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Chicken and lemon tagine with cracked green olives

“The tagine at Pata Negra is among the best I’ve had outside Morocco. Would you ask chef Kurt Sampson for the recipe?”

Julia North, Applecross, WA

To request a recipe, write to Fare Exchange, , GPO Box 4088, Sydney, NSW 2001, or email us . All requests should include the restaurant’s name and address or business card, as well as your name and address.

Ingredients

This recipe is from the November 2009 issue of . Notes

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Moroccan chicken tagine

Chicken breast and thigh fillet in aromatic sauce

Moroccan cuisine is renowned for its exquisite spice blends, and Lemon Chicken Tagine is no exception. The dish incorporates a medley of spices, including turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon, adding layers of complexity and depth to the flavors. The careful balance of these spices creates a harmonious symphony that elevates the taste profile of the dish.

The tagine pot, a traditional clay cooking vessel, plays a vital role in preserving the flavors and textures of the dish. With its unique shape and conical lid, it ensures an even distribution of heat, resulting in tender and flavorful chicken. Additionally, this versatile pot extends beyond Lemon Chicken Tagine, allowing for the preparation of a wide range of Moroccan dishes. From vegetable tagines to various lamb or beef variations , it serves as a versatile tool in Moroccan cuisine.

Serving suggestion:

• With couscous
• With mashed potatoes, rice, or plain cooked potatoes
• With some warm homemade bread

For the Moroccan Chicken tagine with lemon and olives, you can use the whole chicken, thigh fillets or drumsticks instead of small pieces.

If you prefer using larger chicken pieces, you can marinate them as instructed and extend the frying time if you decide to keep the skin on. In this recipe, I used chicken breast and thigh fillets, diced into small chunks. However, I also prepared it with large chicken pieces, including the skin, for a variation in texture and flavor. Explore different options for your preferred chicken cuts and enjoy the delightful outcome.

Here is chicken lemon tagine with large chicken thigh, skin-on, for an extra flavorful twist. I personally love crispy skin 🙂 How about you?

Moroccan chicken lemon tagine

Ingredients, for marinade.

• 1 bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 1 Tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4-5 black olives
• 1 Tsp ginger paste
• 2 Tsp cinnamon
• 100 ml olive oil

For the sauce

• 400 g chicken breast - or chicken thigh fillet
• some olive oil
• 1 chicken stock cube or powder - or homemade stock
• 1 onion
• 1 Tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 6-7 green olives
• 1 pickled lemon - or fresh lemon zest + juice
• 2 Tsp honey
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp coriander
• salt - pepper

Instructions

• To prepare the marinade, combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth paste forms. Adjust the consistency by adding extra oil if needed.
• Cut the chicken into small pieces and thoroughly coat them with the marinade. Allow the chicken to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours, ensuring the flavors penetrate the meat.

Other recipes you may like

Beef meatball tagine, whole grilled trout, m’hanncha moroccan dessert (almond pastry), tunisian breakfast shakshouka, leave a reply cancel reply.

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Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives

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This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives makes one of Morocco’s most quintessential tagines, alongside lamb tagine with prunes and almonds. Infused with intense citrus notes, thanks to umami-rich preserved lemons, the comforting Moroccan stew is traditionally eaten with crusty round bread called khobz. It’s also delicious with couscous, just don’t tell your Moroccan friends!

There are a number of Moroccan specialties I remember most vividly from our first visit to Morocco in the late Nineties. Several of those became my favourite Moroccan dishes, the dishes we’d order for our first Moroccan meal on return trips, and the dishes we’d seek out at Moroccan restaurants around the world, including at our home at the time, the United Arab Emirates.

This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives makes one of those dishes, and Terence’s lamb tagine with prunes and almonds recipe , which he learnt to make from the lovely Jamila, the chef at the Marrakech riad we stayed in for a couple of weeks on our last trip, makes another.

The others? Pigeon bastilla. Couscous with seven vegetables. Moroccan chickpea soup . The snails on Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech . The olives at Casablanca’s Central Market. All the sublime seafood in Essaouira , but especially the sea urchins and Atlantic oysters. Moroccan pastries and mint tea, and…

I better stop there and tell you about this Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives, but before I do, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve used and enjoyed our recipes , please consider supporting Grantourismo so we can keep creating mouthwatering food stories and recipes for our readers.

You could click through to this post for suggestions as to how to support Grantourismo , such as booking accommodation , renting a car or hiring a campervan or motorhome, buying travel insurance , or booking a tour on Klook  or Get Your Guide via our links. Or you could support our epic first-of-its-kind Cambodian culinary history and cookbook on Patreon or you could buy us a coffee, although we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipes instead.

You could also browse our Society 6 online shop , where we’ve got everything from gifts for street food lovers to food-themed reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s images;  or buy something on Amazon, such as one of these James Beard award-winning cookbooks , classic cookbooks for serious cooks , cookbooks by Australian chefs , cookbooks for foodie travellers , and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers . Now let me tell you about this Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives

I have a theory that the first dishes you eat on your first visit to a place you fall in love with are the dishes that become your favourites. Our first impressions when we travel are often the strongest, because everything is so wonderfully strange and new and our senses are heightened. Our impressions of food from our travels remain so strong because we use so many senses when we eat.

That explains why this Moroccan chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives and the lamb tagine with prunes and almonds remain so vivid in our memories. They were two of the first dishes we sampled, served after an array of cold cooked Moroccan salads, and perhaps to the horror of some Moroccans, they were served alongside couscous.

It would be another decade, after multiple trips to Morocco, for pleasure and work, and a couple of decades cooking and eating Moroccan food, that I learnt that Moroccans didn’t traditionally eat couscous with tajine. So why did Moroccan restaurants serve tagine with couscous?

Perhaps for the same reason that some tourists at restaurants in Southeast Asia eat single dishes in consecutive order instead of sharing a few dishes served at once with their dining companion? Perhaps waiters are too polite to tell them that’s not how locals eat?

As a food writer, generally when I learn I’m eating something incorrectly, I’ll adjust my habit, especially if it’s going to offend a whole culinary culture – except, I’m sorry to say, where tagines and couscous are concerned. Please don’t make me do it. Because couscous is a grain, it just goes so well with tagine.

In the same way that curry is the perfect accompaniment to rice in Southeast Asia. And buckwheat to stews and braises in Russia. But never noodles. Don’t even think about eating beef Stroganoff with noodles. Okay, if you must, just don’t tell me, and don’t even think about sharing it on social media with me.

Now before you skip to our Moroccan chicken tagine recipe, I want to tell you about our new recipe series – rather, another re-booted recipes series. For the last ten years, since we shifted our base as a food and travel writer-photographer team to Southeast Asia – first to Thailand, Vietnam, then Cambodia – we’ve focused mostly here on the site on Southeast Asian food, with random detours depending on where our travels or interests took us.

When the borders closed and world shut down in early 2020, we threw ourselves into our Cambodian culinary history research and cookbook and for much of last year we were testing Cambodian dishes and posting recipes almost daily and when we weren’t publishing Cambodian recipes , we were sharing recipes from neighbouring countries related to our Cambodian food research.

But, alas, spoilt people born to multicultural nations such as Australia, who’ve been raised on food from around the world, cannot survive a pandemic on one region’s cuisine alone we realised after the first year! Having been born to a Russian mother and Australian father, I embarked on a side project and have been cooking and sharing my Russian family recipes .

This year we also relaunched Terence’s decade-old Weekend Eggs series on quintessential breakfast eggs dishes from around the globe, which we launched with this website and the yearlong grand tour of the world in 2010 that launched our Grantourismo project and our mission to promote slow, local and experiential travel.

Learning about local cuisines and how to cook local food in each of the places we stayed for two weeks at a time on that trip was a key part of the year-long journey, and in a series named The Dish we published the quintessential dishes of the places we settled into.

We thought it was time to revive that series and start cooking the local specialties that we considered along with The Dish that Terence ended up learning, cooking and sharing here. Along the way we will ‘revisit’ some of the places we immersed ourselves in that year – something we had hoped to do in 2020, but the pandemic got in the way.

The Cape Malay chicken curry that we published last week was the first recipe of our rejuvenated series, The Dish. This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives is the second dish. Here are a few tips to making this divine Moroccan tagine.

Tips to Making This Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives

This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives is so easy so just a few quick tips. Do try to cook this in a tagine if you can – so, yes, a tagine is both the name of the dish and the glazed clay base and a large conical lid that you cook it in, which is designed to guide the condensation created from cooking the dish back down into the pot, which is what makes the chicken so moist.

You could use a pressure cooker if you like, as it reduces the simmering time, however, that’s nowhere near as lock for chicken as it is, say, for lamb or beef, so our preference is a Dutch oven or flat-bottomed wok, which we use for everything. You just need to make sure it’s a wok with a lid.

Some Moroccan cooks use a whole chicken, but there are just two of us, plus we don’t think chicken breasts work for this as they can still dry out a little, so we like to use chicken thighs and drumsticks.

Preserved lemons are essential as they are umami-rich with an intense yet mellow flavour. Don’t use fresh lemons as they’re too tart. If you can’t find preserved lemons in your nearest market or supermarket, you should be able to get them online. You can also make your own preserved lemons. I add a tablespoon of brine from the jar, as it adds even more depth and intensity to the dish.

We can’t get the heavenly olives that we fell in love with in Morocco here, so we’ve sadly used jarred Spanish olives. At least they’re from the Mediterranean. But do buy the big firm juicy green olives that they use in Morocco if you can.

Ingredients    1x 2x 3x

• 2 tbsp virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
• 2 onions - finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves - crushed
• 6 saffron threads or 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 chicken pieces - thighs and drumsticks
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander - cilantro, chopped
• 2 preserved lemons - quartered, de-seeded
• 1 tbsp preserved lemon brine from the jar
• 12 green olives

Instructions  

• In a tagine pot, a round-bottomed wok or Dutch oven with lid, heat the olive oil, then add the onions and sauté over low heat, stirring constantly until they are translucent, silky, and soft, then add the garlic, saffron (or turmeric) and ginger.
• Add the chicken pieces, positioning them so that they are all lying flat (not layered on top of eachother), then season with salt and pepper, add just enough water to cover the pieces, and put the lid on to allow the chicken to simmer slowly on low heat.
• Check the chicken periodically, turning the pieces over at around 15 minutes, then at 30 minutes or so, remove the lid to check if the chicken is ready – it should be moist, tender and practically falling off the bone.
• Add the preserved lemon quarters and brine, fresh coriander and olives, then simmer for another 10-15 minutes without the lid to further reduce the sauce.
• Serve in the tagine pot or if you used a wok or Dutch oven, transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with more fresh coriander. Serve with Moroccan bread or plain couscous.

Please do let us know in the comments below if you make this Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.

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2 thoughts on “Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives”

Hi Chantal, merci beaucoup! A tagine compliment doesn’t get any better than that!! Thanks for taking the time to drop by and let us know :)

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Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Olives

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Olives –  dinner party star.  This dish has a little bit of history as I’ve been attempting to create the perfect tagine for several years.  (Again, kudos to my favorite restaurant KousKous for killing it each time.)  It’s one of those recipes that you need to trust in the recipe and the method and hope for the best… can’t do a ton of flavor “catch up” at the back end. This method is often frustrating for the more spontaneous (read: haphazard) chef.

Because with the tagine method: It’s all about that braise.

So I’ve probably made at least 10 different tagine recipes.  I have to say none have been as successful as this try.  Typically the issue is related to user error.. i.e. not having correct spices and attempting to wing-it, (also, accidentally purchasing pickled lemon instead of preserved lemon lead to some funky results.)  What I like about this recipe is the spice combination and the addition of preserved lemon and olive at the END of the dish, not the beginning, so the flavors are not overwhelming.  Too much preserved lemon can lead to a overly salty and bitter flavor, which is definitely not appealing.

History of Tagine

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A little history about tagine (also known as tajine): it is a Moroccan cooking vessel typically made out of clay.  It has a shallow bottom bowl and a conical shaped top.  The top allegedly allows for more efficient trapping of heat and moisture to return it to the food.  Originally tagines were used oudoors over coals.  Ovens work just fine.  The types of foods that are cooked in a tagine are typically things that will hold up in a stew- tougher cuts of meats, dense seafood, chicken, root vegetables, etc.  Although there are many recipes that will work very well in a tagine, one of the most classic recipes is Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Green Olive, which is specifically the recipe I’ve been religiously trying to perfect.

The recipe that I adapted is from a Michelin star chef named Mourad Lahlou.  He wrote a cookbook called Mourad: New Moroccan .  While I confess I didn’t purchase his cookbook, I was able to piece together his recipe through some creative googling.

Serve with couscous and my absolute favorite Moroccan side dish/appetizer: Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Harissa .

Chicken Tagine With Preserved Lemon and Olives

• Tagine or Dutch Oven

Ingredients   

• 4 Chicken Legs bone in, skin on
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 large Yellow Onion thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp Ground Coriander
• 2 tsp Ground White Pepper
• 2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp Saffron Threads
• 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric
• 1 1/2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 1/4-1/2 pitted Green Olives crushed
• 1/2 Preserved Lemon (Rind Only) Minced
• 4 tbsp Butter
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

For Garnish

• 2-3 tbsp Cilantro chopped
• 4 Preserved Lemon Rinds

Instructions  

• Adjust oven to fit your tagine (if using). Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Salt and pepper chicken legs on all sides. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high to high heat.
• Sear chicken legs, approximately 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden browned and able to lift easily from the pan. Remove from pan and set aside.
• Reduce heat to medium and add onions. Saute until softened and golden brown.
• Add spices to the onion mixture – coriander, white pepper, ginger, saffron, turmeric, and salt. Stir to incorporate.
• Add onions in the bottom of your tagine, or dutch oven. Arrange chicken pieces amongst the onions. Add chicken stock.
• Place in preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the chicken meat appears to be separating from the bone.
• If using a clay tagine: place tagine onto a separate saute pan to act as a heat diffuser (prevents risk of clack cracking… omit this step if using a dutch oven or iron tagine) and turn heat to medium high. Add minced preserved lemon, crushed olives, and butter. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Taste sauce and add additional salt and pepper, as desired.
• Garnish with quaratered preserved lemons and chopped cilantro.

Did you make this recipe? Head on over to Instagram and tag me @thegourmetgourmand or share on the hashtag #thegourmetgourmand. Happy cooking!

Moroccan lamb kabobs (shashlik), san francisco clam chowder, you may also like, salmon tacos with dill slaw, barbecue ribs on the gas grill, grilled shrimp with sundried tomato gremolata, minestrone verde, cast iron margherita pizza, herb dijon crusted salmon, chicken tikka masala, lamb rib roast with herbed panko crust, pork chops with mustard cream sauce, classic spaghetti and meatballs.

That tagine is a beauty! I bet it makes you happy to cook with such pretty cookware! It looks yummy (except for the cilantro)!

Haha you can definitely skip the cilantro and just use parsley! This is the tagine Dave got me from Williams Sonoma for Christmas. He knows what I like ( aka is a good listener when I make spontaneous comments about “I love this!” regarding cookware around the holidays)

I also really like cooking with a tagine and this recipe looks delicious. We make preserved lemons several times per year so we always have them on hand. The flavor they add to a dish is pretty amazing. The addition of green olives has this recipe calling my name, meaning I’ll have to make it sooner rather than later. Really nice photos, too!

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Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives

Although it takes a little while to prepare, all that fades when you bring the tagine to the table, lift off the conical lid and watch as your family and friends take a deep, satisfied breath..

preparation

Ingredients

• 1 small chicken (1–1.2 kg) 
• 2 tomatoes, 1 chopped, 1 sliced 
• 2 onions, 1 chopped, 1 sliced 
• 2 large potatoes, cut into wedges 
• 150 g pitted green olives 
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped 
• 250 ml (1 cup) water 
• 1 preserved lemon, rind only, rinsed and cut into 6 or 8 wedges
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• ½ preserved lemon, rind only, rinsed and finely sliced 
• 2 onions, chopped 
• ½ small red chilli 
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika 
• 1 tbsp ground cumin 
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander 
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley 
• 2 bay leaves, torn in half 
• ½ tsp saffron threads, soaked in a little water 
• 125 ml (½ cup) olive oil 

Instructions

Cook's notes.

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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Chicken, green olive and preserved lemon tagine

This Morrocan-spiced tagine is cooked in your slow cooker for a tangy, flavour-packed and meltingly tender meal with minimal effort required.

Looking for more slow-cooker chicken dishes?

Ingredients

Chicken with lemon and green olives.

Preserved lemons are available from delicatessens, specialty food shops and large supermarkets. Use the rind only; discard the flesh and rinse the rind well under cold water before using. Accompany with chickpeas and steamed couscous. Not suitable to freeze. Note

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11 October, 2016   / Stavropol was recognized as the most well-organized city in Russia as a result of the All-Russian competition "The most well-organized city (rural settlement) of Russia" held in 2015. The second place was taken by Ufa and Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk took the third place.

History of Stavropol

Foundation of stavropol.

People began to settle in the territory of present-day Stavropol and its environs in ancient times. This is evidenced by more than 20 settlements found by archaeologists here (from the Eneolithic era (4-3 millennium BC) to the Middle Ages).

With the arrival of the Polovtsians (Cumans), a Turkic nomadic people, sedentary life was interrupted. The Nogais and Kalmyks roamed here. In 1556, Astrakhan was taken by Russian troops and the Astrakhan Khanate ceased to exist. This opened the way for Russia to the North Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.

As a result of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, a new border was established from the mouth of the Terek River to Mozdok and further north-west to the fortress of St. Dmitry (Rostov-on-Don) and Azov. The need arose to protect this region on the southern outskirts of the Russian Empire by building a chain of fortresses.

In 1777, the fortress of Stavropol was founded - one of ten fortresses in the Azov-Mozdok defensive line. For the construction of fortresses and service in the garrisons, the Volga and Don Cossacks were relocated to the Caucasus.

The main work on the construction of the fortress was completed in 1778. It was a pentagon surrounded by earthen ramparts and ditches with a total length of 1,698 meters and an area of 10 hectares. In 1779, the fortress was attacked by a 1,500-strong detachment of Caucasian highlanders. The assault was repulsed and the fortress was not damaged. Retired soldiers began to settle near the fortress. They were supplied with weapons, oxen and horses. In 1782, 494 retired soldiers already lived there.

More Historical Facts…

Stavropol in the 19th century

In 1809-1811, the earthen structures were replaced by stone defensive barracks. At the same time, to the east of the fortress, the Stavropol village of the Khopersky Cossack regiment arose, where its headquarters was located. The central part of the village was in the area currently occupied by the municipal market #1 (Nizhny).

Creating the Azov-Mozdok defensive line during the aggravation of the struggle with the Ottoman Empire for the North-Western Caucasus, the Russian government set itself the task of strengthening the borders and maintaining peaceful relations with the Circassians and other mountain peoples. The military administration of the Caucasus sought to establish economic ties with them - to develop the exchange and sale of goods. Stavropol became one of these centers.

Stavropol became a kind of main gateway to the Caucasus. The Great Cherkassky highway passed through the town connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow with the Caucasus. In 1816, the first printing house in the North Caucasus appeared here. In 1847, Caucasian Oblast was transformed into Stavropol Governorate with the center in the town of Stavropol. It began to play an increasingly prominent role in the cultural life of the Caucasus. In 1853, the population of Stavropol was about 17,000 people.

After the uprising of the Decembrists, a lot of its participants were exiled here. In 1837-1841, Stavropol was visited by Mikhail Lermontov, exiled to the Caucasus. Here he met with Dr. N.V. Mayer, who became the prototype for Dr. Werner in Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time”. In 1845, the first Russian theater in the Caucasus was opened in Stavropol.

With the formation of Kuban and Terek Cossack oblasts and the end of the Caucasian War, the military-political and economic importance of Stavropol dropped sharply. This trend was further aggravated by the construction of the Rostov-Vladikavkaz railway, which opened in 1875. Stavropol found itself far away from the railway. However, it still remained one of the centers of the grain trade. Telegraph communication between Moscow and Tehran, London, Bombay was carried out through Stavropol and Tiflis.

Stavropol in the 20th century and beyond

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 27 Orthodox parishes in Stavropol, a Catholic church, a synagogue, a Lutheran church, and a mosque. In 1913, the population of Stavropol was about 62,400 people. In the 1920s-1930s, almost all of them were closed. Only the Assumption Church, built in 1849, was not closed and functioned without interruption.

In 1934, Ordzhonikidze Krai with the center in Pyatigorsk was formed from the huge North Caucasian Krai. In 1935, Stavropol was renamed Voroshilovsk (in honor of Kliment Voroshilov, a prominent Soviet military officer and politician). In 1937, the center of the region was transferred from Pyatigorsk to Voroshilovsk.

According to the 1939 census, the city had 85 thousand residents. On August 3, 1942, during the Second World War, it was captured by the Germans. The city was liberated by the Red Army on January 21, 1943.

In 1943, Ordzhonikidze Krai was renamed into Stavropol Krai, the city of Voroshilovsk - into Stavropol. The rationale was as follows: “the difference in the name of the regional center and the region causes difficulties for institutions and citizens”.

In 1946, an industrial natural gas field was discovered near Lake Sengileevskoye. By the mid-1950s, the construction of the city gas pipeline was completed. In 1951, Stavropol was awarded the first place among the cities of Russia for the best landscaping. This success was repeated in 1952 and 1954. In the same years, the Central City Park repeatedly won the title of “The Best Park in Russia”. In 1956, there were 123,000 residents in Stavropol.

The 1960s-1970s saw the peak of industrial construction in Stavropol. During this period, dozens of enterprises of mechanical engineering, light, chemical, construction, food, processing, and other industries were commissioned, reconstructed and updated. In 1989, the population of Stavropol was about 318,000 people.

In 2014 and 2016, Stavropol took first place and was recognized as the most comfortable city in Russia.

Architecture of Stavropol

Old building in Stavropol

Author: Yuri Syuganov

Stavropol architecture

Author: Jason Ramsey

On the street in Stavropol

Stavropol - Features

The name “Stavropol” reflects the practice of assigning pseudo-Greek names to new settlements, which was widespread in the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century. Thus, Stavropol literally means “the city of the cross”. The reason for choosing this name is a matter of debate.

According to one version, it arose because the fortress in the plan had the shape of an elongated polygon, the basis of which was two intersecting axes resembling a cross. According to another version, during the laying of the foundation of the fortress, the builders dug out a large stone cross. According to the third version, when determining the places for the construction of the fortresses of the Azov-Mozdok defensive line, the Stavropol fortress was marked on the map not with a dot, like all other fortresses, but with a cross.

Stavropol stands on the hills in the central part of the Ciscaucasia on the Stavropol Upland, about 1,400 km south of Moscow, at the intersection of the Rostov - Stavropol and Astrakhan - Elista - Nevinnomyssk - Cherkessk highways. One of the streets of the city is named “The 45th parallel” indicating its exact latitudinal position. Thus, Stavropol is equidistant from the North Pole and from the equator.

It is located on the watershed of the Azov and Caspian Seas, in the middle between them. This location initially gave Stavropol an important geopolitical significance, which is quite accurately reflected in the aphorism “Stavropol - the gates of the Caucasus”.

The territory of Stavropol is stretched from the southwest to the northeast by 24 km and from the south to the north by 16 km. The peculiarity of the city is that the forests are adjacent to the city buildings. Stavropol is often called one of the greenest cities in Russia.

Stavropol is a city in the south of Russia, which determines its climatic features, especially the amount of solar heat. The tropical marine air from the Mediterranean Sea brings stifling, humid weather in summer, thaws in winter. The average temperature in January is minus 2.3 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 22.3 degrees Celsius. Stavropol is known for frequent strong winds with a speed of 20-25 m/s. The windiest months are February and March.

The federal highways R216 Stavropol - Elista - Astrakhan and R269 Stavropol - Bataysk pass through Stavropol. The airport of Stavropol offers regular flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi. City transport is represented by buses, minibuses, trolleybuses, taxis. In summer, you can ride a bike around the city. The most popular rental point is located in Pobedy (Victory) Park.

The unique souvenirs for Stavropol include the healing herbal balsam “Strizhament” made from herbs and berries and infused with strong alcohol. Stavropol honey will be another tasty purchase. Gift soap made from Tambukan therapeutic mud and decorated with reliefs depicting Stavropol sights is also an excellent souvenir. Local hand-painted porcelain souvenirs with beautiful stucco decoration will also serve as a good memory of this city.

Main Attractions of Stavropol

Fortress Mountain - the historical center of Stavropol from where you can view most of the city from several observation decks. In the past, the Stavropol Fortress stood here. Here you can see one of the most recognizable symbols of Stavropol - the seven-meter monument to the Red Guard Soldier erected in the 1970s. Another attraction is a large light and music fountain with a diameter of 38 meters, opened in 2018. Sculptures installed along its edges depict 8 federal districts of Russia.

There is also the majestic Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Originally built in 1843-1847, it was destroyed in the 1930s. In 2004-2012, the church was restored and became the tallest building in the Stavropol region (76 meters). It is often windy on Fortress Mountain, so dress warmly. Suvorova Street, 2.

Alexandrovskaya Square - one of the central and busiest Stavropol squares, named in honor of Emperor Alexander II in the middle of the 19th century. The second name of this place is Angel Square due to the fact that a monument to the Guardian Angel of Stavropol was erected here by the 225th anniversary of the city. There are restaurants, offices, and shops in the surrounding area.

Stavropol State Museum-Reserve - the oldest museum in the North Caucasus. The museum collection is housed in the building of the former trading rows of the 19th century. More than 300 thousand items are stored and exhibited in the funds and expositions of this museum. The main exposition is represented by 3 halls: nature, archeology, and ethnography. Dzerzhinskogo Street, 135.

Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Arts - one of the most interesting places in the city. The largest collection of art treasures in the North Caucasus is kept here. The museum has an impressive variety of monuments of ancient, Western European, Eastern, and Russian art. The department of decorative and applied arts has folk art and modern art objects. By visiting this unique place, you can learn a lot about the development of culture in the Stavropol region and the world from the 5th century BC to the 1990s. Dzerzhinskogo Street, 115-119.

Picture Gallery of P. M. Grechishkin - an art gallery located in the building of a former mosque in the central part of Stavropol. Its collection consists mainly of the works of the painter P. M. Grechishkin. In 1987, after the end of his personal exhibition, he donated more than 160 of his pictures to the city of Stavropol. The gallery also exhibits paintings by other artists - about 500 exhibits in total. Among them there are interesting works by young Stavropol artists. Mikhaila Morozova Street, 12.

Art Gallery “Parshin” - a private museum of contemporary art. Exhibitions of contemporary artists are held here, the staff conduct master classes and performances. The design of the gallery is a combination of Art Nouveau and interior elements imitating the old ones. General Ermolov Boulevard, 1.

St. Andrew’s Cathedral (1897) - a majestic church built in the Russian-Byzantine style with a pronounced central dome and a richly decorated facade. Dzerzhinskogo Street, 157.

Tiflis Gate - a triumphal arch erected in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino (the key battle of the French invasion of Russia of 1812). The gate was located at the beginning of the Tiflis tract, from where carriages under the protection of the Cossacks departed in the direction of Vladikavkaz in the 19th century. In the 1930s, the monument was destroyed. In 1998, it was restored in its original appearance. Karla Marksa Avenue, 13.

Pobedy (Victory) Park - the main park of Stavropol with rides, cafes, and sports grounds typical for such a place. You can also find an equestrian club and a water park here. The park is quite crowded on weekends and on holidays. Shpakovskaya Street, 111.

Central Park of Stavropol . Its history began in the 19th century, when the mansion of General A. A. Velyaminov stood here, surrounded by a picturesque garden. Already at that time, the park had decorative flower beds, artificial ponds, benches, an orchestra platform, and a gazebo with a balcony. In Soviet times, it was repeatedly awarded the title of “The Best Park of the USSR”.

Cold Springs - a group of springs gushing out from under a layer of limestone, at an altitude of 620 meters above sea level in the Taman forest. You can get here from Dzerzhinsky Street or by walking a little down from the memorial “Cold Spring” on Lenina Street. There are a lot of pools built at different levels here, so that the water flows smoothly from one to another. The pools themselves have steps for easy descent.

In summer, people come to this dense cool forest with springs for picnics. The bravest ones plunge into cool water, the temperature of which always remains unchanged, about +10 degrees Celsius.

“German Bridges” - the remains of viaducts and bridges in the vicinity of Stavropol built at the beginning of the 20th century as parts of the Armavir-Tuapse railway, which was partially destroyed during the Russian Civil War. This name was given due to the fact that engineers from Europe, in particular from Germany, took part in the construction. Some of the bridges are still in service today.

Stavropol city of Russia photos

Pictures of stavropol.

Residential buildings in Stavropol

Author: Vadim Alian

The Guardian Angel of Stavropol

Author: Nikolay Tyumenev

Scientific library named after M. Yu. Lermontov in Stavropol

Author: Keren Fleshler

Places of interest in Stavropol

Stavropol City Council

Author: Alexander Topchiev

Stavropol Railway Station

Author: Evgeniy Kuriy

Memorial Fire of Eternal Glory in Stavropol

Sights of Stavropol

Cathedral of St. Andrew in Stavropol

Author: Maxim Kirsanov

Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Stavropol

Lenin Square in Stavropol

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