Zolotoy Rog Bay
The blue stripe of the picturesque Zolotoy Rog Bay cuts in the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula and conditionally divides Vladivostok standing on its shores into two parts. It is not only the most beautiful place in the city that commands breathtaking views, but its most significant place too: it is with foundation of the military outpost on the bay's shores, one and a half centuries ago, that Primorye capital's history started.
Europe learned about Peter the Great Gulf only in 1852, after some French whaler had forcedly spent winter in one of its many bays - Posyet. He is considered the first one to visit the Zolotoy Rog Bay. Four years later Anglo-French squadron's military ships, which were looking for Russians during the Crimean War, entered the bay. On its shores they discovered a small Chinese settlement whose dwellers cultivated vegetables and caught fish and seafood. At that time the bay had Chinese name - Haishenwai, meaning 'Golden Trepang Bay'. Englishmen named it differently - Port May - in honor of Francis May, navigator of the ship, which brought them to the Far Eastern bay.
The bay didn't keep this name for long, though. In 1859, the East Siberian governor-general Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky sailed along Peter the Great Gulf's shores and noticed a well-sheltered bay that caught his attention. He named it Zolotoy Rog, which means "Golden Horn" in Russian, alluding to the similarly shaped bay in Istanbul, and ordered to found military outpost Vladivostok here. Soon it developed into the town.
The bay is well-protected from most winds, and, therefore, is a convenient place for mooring. Its hilly and steep shores were leveled and widened, strengthened with walls, equipped with moorages, docks and piers. Zolotoy Rog Bay's northwestern part adjoins Vladivostok's administrative center and hosts the building of the marine passenger terminal; trade and fish ports are also located at the bay's shores. Pacific Fleet's headquarters and military ships of the Pacific squadron station here too.
In 2012, the Zolotoy Rog Bay was spanned with the modern cable-braced bridge built within the framework of Vladivostok's preparation to hosting the APEC Summit that will be held in Russia for the first time.
