Amur Oblast.

History

Under the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 the Amur lands went to Qing China, returning to Russia with the Treaty of Aigun in 1858, which set the border along the Amur. Blagoveshchensk grew out of the Ust-Zeysky military post founded in 1856 where the Zeya meets the Amur, and took its name from its Church of the Annunciation. Trade and gold mining shaped the region, which today holds some of the largest gold reserves in the country. The oblast in its present form was established on 20 October 1932.

Culture & traditions

The vast majority of residents are Russian, and about two thirds live in towns: besides Blagoveshchensk, these include Belogorsk, Svobodny and Tynda. Blagoveshchensk is a border city, with China's Heihe directly across the Amur; a road bridge between the two was completed in 2019. In 1858 Alexander II made it the seat of a new province, and in 1891 the town greeted the heir to the throne with bread and salt on a gold tray. Next to the cosmodrome has grown the town of Tsiolkovsky, tied to the space industry.

Nature

The main rivers are the Amur, Zeya, Bureya and Selemdzha, and the Zeya reservoir spreads over about 2,400 square kilometres. Above it, at the eastern end of the Tukuringra range, the Zeya Nature Reserve was set up in 1963; more than 90 percent of it is taiga, cut by over 200 mountain streams with rapids. Forest belts change with height, from oak and birch at the bottom through larch to spruce and fir, with cedar and juniper on the ridges. Red-crowned and white-naped cranes nest in the region.

Sport

Football has a long history in Blagoveshchensk, where the Amur team was founded in 1960. The city's main venue is the Amur Stadium, which holds about 13,000 spectators.

Food & drink

Amur Oblast is Russia's leading soybean producer, accounting for about 28 percent of the national harvest in 2019. Soy fields are a familiar sight across the rural Amur region.

Practical information

Blagoveshchensk is served by Ignatyevo Airport, 20 km northwest of the city, and the region is crossed by the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal–Amur Mainline, with its junction at Tynda. Local time is Moscow plus 6 hours (UTC+9). The climate is continental with monsoon features: winters are frosty, windy and dry (Blagoveshchensk averages about −21.5 °C in January), while summers are warm and rainy. Late spring, summer and early autumn are the best times to visit.

What to see

• Blagoveshchensk riverfront — views across the Amur to China's Heihe
• Vostochny Cosmodrome — the first launch took place on 28 April 2016
• Zeya Nature Reserve — mountain taiga on the Tukuringra range
• Zeya Reservoir — a man-made sea of about 2,400 km² amid the taiga
• Blagoveshchensk–Heihe Bridge — a road crossing over the Amur into China

Cities on the map

• Blagoveshchensk 225,453