Novosibirsk Oblast.

History

For a long time these lands answered to the authorities in Tomsk, and it was the Trans-Siberian Railway that changed everything. In 1893 a settlement sprang up by the future bridge over the Ob; in 1895 it was named Novonikolayevsk, after Saint Nicholas and Tsar Nicholas II, and in 1926 it became Novosibirsk. The oblast itself was created on 28 September 1937, when the West Siberian Krai was divided. In 1941–1942 more than fifty large factories were moved here from western Russia, and the region took in over 140,000 refugees. In 1957 work began on Akademgorodok outside the city, while a dam on the Ob created a reservoir that flooded the historic centre of Berdsk.

Culture & traditions

The region's leading stage is the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, which opened in 1945. The city also has a philharmonic, many theatres and museums, and the neo-Byzantine Alexander Nevsky Cathedral recalls pre-revolutionary Novonikolayevsk. Akademgorodok, founded in 1957, brings together the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences and more than 35 research institutes, and gives the area a distinctly intellectual air. Most residents are Russian, but Tatars, Germans and people from Central Asia live here too.

Nature

From south to north the steppe gives way to birch groves, forest and marshland. The Novosibirsk Reservoir, built in 1950–1957, stretches for 200 kilometres, and locals call it the Ob Sea. Lake Chany in the Baraba steppe covers about 1,700 square kilometres yet averages only two metres deep, and holds some seventy islands. Since 1994 it has been a Ramsar wetland, valued as a key stopover for Siberia's migratory birds.

Sport

Novosibirsk has strong team-sport traditions: it is home to the ice hockey club Sibir, the bandy club Sibselmash, the volleyball club Lokomotiv and the football club FC Novosibirsk. Local pride rests on Greco-Roman wrestler Aleksandr Karelin, a twelve-time world champion. In summer the Ob Sea fills with yachts and boats.

Food & drink

The cooking is broadly Siberian, and pelmeni are widely seen as Siberia's gift to Russian cuisine: they were traditionally frozen outdoors in winter and carried into the taiga. Lake Chany has long been known for its fish, including pike, perch, crucian carp and common carp, so river and lake fish feature prominently.

Practical information

The main gateway is Tolmachevo Airport, the busiest in Siberia, and Novosibirsk is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Local time is four hours ahead of Moscow (UTC+7). The climate is sharply continental, averaging about −19 °C in January and +19 °C in July. Summer is the easiest time to come, when the Ob Sea beaches are open, though the city's theatres and museums work all year.

What to see

• Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre — the city's grand stage, opened in 1945
• Akademgorodok — a research town of dozens of institutes by the Ob Sea
• Ob Sea — a 200-kilometre reservoir with beaches and yachts
• Lake Chany — a vast, shallow lake and a haven for migratory birds
• Novosibirsk Zoo — over 11,000 animals of more than 730 species
• Alexander Nevsky Cathedral — a neo-Byzantine church from old Novonikolayevsk

Cities on the map

• Novosibirsk 1,637,266