Making metal has been one of the central activities of humankind for thousands of years. What started off as small stone furnace with has now transitioned into industrial infrastructure that has consumed entire cities. Cherepovets is arguably the headquarters of Russian steel making. Severstal steel factory, almost equal in area to the rest of the city, is responsible for much of its employment and pollution.
Tram number 5 takes one through the industrial one is engulfed by steel-making infrastructure: the pipes are either side and also above. The streets in the factory area are primarily named after the equipment: oxygen supply, chimneys, furnaces. A couple of the exhaust chimneys with baby-blue coloured smoke look particularly concerning..
Seversral’s Steel-Making museum provides interactive insights both in the process and in the plant’s positioning. Initially started under Stalin in 1940, the plant was located in Cherepovets, due to its excellent access to the raw materials and connections to the north (by rail) and south (by water) of the country. Photos from inside the plant can be found here
Furnaces of the steel plant 
Infrastructure either side of the tram rails 
Map of the plant showing its connections to the rest of the city 
Historic celebration of Blast Furnace No5 opening 
Blast furnace No5 (photo from the 1980s) 
Map of industrial activities in Cherepovets area in the XVIII-XIX centuries
no.balsa 