Izhevsk is a large Russian city on the river Ish, and it is the capital of the autonomous republic of Udmurtia. The town’s history began in 1760, when it was founded as a workers’ settlement with an ironworks named Izhevsky Zavod. The location for the ironworks was good because of the proximity to the occurrence of iron ore and the water supply from Izh. The first houses were built on 10 April 1760, and damming of the river was also started to ensure waterpower for the iron production.

In 1774, the town was occupied by rebels, who destroyed the ironworks, which was however rebuilt the following year. Tsar Alexander I decided in 1807 to build a weapons factory out of the Izhevsk ironworks. Experts from Scandinavia and Germany and miners from the Urals were brought in for the work, and construction and production took off.

Many wooden houses sprang up as workers’ housing throughout most of the 19th century, and stone buildings such as the city’s cathedral and arsenal were also built. In the latter part of the 19th century, a steel mill and several private arms factories were established in Izhevsk. With the Soviet Union, Izhevsk became the capital of Udmurtia, and through intensive industrialization the city’s population grew significantly in the 1920s and 1930s.

The city was expanded, and the first trams ran in 1935. During World War II, many factories were evacuated from western Russia, and several were rebuilt in Izhevsk, which from 1948 became home to the production of the AK-47 automatic rifle. Izhevsk became a closed city to foreigners during the Cold War, and in the years 1984-1987 it changed its name to Ustinov before regaining its old name.

Today you can see quite a few sights in Izhevsk. You can start a stroll at Tsentralnaya Ploshad, the city’s central square. Here lies the State Theater and Opera of Udmurtia to the south, and to the east you can see the government building of the republic. If you go from the square to the east, you come behind the government building to a beautiful complex that contains both the presidential palace of Udmurtia and the national museum of the republic, housed in the city’s old arsenal from 1823-1825.

At the museum you can see, among other things, exhibitions about the ethnological history of the area’s various peoples with clothes, household items and other things that reflect daily life, traditions, customs and religion.

You can also go a little south of Tsentralnaya Ploshad, where you can visit the Museum of Small Arms, which depicts the history of one of Izhevsk’s major industries over time, and where the AK-47 is the signature weapon that most people know. Next to the museum is one of the city’s large churches, St. Michael’s Cathedral, which was built in traditional Russian style 1897-1915.

However, the 67-meter-high cathedral did not stand for many years, as it was demolished during the Soviet era in 1937 to be rebuilt in 2004-2007 according to the original drawings. Back at Tsentralnaya Ploshad, one should also go west, where an excellent view of the city’s reservoir, which was created for the first factory after Izhevsk’s founding, awaits. Here you can also see a pillar that is a monument to friendship between people.

Izhevsk’s reservoir is like a large lake, and along it there are some nice promenades. From here you can go south, where you will, among other things, come to the amusement park Gorky Park and the Izhevsk city museum, located in the General’s House, which was built 1854-1857 for the commander of the Izhevsk arms factory. Close to this is the Izhmash Museum, which is a kind of factory exhibition of handguns, other weapons, motorcycles, machine tools, etc.

In the area you can also see the Russian Drama Theater and the Theater of Udmurtia and the neoclassical Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was built 1818-1823 with St. Andeas Cathedral in Kronstadt as inspiration. Originally intended as the main church of the Izhevsk factory, the cathedral served as a church until 1929, and was converted into a cinema during the Soviet era, before the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990.