Kirovsk, Murmansk Oblast

Town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia

Kirovsk (Ки́ровск), known as Khibinogorsk (Хибиного́рск) until 1934, is a town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the spurs of the Khibiny Mountains on the shores of the Lake Bolshoy Vudyavr, south of Murmansk. Population:

A settlement which eventually became Kirovsk was founded in 1929, soon after an expedition led by Alexander Fersman had discovered large deposits of apatite and nepheline in the Khibiny Massif in the 1920s. By the end of 1930, its population grew to ten thousand people, and a mining and chemical plant here was well under construction. Due to the rapid growth, the Presidium of the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee petitioned on January 18, 1931 to grant the settlement town status and to name it Khibinogorsk. who had been in charge of planning the development of the deposits. On February 26, 1935, when new Kirovsky District was established on part of the territory of Kolsko Loparsky District, Kirovsk was transferred to it and made its administrative center. Kirovsky District was abolished, and its territory was subordinated to Kirovsk. On January 6, 1966, the Murmansk Oblast Executive Committee petitioned to transform the work settlement of Molodyozhny located on the territory under Kirovsk's jurisdiction into a town under oblast jurisdiction called Khibinogorsk and on subordinating a part of the territory in Kirovsk's jurisdiction to it. As a municipal division, Kirovsk Town with Jurisdictional Territory is incorporated as Kirovsk Urban Okrug.

The northernmost botanical garden in Russia is located in Kirovsk.

Kirovsk is the northernmost mountained ski area in Europe. There are two major ski resorts in the town: Bigwood and Kukisvumchorr with nearly 50 km of slopes operating from November to June. The tourism industry is developing rapidly with new hotels and ski lifts opening every year.