SibTourGuide.com - The history of Krasnoyarsk

Information guide

The Yenisey river

The Yenisey river is formed by the confluence of the Big and the Small Yenisei in the Tuva Republic. The Yenisei is 3 487 kilometers long. The river basin area is 2 580 000 square meters. This is the fullest river in Russia, the average water outlay reaches 19 800 cubic meters per second. On its way to the ocean the Siberian river takes more than 500 big tributaries. Almost 625 cubic kilometers of fresh water are brought annually into the Arctic Ocean. Exactly here on the Yenisei the most powerful hydroelectric power stations in Eurasia were built: the Sayano-Shushenskaya and the Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station. The total capacity of hydropower stations in the Territory is 44.8 billion kwt/hours.

Some facts about Krasnoyarsk and the region.

- Krasnoyarsk region is the second largest among the 89 regions of Russia;
- The total area is 2.34 million square kilometers (903,000 miles) or 13.6 percent of the entire territory of Russia;
- The population of the region is more then 3 million people or about two percent of the population of Russia;
- The average population density is about one inhabitany per 35 square kilometers;
- First snow covers the land in the end of October and melts by the end of April;
- Average temperature in summer is 18.5C (65.3F);
- Average temperature in winter is minus 18C (-0.4F);
- Coldest temperature in winter is about -49F;
- Hottest temperature in summer is up to 95F;
- The capital and largest city is Krasnoyarsk with population about 950 thousands people;
- Other large cities: Norilsk, Yenisejsk, Achinsk, Igarka, Dudinka, Kansk, Zelenogorsk, Zheleznogorsk.

The History of Krasnoyarsk

Russian czars started developing the boundless space of the “wild east” lying beyond the Urals (mountains between European and Asian parts of Russia) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Constant threat of attack to Russian lands in near-Yenisey Siberia was the initial reason for the appearance of Krasnoyarsk.

The initiative of building a fort south of the town of Yeniseisk belonged to voevode (the military governor of the province) Yakov Khripunov. In 1628, he managed to send a troop of Cossacks upstream along the Yenisey to the “Tyulkin land”. The unit was under the command of Moscow’s nobleman named Andrey Dubenski.

With assistance of local arin and kacha tribes, they built a main part of the fort in two months by August 1628. By the beginning of winter, the fort was finally completed. The fort became an outpost for almost one hundred years. In those days, it was a wooden castle surrounded by a ditch, a wall and five towers. Every year, Krasnoyarsk was under attack from local tribes. Sometimes cossacks had to withstand a siege for months, but to this date an enemy has never conquered the town.

In the beginning, the fort was named Novo Kachinski (New Kacha’s), Krasnyi (or Red) and then, from the end of the seventeenth century, it was named Krasnoyarsk. It received town status in 1690, when Siberia was finally united with Russia. In those days, there were only about 2,500 people living in Krasnoyarsk, and mostly men. But the picture totally changed during the next 20 years. According to a census dating from 1713, the number of males and females was almost the same. Krasnoyarsk, the former military settlement, was becoming a town.

A new stage of development started in 1822 when the Yenisey’s gubernia (or province) was created. Being in a most profitable location, the city was chosen to be an administrative center. With the appearance of new State institutions and government offices, life in Krasnoyarsk changed dramatically. A telegraph station, an elementary school, male and female gymnasiums, a teacher’s seminary and a community college opened. Krasnoyarsk became an attractive destination for business people, laborers and gold miners. The first stone buildings were built at the same time. The city park was established as well. The first newspaper was published. The building of the Trans Siberian Railroad further increased the development of the city. On December 6th of 1895 the first train arrived in Krasnoyarsk. The provincial mercantile/governmental outpost image of Krasnoyarsk was changing into the image of a big trade and industrial center.

The first socialistic industry in Krasnoyarsk after the Revolution of 1917 was the factory “Spartak”, established in 1922. In addition, former railroad repair shops were reconstructed into a huge train engine repair plant at that time.

Since 1934, Krasnoyarsk has been the administrative center of the Krasnoyarski krai with its increasing level of development of different industries. At the beginning of 1941, there were 38,824 people employed in different branches of industries. During WWII, the number of industries in Krasnoyarsk had grown sevenfold compared to pre-WWII times. The city outgrew the city of Irkutsk, becoming the main industrial center of Eastern Siberia.

After WWII, a principal new stage in the development of the city came with the opening of hydroelectric plants along such rivers as the Angara and the Yenisey. There arrived energy-dependent industries such as electricity production, chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, black and non-ferrous metallurgy, and pulp and paper processing.

Krasnoyarsk also became a big center for scientific research as well as high and middle levels of education. Nowadays there are 47 research and development institutes, 12 state higher educational institutions, 35 junior technical colleges, and 138 public schools. Among these institutions is the branch of Russian Academy of Science.

“Big” culture and arts presentations in the city’s theaters include opera, ballet, drama, musical comedy as well as puppets and the young people's performances. There is also a symphony orchestra, an organ hall, an art gallery, a local lore museum, a museum of V. Surikov, and the world-renowned State Krasnoyarsk Dance Company Academic of Siberia.

Krasnoyarsk is rich in the talents of its inhabitants. This is the motherland of artist Vasiliy Surikov, the famous Russian actor Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, and singer Dmitriy Khvorostovskiy. Krasnoyarsk is also known as the home of world famous athletes such as Dmitriy Mindiashvili, Sergey Lomanov, Ivan Yarygin, Elena Romas’ko and Buvisar and Adam Saitiev’s.


Another statue of Lenin, next to the house where he stayed in Krasnoyarsk when was exiled to Siberia during the tsarists Russia..	"The manacle's way" memorial.

T-34 tank on the Great Patriotic War memorial.	Flowerers on the Great Patriotic War memorial.

Industrial growth of Siberian cities.	Statue of F.Dzerzhinski, the founder of VChK-NKVD-MGB-KGB-FSB.