Novokuznetsk is a Russian city in southwestern Siberia in Kemerovo Oblast. The town’s history started as a fort that was established in 1618 by Cossacks from Tomsk. In 1689, Kuznetsk achieved the status of a city, but for centuries it remained just a small provincial town that arose on the eastern side of the Tom River. After the Russian Revolution and Civil War, Kuznetsk became part of the Soviet Union, and then a rapid development of the city began.

In the 1930s, the city became an industrial center with a large coal mine, and in 1931 it was merged with the city of Sad Gorod, and from 1931 to 1932 the expanded city was called Novokuznetsk. In 1932, Novokuznetsk changed its name to Stalinsk, which was the city’s name until 1961. The development in the population underlines the rapid growth. In 1897, just over 3,000 people lived in the city, and that number had risen to 170,000 by the end of the 1930s. The growth in the number of inhabitants has continued since then to over 500,000.

Today, with the great growth of the 20th century, it is a comparatively, one can experience on a visit to Novokuznetsk. You immediately see that the city is very green, and it was also developed in the 1930s with inspiration from contemporary garden cities, where there was plenty of light, air and green areas around homes. However, you can also see buildings from tsarist Russia, such as the Annunciation Cathedral east of the river Tom. The current stone church was built from 1792, consecrated in 1801 and completed in the 1830s. During the Soviet era, the cathedral was used as a museum and school, before it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989.

Near the city’s old cathedral, you can see the Kuznetsk Fortress, which also belongs to the old structures of Novokuznetsk. The fort that you can see today was built in the years 1800-1820 on the initiative of Tsar Paul I. It was supposed to protect Russia’s southern regions against possible threats from China. However, the fort did not play a major military role, and it was closed in 1846.

Today, the fort is set up as a museum, where you can see the facility and its importance for Kuznetsk at the time. You walk through a beautiful gate tower to get to the interior of the fort. It was built in 1808-1809 and contains living and living spaces as well as a viewing floor at the top. In the fort you can see reconstructed barracks buildings, while the original ones were largely used as building materials in the period after the fort’s closure.

You can also go to the modern streets and urban spaces of Novokuznetsk. East of Tom is ul. Lenina as the main street, and in a square along the street stands a monument to the Soviet revolutionary Lenin. Behind Lenin is the administration building of the Kuznetsk region, and opposite you can see the Alyuminshchik Palace of Culture. If you go further east to one of the area’s suburbs, you can see the Cathedral of the Nativity, which is one of Novokuznetsk’s best-known buildings. The 52-meter-high cathedral was built as a memorial to the victims of a mining accident in 1997. Construction of the beautiful church began in 1998, and the cathedral was consecrated with its nine onion domes in 2012.

If you go west of Tom, you come to Novokuznetsk’s more modern districts and residential areas. Here is ul. Kirova as the continuous main street, and along it you can see, among other things, the city’s state circus and the fine building that housed the Novokuznetsk Drama Theater. South of the theater you can go for a walk in Gagarin City Park, which offers, among other things, some rides in the green surroundings.

South of the circus building you can see the Boulevard of Heroes, an 800-meter-long memorial dedicated to World War II. In the facility there is a stele with bayonets and banners and a 90-meter-long memorial wall to the participation of Novokuznetsk citizens in the victory over Germany during the war. At the southern entrance stands an arch with two cast iron sculptures of a soldier and a woman, and the arch forms a fine frame for the facility. In this part of the city, you can also visit Novokuznetsk’s interesting regional museum.