Kursk is a Russian metropolis that is the administrative center of Kursk Oblast. Kursk is known to have been mentioned for the first time in 1032, where it was one of several cities in what was then Severia that had been settled by Eastern Slavs from around the year 1000. After that, Kursk was the capital of a smaller principality, and the next major events took place in the 13th century, where the city was destroyed around 1237 during the Mongol invasion. Kursk was later rebuilt. From 1360, the city was subject to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and that time lasted until 1508, when Kursk became part of Russia.

The end of the 16th century was a kind of new beginning for Kursk, as a new fort was built here in 1596. With the fort, a garrison of 1,300 soldiers was established in the strategically important city, which was repeatedly attacked not least by Lithuania in 17th century. However, the garrison held out each time, and the fort at Kursk was not taken. During the same period, Kursk grew with its location on the road between Moscow and Kiev as well as on the road from the capital to the Crimea. The town became a thriving trading town, where an annual market was held. Kursk grew, and in 1779 it obtained various privileges and in the same year became the capital of a newly established region.

Kursk’s cityscape changed significantly. In 1778, two beautiful baroque churches were completed, and schools and a seminary opened there in the following decades. Meanwhile, parts of Kursk had been destroyed by a fire in 1781, which was used to establish a new town plan with markets in Red Square, which was the center of the city. Throughout the 19th century, Kursk grew with the industrialization of the time, and several industries characterized the city until the beginning of the 20th century. The industries created many jobs in factories in Kursk, and the city’s workers went on strike several times, for example during the revolution in 1905.

After 1917, Kursk became part of the newly formed Soviet Union, and the city was further industrialized with the area’s deposits of iron. Therefore, Kursk was made an important railway junction in southwestern Russia. The population increased, the city expanded, and in 1935 the first tram ran through the streets of Kursk. In the following years, German troops occupied Kursk from November 1941 to February 1943, and after the Soviet liberation of the city, Germany, with huge mutual losses, tried to recapture the area during the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. After the war, the city was rebuilt, and the life of the city began again. The population increased from approximately 120,000 before World War II to almost 450,000 at the end of the 20th century.

Today, Kursk is a city with many sights that can be seen on walks in the Russian metropolis. You can start at Krasnaya Ploshad, which is the central square. Until the fire in 1781, there was a church and more than 50 dwellings in ​​the current square. The fire turned the area into a wasteland, on which Krasnaya Ploshad arose in the town plan from 1782. Now there is a statue of the head of state Lenin, which was originally unveiled in 1933, and which, after the destruction by the Germans, was rededicated in 1956. Lenin stands in front of the classicist building Dom Sovetov, which today is the seat of the regional government in Kursk. Dom Sovetov was built from 1939, and after destruction during World War II, it was opened in 1947. To the west of the square is the city’s main post office from 1960, and to the north is the Tsentralnaya Hotel.

From Krasnaya Ploshad you can go south, where the May Park is located. At the entrance to the park stands a statue of Alexander Nevsky, and south of it stands the impressive Cathedral of the Sign of the Mother of God. The cathedral was built 1816-1826 in classicism in honor of the Russian victory in the Napoleonic wars at the Convent of the Sign. During the Soviet era, the large building was closed in 1924 and used as the October cinema from 1937, but it again became part of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992. The dominant building element of the cathedral is the 48-meter-high dome, which has a diameter 20 meters. Under the dome you can visit a beautiful church. To the southeast of the cathedral, you can see the beautiful Church of the Resurrection, which was built in an eclectic style in 1875. The church replaced an earlier church on the site, and it was used as a factory warehouse for the company Elektroapparat, which transferred the building to the church in 2003.

Kursk is home to the Trinity Monastery as well, established under Tsar Boris Godunov around the year 1600. During the so-called Troubled Times in Russia, Lithuanian troops burned down the monastery in 1612, but the site was rebuilt. The current monastery church dates from the 1740s. A few streets north of the monastery is the city’s Our Lady of Kazan and Sergius Cathedral, a beautiful baroque church that was built 1752-1778. The architecture is a magnificent example from the baroque of the time, which in this style was most frequent in the capital Saint Petersburg and in imperial buildings. The interior of the church, like the exterior, is worth seeing, and in the upper church you can admire the cathedral’s large iconostasis.

From Krasnaya Ploshad, you can walk south and southwest, where you can see the city’s circus, planetarium and one of the venues for the Kursk Philharmonic, which is the former noble’s mansion, built in 1877. In this area, you can also visit the city’s archaeological museum. If you instead go north along the main street Ulitsa Lenina, you can visit shopping centers and see Kursk’s drama theater from 1983, where there is a statue of Alexander Pushkin in the square in front of the theater. If you continue to the northwestern quarter of the city and the street Ulitsa Karla Marksa, you can see Kursk’s large memorial for fallen soldiers in the Battle of Kursk and the battles during World War II. The facility was built as a long park, where a church and a triumphal arch frame the eternal flame. The memorial park dates from the early 2000s.