Bryansk Oblast.

History

The area has been settled for a very long time: at Eliseevichi archaeologists found a Palaeolithic Venus figurine about 14,000 years old and some of the earliest known dog remains. Local historians and archaeologists date Bryansk to 985, and the chronicles mention it in 1146. In the Middle Ages the town belonged to the Principality of Chernigov, and after the Battle of Vedrosha in 1503 it passed to Moscow and became its south-western outpost. During the Second World War about 60,000 partisans fought in the Bryansk forests. The present oblast was created in July 1944.

Culture & traditions

The poet Fyodor Tyutchev was born at Ovstug near Bryansk in 1803; cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev and sculptor Naum Gabo also came from the region. Bryansk has the Svensky Monastery, once host to the Svenskaya Fair, among the largest in European Russia, and the old fortress site on Pokrovskaya Hill. Trubchevsk is known for its archaeological sites and Trinity Cathedral, while Klintsy was a centre of the Old Believers and of textile making. The region has seventeen museums.

Nature

Winters are fairly mild, averaging −7 to −9°C in January. Coniferous, mixed and broadleaf forests cover about a quarter of the land. The Bryansky Les Nature Reserve on the Nerussa River is part of the Nerussa-Desna Woodland biosphere reserve, with pine and pine-oak forests, and European bison were reintroduced there in 2011. All ten European woodpecker species are recorded in the reserve.

Sport

The region's best-known football club is Dynamo Bryansk. Chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi comes from Bryansk.

Food & drink

Bryansk Oblast is one of Russia's leading potato-growing regions, and potatoes anchor the home table. Local fields are also known for high sunflower yields.

Practical information

Bryansk is 379 km south-west of Moscow. Bryansk International Airport is 14 km from the city, the railway arrived in 1868, and the M3 highway crosses the region. The region runs on Moscow time. The climate is moderately continental, with July averages of +18 to +20°C and plenty of winter snow. Late spring, summer and early autumn are best for the forests and the reserve.

What to see

• Bryansky Les Reserve — old pine-oak forest, bison and every European woodpecker species
• Svensky Monastery — a monastery once famous for its great fair
• Pokrovskaya Hill in Bryansk — the site of the original fortress above the Desna
• Ovstug — the birthplace of Fyodor Tyutchev
• Trubchevsk — the Trinity Cathedral and archaeological sites of an old town

Cities on the map

• Bryansk 375,669