Omsk

 

Omsk (Russian: Омск) is a city in southwest Siberia in Russia, the administrative center of Omsk Oblast. It is the second-largest city in the Siberian Federal District. The distance from Omsk to Moscow is 2,700 km.

In the Russian Empire, it was the seat of the Governor General of Western Siberia, and later of the Governor General of the Steppes. For a brief period during the Russian Civil War in 1918-1919, it was proclaimed the Capital of Russia, and held the imperial gold reserves.

 

Omsk is the administrative center of Siberian Cossacks, the see of the bishop of Omsk and Tara, and the imam of Siberia.

The city's chief landmark is actually an ensemble of buildings along Lyubinsky prospekt/Lenin Street. This is the former merchant's row, balanced by two chapels and crowned on the hill with a bourse and an opposing drama theater, all dating from late 1800s - early 1900s.

 

The little side streets are lined with stately mansions of former insurance companies, trusts and banks from the same period. Hidden closer to the river confluence are the few surviving practical and somber buildings of Omsk's 1700s fortress.

 

Another area of interest is Nikolsky prospekt/Krasnykh Zor Street, where a line of merchants' wooden houses still stands. The street leads to the Neoclassical cathedral of St Nicholas, which was commissioned by the Cossacks, designed by Vasily Stasov and consecrated in 1840. It contains various relics of the Siberian Cossacks. Various other landmarks are scattered throughout the city.

 

 

The major museums in Omsk are the Omsk Vrubel Art Gallery and the State Historical Museum, located in the former