Blagoveshchensk is a Russian metropolis on the Amur River and is the administrative center of the oblast of the same name. The city is located in a region inhabited for centuries by local tribes and which was part of the Mongol-Chinese area. In 1858, the area became Russian with the Treaty of Aigun, which established the border between Qing China and Russia to follow the Amur River along this stretch. The Amur still forms the border between Russia and China, and therefore China is on the opposite side of the river from today’s Blagoveshchensk. A bridge has also been built over the river, which opened to traffic in 2022.

However, the history of modern Blagoveshchensk began as early as 1856, when Russia established a military base here, and in 1858 Tsar Alexander II approved the foundation of the city, which was to be the administrative seat of the Amur region. The town grew to 8,000 inhabitants in 1877, and Blagoveshchensk grew as a port and trading town due to, among other things, the location of Chinese Heihe on the southern bank of the Amur and gold discoveries in the early 1900s.

In the year 1900, Blagoveshchensk was attacked by China during the Boxer Rebellion, but the city remained Russian and the Chinese were deported. During the Russian Civil War, Japanese troops occupied Blagoveshchensk, which became part of the Soviet Union with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Today, Blagoveshchensk is a large city with several attractions, and it is a city whose center opens to the Amur River and thus to the view of the Chinese Heihe. One can start a walk at the river promenade and walk north to Lenin Square/Площадь Ленина, where the regional government building is the dominant structure. From here the city’s main streets branch out in the network of perpendicular streets that follow Blagoveshchensk’s early town plan.

From the square, you can follow Leningaden to the west, where several of the city’s sights are located. For example, you can visit Amur Oblast’s regional museum, Амурский областной краеведческий музей, which tells the history of the region. The museum was established by the city government in Blagoveshchensk in 1891, and today you can see varied collections with, among other things, different costumes, dinosaur bones and the well-known Ust-Njukzhinskij meteorite.

Close to the museum stands one of Blagoveshchensk’s landmarks in the form of the Triumphal Arch/Триумфальная арка. The Triumphal Arch is a Russian-style monument that was built in honor of the visit to the city by the Russian heir to the throne on 4-5 June 1891. However, the great arch was destroyed during the Soviet era, and the current arch is a reconstruction from 2003-2005. The Crown Prince was on a tour of eastern Russia in connection with the following construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. From the triumphal arch you can enter the Victory Square/Площадь Победы, which was built as a memorial to the victims of the Second World War, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Further west along Lenin Street you can go to the theater on the city’s leading stage, Amurskij Oblastnoj Teatr Dramy/Амурский областной театр драмы. In this part of the city is the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. The cathedral is the main Russian Orthodox church in Blagoveshchensk. It was built from 1997 until its completion in 2003. Next to the cathedral you can see the older wooden church, Saint Nicholas Church/Свято-Никольская церковь.