Tomsk is a large Russian city located on the river Tom. The city was founded as a fortress in 1604, making it one of Siberia’s oldest cities. Tsar Boris Godunov sent 200 Cossacks to establish a fort at Tom, and it was to be part of the Tartar Duke Toian’s defense against the Kyrgyz. A city grew up at the fortress, and in time an army and trade route was established through Siberia, which also crossed Tomsk. With the location, caravans from China came to the city, among other things, and the growth meant that the city was expanded in the 18th century, from which the Cathedral of the Revelation and the Church of the Resurrection originate.

In 1804, the Russian government established the Tomsk Governorate with Tomsk as its capital. The territory of the governorate covered, among other things, today’s Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk and some of eastern Kazakhstan, and thereby Tomsk became an important administrative city that grew rapidly. Gold was also found in the area in 1830, and it stimulated further growth. Tomsk also became an important educational center in the 19th century, with Tomsk State University established in 1880 and the city’s technical university in 1896.

When the Trans-Siberian Railway was built in the 1890s, Tomsk was bypassed, and part of the subsequent growth went instead to Novosibirsk, which became a station town on the railway. With the Russian revolution and civil war, Tomsk became part of the Soviet Union, and during World War II, many factories were moved to Tomsk from the western part of the union, which Germany had invaded. After the war, Tomsk became a so-called closed city with limited access, which was due to special production such as the Soviet Union’s first large-scale nuclear power plant, which was built northwest of the city.

Today, Tomsk is a big city with a lot of sights, and you can go for nice walks in the city. Lenin Square is a good place to start, and in the middle of the square’s roundabout you can see a monument to the head of state Lenin. At the square you can also see the Holy Trinity Cathedral, which in its first version was built of wood in 1630. The current baroque church was built from 1777 with dedication in 1784. The church entered Tomsk’s history in 1804, when it was here, Tomsk- the government was announced. The church was closed in 1930 and then used as workshops and factories, before the building again passed to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1995.

From Lenin Square you can take a walk to the northeast, where you can see the beautiful Church of the Resurrection. The church was built from 1789 in Siberian Baroque with inspiration from Bartolomeo Rastrelli’s famous buildings in not least Saint Petersburg. The church is arranged with a lower church, which was consecrated in 1803, and an upper church, which was put into use four years later. If you go west instead, you come to the river Tom and the promenades along the wide river. In addition to the view of the water, along the promenade you can see the city’s river station and a statue of the writer Anton Chekhov, erected in 2004.

Tomsk is particularly known for its many wooden houses, many of which are beautifully decorated. For many years, Tomsk was the main city for the development of western Siberia, and with the forested surroundings, people built in wood from Tomsk’s foundation in 1604 and for several centuries. Over the years, a special architectural style was developed with the so-called Tomsk embroidery, which is decorative woodcarving work on the houses.

You can see the houses in many places in the city, and the streets Krasnoarmeskaya, Gagarina, Tatarskaja and Alekseya Belentsa are some of the best examples with their many wooden houses. Two of the most well-known houses are G.M. Golovanov’s Merchant’s House and the House with Firebirds, both located on Krasnoarmeskaya ulitsa.