| En Name: | Shelekhov |
| Ru Name: | Шелехов |
| Coordinates: | 52.2167°N 111°W |
| Map Label Position: | top |
| Image Coa: | Coat_of_Arms_of_Shelehov_(Irkutsk_oblast).png |
| Federal Subject: | Irkutsk Oblast |
| Federal Subject Ref: | [1] |
| Adm Data As Of: | July 2013 |
| Adm District Jur: | Shelekhovsky District |
| Adm Ctr Of: | Shelekhovsky District |
| Inhabloc Cat: | Town |
| Mun Data As Of: | June 2013 |
| Mun District Jur: | Shelekhovsky Municipal District |
| Urban Settlement Jur: | Shelekhovskoye Urban Settlement |
| Mun Admctr Of1: | Shelekhovsky Municipal District |
| Mun Admctr Of2: | Shelekhovskoye Urban Settlement |
| Leader Title: | Head |
| Leader Name: | Valery Desyatov |
| Pop 2010Census: | 47943 |
| Established Date: | May 1953 |
| Current Cat Date: | 1962 |
| Postal Codes: | 666031–666037 |
| Dialing Codes: | 39550 |
| Commonscat: | Shelekhov |
| Date: | May 2010 |
Shelekhov (Russian: Шелехов|p=ˈʂelʲɪxəf) is a town and the administrative center of Shelekhovsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located 20km (10miles) southwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast. It is located on the plains between the rivers Irkut and Olha. The official day of the city is celebrated on 12 July.
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.
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.[2] 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.[3]
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Shelekhov serves as the administrative center of Shelekhovsky District,[4] to which it is directly subordinated.[5] As a municipal division, the town of Shelekhov is incorporated within Shelekhovsky Municipal District as Shelekhovskoye Urban Settlement.[6]
The Canada-United States match of the 2012 Women's Bandy World Championship was played in Shelekhov.[7] Irkutsk was awarded the 2014 World Championship for men and some of the matches were played in Shelekhov,[8] [9] at the Stroitel Stadium.http://baikal-bandy.ru/p/forfans/stadiums The town hosted two matches at the 2017 Girls-17 World Championship.[10] [11] https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.baikal-bandy.ru/ru/news/305/
See main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia.
Shelekhov is twinned with: