Volgograd grew out of the 1589 fortress “Tsaritsyn,” established to defend Russia’s volatile southern frontier. Renamed Stalingrad in 1925, the city’s original name was reinstated under Khrushchev. Volgograd became a major industrial center under Stalin, then suffered the costliest battle in human history when Germany invaded during World War II. The city is home to more than twenty universities, several theatres, thirty museums, and over sixty libraries. Modern Volgograd is still an important industrial city and a major railway junction with links to Moscow, Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Siberia. Volgograd is a port of five seas. Lots of historical monuments, including the 171 feet tall statue "Motherland is calling», contributed to the story about great victory at Stalingrad on February 2, 1943, that became turning point of the fascism defeat in the course of the World War II.