Komsomolsk-on-Amur

Rent a hotel room in Komsomolsk-on-Amur

August, 18 th 1860 became the foundation day of а small village of Permskoye when first Russian settlers came ashore near Lake Mylki . The Russian Far East is really far for the residents of the central Russia . The settlers of 19 th century called it a real region of Russian land. They came there by sea from European parts, having traveled up to 20,000 miles .

Komsomolsk-on-Amur was founded in 1932 as an industrial base for the Soviet defense industry. Its largest plants produced aircraft and ocean-going vessels.

The town was built by members of the Komsomol (Young Communist League), from which it derives its name. It rapidly developed into a major industrial centre, dominated by a large steelworks. With it are associated heavy engineering, machine building, and tinplate making; shipbuilding and ship repairing also are important.

With its population of 270,400 people, it is the third largest city in the Russian Far East after Vladivostok and Khabarovsk .

Komsomolsk-on-Amur is situated on the left bank of the largest river of far eastern Russia 360 km northeast of Khabarovsk . It stretches along the Amur River for more than 30 km . The place where the first settlers went ashore is marked with a huge stone weighing 21 tonnes. The inscription on it says: “First members of the Komsomol, founders of the city, came ashore at this place on May, 10 th , 1932” .

In the centre of the embankment one can see the building of a riverside station which is the biggest on the Amur River . It reminds a sailing ship in shape: one can clearly distinguish а deck, nose, forage, pipe and a gangway.

The riverside station can accept vessels with displacement of up to 6 thousand tonnes. Komsomolsk is a Soviet-era planned city with wide tree-lined boulevards, set against the broad Amur River . Architects planned such a street lay-out in order to weaken the force of southern winds.

The main town street is Pervostroiteley prospect formerly called Krasniy and Amur. It is the widest street of the town – 100 meters wide and 3.5 km long.

The biggest building in town is situated on Pervostroiteley prospect. It is a condominium of 714 flats and is considered to be one of the sightseeings of the town. Five-storey houses, the so-called Stalin houses of post-war Soviet architecture style prevail in the old, central part of the town.

There are two higher educational institutions in Komsomolsk-on-Amur . They are the State Teachers' Training Institute and the State Technical University .

The main places of interest of Komsomolsk-on-Amur are the Drama Theatre, the Museum of Local Lore and the Arts Museum. One can also visit children theater "Zerkalo Teney".

There is a Komsomolsk reserve in the basin of two rivers on Amur shore close to Komsomolsk-on-Amur .

The Komsomolsk natural reserve was founded in 1963. Originally it consisted of two sites — Pivansky and Gursky - of total area more than 32 thousand hectares. In 1970 ies the Pivansky site actually turned into the town's residential suburb, and Gursky site was badly damaged by fire in 1976. In this connection, in 1980 the new territory of Komsomolsk natural reserve was based on 61 thousand hectares of the Gorin River basin .

The wood type of vegetation prevails in the reserve: willow and alder woods on low terraces and islands of the river Gorin, ashen woods grow on high terraces. Other kinds of trees are fur-trees, cedar Korean, oak Mongolian, birches (Manchurian and yellow), David's aspen, ash-tree Manchurian and linden Amur.

Among fauna there can be found brown bear, elk, reindeer and wild boar. Among rare species there is a Far East wood cat, the Himalaya bear, badger, fish eagle owl, black grouse and blue forty. Siberian salmon and hunchback salmon come to the river Gorin for spawning season.