Kurgan Oblast.

History

Russian settlements appeared here in the 17th century. In 1644 the monk Dalmat founded the Dormition Monastery, and by the early 18th century the settlement around it had become one of the first centres of Orthodoxy and literacy in the Trans-Urals. Kurgan grew out of Tsaryovo Gorodishche, a frontier fort built in 1659–1662 by Timofey Nevezhin, a peasant from Tyumen; it became a town and took its present name in 1782. Shadrinsk, founded in 1662, was known for one of the largest fairs in the Urals. The oblast itself was formed in 1943.

Culture & traditions

Kurgan is known for the Ilizarov Centre: Gavriil Ilizarov, the doctor who invented the apparatus named after him, worked here. The region gave Russia the sculptor Ivan Shadr, the painter Fyodor Bronnikov and the poet Aleksey Merzlyakov. Natives also include the singers and producers Maxim Fadeev, Yulia Savicheva and Elena Temnikova. Shadrinsk is home to a pedagogical university.

Nature

The Iset River flows through the oblast, with Shadrinsk on its banks. Lakes Medvezhye and Filatovo lie here. The climate is sharply continental: winters are long and cold, summers warm with frequent droughts, and about 400 mm of precipitation falls a year.

Sport

Kurgan Oblast is the birthplace of several chess grandmasters, including Yuri Balashov, Oleg Bogomolov and Sergei Rublevsky. Weightlifter Alla Vazhenina, biathlete Yana Romanova, fencer Larisa Korobeynikova and aerobatic pilot Svetlana Kapanina also come from here. So does footballer Dmitri Loskov.

Food & drink

The Trans-Urals is a land of milk and grain, with many mills, creameries and meat-packing plants; Shadrinsk has a milk canning plant. In the 19th century Dalmatovo was famous for its cucumbers and hops.

Practical information

Kurgan is on the Trans-Siberian Railway between Yekaterinburg and Omsk and has its own airport. Local time is Moscow plus two hours. The climate is sharply continental, averaging −18°C in January and about +19°C in July. Summer and early autumn are the most comfortable times to visit.

What to see

• Dalmatovo Dormition Monastery — founded in 1644, an early centre of Orthodoxy in the Trans-Urals
• Shadrinsk — an old fair town on the Iset River
• Kurgan — a city that grew out of the frontier fort of Tsaryovo Gorodishche
• Ilizarov Centre in Kurgan — home of the Ilizarov apparatus

Cities on the map

• Kurgan 305,505