательным Собранием Иркутской области предложений о присвоении наименований географическим объектам и (или) о переименовании географических объектов"». Вступил в силу после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Областная", №71, 25 июня 2010 г. (Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast. Law #49-OZ of June 21, 2010 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Irkutsk Oblast, as amended by the Law #12-OZ of March 23, 2017 On Amending Articles 25 and 33 of the Law of Irkutsk Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Irkutsk Oblast" and the Law of Irkutsk Oblast "On the Procedures for Consideration of Assignments of Names to Geographical Objects and (or) Renaming of Geographical Objects". Effective as of after the day of the official publication.).
• Законодательное Собрание Иркутской области. Закон №89-оз от 16 декабря 2004 г. «О статусе и границах муниципальных образований Шелеховского района Иркутской области», в ред. Закона №43-ОЗ от 21 июня 2013 г. «О распространении действия Закона Иркутской области "О статусе и границах муниципальных образований Шелеховского района Иркутской области" на всю территорию нового субъекта Российской Федерации — Иркутской области и внесении в него изменений». Вступил в силу с 31 декабря 2004 г., но не ранее чем через 10 дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Восточно-Сибирская правда", №254–255, 20 декабря 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Oblast. Law #89-oz of December 16, 2004 On the Status and Borders of the Municipal Formations of Shelekhovsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, as amended by the Law #43-OZ of June 21, 2013 On Expanding the Scope of the Law of Irkutsk Oblast "On the Status and Borders of the Municipal Formations of Shelekhovsky District of Irkutsk Oblast" to the Whole Territory of the New Federal Subject of the Russian Federation—Irkutsk Oblast—and on Amending It. Effective as of December 31, 2004, but not earlier than 10 days after the official publication date.).
• Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Formations of Irkutsk Oblast (in Russian)