Syktyvkar is the largest city and capital of the Republic of Komi, an autonomous region of the Russian Federation. The town’s history began in the 16th century, when the settlement Sysolskoye was established by immigrants from villages higher up the river Sysola. The place was also called Ust-Sysolsk, and the settlement was strategically located on the Sysola and Vychegda, both of which were navigable rivers. Ust-Sysolsk formally became a town and was granted a coat of arms in 1780, and by the end of the century the town had about 1,800 inhabitants.

Throughout the 19th century, Ust-Sysolsk developed, but not as quickly and with facilities as in many other towns. The population then also only increased to approximately 4,500 around the year 1900, and in 1939 there were 25,000 living in the town. With the creation of the Soviet Union, new regions came into the country, and Ust-Sysolsk became the administrative center of the newly established Komi Autonomous Region. On the city’s 150th anniversary, the name Ust-Sysolsk was changed to the local language Syktyvkar in 1930. In the decades after World War II, Syktyvkar was heavily expanded with many new suburbs, and today the city has 240,000 inhabitants.

Today you can take some nice strolls in the center of Syktyvkar, which is a green city with both wide boulevards and trees in the streets between a nice mix of wooden and stone houses. You can start at Stefanovskaya Ploshad, which is the central square in Syktyvkar. Its name comes from Stephen of Perm, who is the patron saint of the region. The square was already laid out in Ust-Sysolsk’s first town plan, which Catherine II approved in 1784. From 1856, the city’s cathedral was built on the square, but it was demolished in 1932. In the place of the cathedral, a statue of Lenin was later dedicated, which in day can see in the middle of the large square. In front of Lenin stands Komi’s government building, and on the square, you can also visit the Republic of Komi Philharmonic.

To the north-east on Stefanovskaya Ploshad is the Republic of Komi’s National Museum’s historical department, where you can see one of the museum’s interesting exhibitions. The museum building from 1912 was, among other things, the seat of the Communist Party and a kindergarten before it was converted into a museum in the late 1960s. Opposite the historical department is the museum’s natural history department, which provides a fine insight into Komi’s nature.

Further down the same street is a building with the museum’s ethnographic department. Close by, you can visit the Komi National Gallery, and if you continue east, you will come to Kirov Park, which is a popular natural area along the Sysola. From the park’s lawns you can enjoy a lovely panoramic view of the river and the countryside.

You can no longer see Syktyvkar’s old cathedral, which stood on Stefanovskaya Ploshad until 1932, but you can see Sankt Stefan Cathedral, which from 1996 was built as a replacement for the historic cathedral. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is located in the northern city center, and the first part of the building was inaugurated in 2001 in celebration of the establishment of the Republic of Komi 80 years earlier.

In 2005, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch granted Syktyvkar’s new church the status of a cathedral, and the final consecration took place in 2013. The architecture of the cathedral is inspired by Russian-Byzantine style, and under the gilded domes there is an upper summer church and a lower winter church. In the area around the cathedral you can see, among other things, chapels and a bell tower.