Archangel or Arkhangelsk is one of the largest cities in northern Russia, and it is the capital of Archangel Oblast. The city’s history dates to the 12th century, when emissaries from Novgorod established a monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael at the mouth of the river Dvina. In 1478 the area came under the Principality of Moscow, and in 1555 Tsar Ivan IV granted trade privileges to English merchants and the contemporary Muscovy Company.

From 1583, a harbor and a castle were established at the old monastery, and the year is considered the foundation of Archangel. However, the name only came about in 1613, and throughout the 17th century the town flourished due to the trade with England. Trading houses, a shipyard and a larger harbor were built in the town, which was further fortified at the beginning of the 18th century.

With the construction of Saint Petersburg, Archangel’s role as the country’s most important port city was returning but decline struck later in the 18th century. The following century again brought growth and new trade with e.g. timber, which became an important commodity for Archangel. In the world wars of the 20th century, the port of Archangel was of great importance for supplies to the Soviet Union.

The center of the city is Ploshad Lenina (площадь Ленина), which is a square where you can see Archangel‘s monument to the Soviet leader Lenin. The monument was unveiled in 1988 and was the last major Soviet-era statue of Lenin erected in the country. Behind Lenin stands the building that houses the Archangel Regional Assembly.

Ploshad Lenina is not far from the banks of the Northern Dvina, which empties into the Dvina Bay north of Archangel. There is a nice promenade along the river, and on its central part you can see the stele and the monument Mys Pur-Navolok (Мыс Пур-Наволок), which was erected in memory of the former fortress, that was established in 1584 by order of Tsar Ivan IV.

Between the river and Ploshad Lenina, you can visit Archangel Regional Museum (Архангельский краеведческий музей), where you can learn more about the history of the city and the region. The museum building is worth noticing, as it was built as a combined trading post and defense facility in the latter half of the 17th century, when more than half of Russia’s foreign trade went through Archangel.

If you walk along the river promenade in a southeasterly direction, you will come to a statue of Peter the Great and the Archangel Drama Theater (Архангельский театр драмы), which in its original version was built in 1929-1931 from building material from the city’s Orthodox Cathedral, which had been torn down. This part of the city also houses the Northern Maritime Museum (Северный морской музей) and the Museum of Artistic Exploration of the Arctic (Музей художестноного освоения Арктики).

You can see several churches in the city as well, where the beautiful Archangel Michael Cathedral (Михаило-Архангельский собор) stands along the Northern Dvina. The cathedral is the Orthodox cathedral of the diocese and was originally built in 1685-1689 but demolished by the Soviet authorities in 1930. The current and beautifully decorated cathedral was consecrated in 2022.

You can also choose to enjoy some strolls in Archangel, where the contrasts between new and old are clear. One of the best places to experience it is on the street Prospect Tyumbarova-Luchinskogo (проспект Чумбарова-Лучинского), located in the city center as an open-air museum. In the pedestrian street are rows of houses from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, which have been moved here to show the northern architecture from that time.