Mazyr, also
Mozyr (
Belarusian ????´?,
IPA&_160;
[ma'z?r];
Russian ??´????; Lithuanian Mozyrius) is a city in the
Homiel Province of
Belarus on the
Pripyat River about 210 km east of
Pinsk and 100 km northwest of
Chernobyl and is located at approximately
52°03'N 29°15'E? / ?52.05, 29.25. The population is 111,770 (2004 estimate). The total
urban area including
Kalinkavicy across the river has a population of 150,000. Mazyr is known 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 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 ski lifts and transformed into skiing winter resorts.
Mozyr once had a sizable Jewish population. During World War II, many Jews were executed by the Nazis in Mazyr. There are several memorials devoted to this in the modern city. As with other Soviet cities, during approximately the last 15 years of the Communist control, a large proportion of the remaining Jews have relocated abroad, mostly to Israel and USA.
In 1986, the city suffered from heavy radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident.
