Arkhangelsk

Rent a car - Sights

 

Mini-hotels, hotels - Short-term rent - Health-and tourist centres - Country rest

City (pop., 2002: 355,500), northwestern Russia.

 

Located near the mouth of Northern Dvina River, it has a large harbour kept open in winter by icebreakers. The area was settled by Norsemen in the 10th century AD. In 1553 it was visited by the English who were looking for the Northeast Passage.

 

Founded in 1584 as a monastery of Michael the archangel, it became a trading station of the Muscovy Co. It was opened to European trade by Tsar Boris Godunov and flourished as the sole Russian seaport until St. Petersburg was built in 1703. Arkhangelsk was the scene of British, French, and U.S. support of the northern Russian government against the Bolsheviks in 1918 - 20. During World War II it received convoys of lend-lease goods from Britain and the U.S. (1941 - 45). It is a major timber-exporting port and has extensive shipbuilding facilities.

Architecture and Monuments

 

Mikhail Lomonosov came from a Pomor village near Kholmogory. A monument to him was installed to a design by Ivan Martos in 1829. A monument to Peter I was designed by Mark Antokolsky in 1872 and installed in 1914.

A maritime school, technical university, and a regional museum are located in the city. After its historical churches were destroyed during Stalin's rule, the city's main extant landmarks are the fort-like Merchant Yards (1668-84) and the New Dvina Fortress (1701-05). The Assumption Church on the Dvina embankment (1742-44) was rebuilt in 2004