Magadan.

History

A workers' settlement appeared in 1929 as a base for developing Kolyma's mineral wealth, and Magadan became a town on 14 July 1939. In Stalin's time it housed the headquarters of Dalstroy, the trust that mined gold with prisoner labour, and the town was a major transit point of the camp system. In 1996 Ernst Neizvestny's Mask of Sorrow was unveiled on a hill above the city in memory of the victims of the Kolyma camps. Magadan lost about a third of its population in the 1990s, but numbers stabilised in the 2000s.

Culture & traditions

The 15-metre Mask of Sorrow shows a face with small masks falling like tears from its left eye, and inside is a replica of a Stalin-era prison cell. The city has a regional museum, a geological museum, a theatre and the Gornyak cinema. Magadan is linked with the lives of the singer Vadim Kozin and the actor Georgy Zhzhonov, who performed on the local stage after 1945. The cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and the artist Nikolai Getman were born here. Institutes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Academy of Sciences work in the city.

Sport

The largest indoor venue is the Magadan Palace of Sports. The city has produced well-known athletes: Olympic cross-country skiing champion Yelena Välbe, European amateur boxing champion Viktor Rybakov and ski jumper Dmitry Ipatov were all born here. Nearby hills such as Marchekan are popular with hikers.

Food & drink

Fishing is one of the pillars of the local economy, so fish and the bounty of the Sea of Okhotsk take pride of place on Magadan tables.

Practical information

Sokol International Airport lies 50 km north of the centre. The R504 Kolyma federal highway arrives from Yakutia, and the port of Nagaevo, the largest in Russia's North-East, works year-round with icebreaker help in winter. Local time is Moscow plus 8 hours. The climate is subarctic and maritime: winter is long but tempered by the sea, while summer is short and cool, with white nights, and is the best time to visit.

What to see

• Mask of Sorrow — Ernst Neizvestny's memorial to the victims of the Kolyma camps
• Nagaev Bay — sea views and the North-East's main port
• Kamenny Venets (Stone Crown) — striking rocks on the coast
• Holy Trinity Cathedral — a large Orthodox cathedral completed in 2008
• Marchekan hill — walks with views of the city and the sea