Yakutsk.

History

In 1632 a party led by Pyotr Beketov, a Cossack officer from Yeniseysk, built the Lensky fort on the Lena. The fort withstood a siege in 1634 and in 1642–1643 was moved to its present site in the Tuymaada valley. Yakutsk became a town in 1708. It served as the base for opening up northeastern Siberia and long remained the main centre of the vast region.

Culture & traditions

The city has the Pushkin Russian Drama Theatre, the Oyunsky Sakha Theatre, a young people's theatre and the Sivtsev Opera and Ballet Theatre. Besides the fine arts and local history museums, there are museums devoted to the khomus, the jaw harp, and to permafrost. On the last weekend of June the city celebrates Ysyakh, a summer festival of nature's renewal with rituals, dancing and traditional music. The local film industry is nicknamed "Sakhawood", and the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University draws students from across the region.

Food & drink

Yakut cuisine grew out of the northern climate and herding life. Its best-known dish is stroganina, thin shavings of frozen fish, sometimes foal meat or liver. Other favourites are indigirka, cubes of frozen fish with onion, salt and pepper, khaan blood sausage and kierchekh, a dessert of cream and berries. The traditional drink is kumis, fermented mare's milk.

Practical information

Flights arrive at Platon Oyunsky Yakutsk International Airport. There is no permanent bridge over the Lena: a ferry runs in summer and an ice road in winter, and since 2011 the railway has reached Nizhny Bestyakh on the opposite bank. The Kolyma Highway heads east. Local time is Moscow plus 6 hours. January averages about −37 °C and July about +20 °C, and many buildings stand on piles because of the permafrost; summer is the easiest season, ideally for Ysyakh in late June.

What to see

• Lena Pillars Nature Park — cliffs along the Lena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Permafrost Kingdom — a visitor complex carved into frozen ground.
• Khomus Museum — a collection of jaw harps, one of very few of its kind.
• Ysyakh — a late-June summer festival of rituals, dancing and horse racing.
• Oyunsky Sakha Theatre — performances in the Sakha language.