The city of Magnitogorsk is one of the modern wonders of the 20th
century as well as a constant reminder of the blunders of modern industry.
Constructed from scratch in the southern Ural Mountains deep in the heart
of the Russian Steppe. The city was willed into life in the first of Stalin's
Five Year Plans and after the site was selected in 1929, its construction
began with extreme rapidity. The city's history is inextricably linked
with the steel plant that dominates the eastern bank of the Ural river
and any look at the city must also look into the history and workings of
this monstrous image of the age of machines.
This Website will take a look at the various aspects of the city
that make it what it is today and will attempt to explain how it got that
way.