Belev

Belev

 

city and administrative center of Belev Raion, Tula Oblast, RSFSR. Belev is located on the hilly left bank of the Oka River. It has a river port and a railroad station on the Smolensk-Gorbachevo line. It had a population of 17,000 in 1967. Belev is first mentioned in historical chronicles in 1147. It was the center of the Belev principality. From the 16th through the early 20th centuries, Belev was a district center. It has plants for processing agricultural raw materials (vegetable-drying, milk-processing, and the like), a brick factory, and a garment factory. There is a cooperative technicum and a medical school, as well as a museum of local lore and a people’s theater. The poet V. A. Zhukovskii was born near Belev at the village of Mishenskoe.