City of Arctic Russia: Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk: Gateway to Arctic Russia

Arkhangelsk is located in Northwest Russia, where the Dvina river dissolves into the White Sea. It is the base for about 390 thousand inhabitants who make their living from timber trade and paper industry. Arkhangelsk city has a large commercial and fishing port. Arkhangelsk was founded in 1584 and became the first Russian port playing the major role in trade with Europe until the foundation of Saint Petersburg in 1703. Since that, Arkhangelsk has been developing as a provincial city. The second negative impact on Arkhangelsk importance went from the foundation of Murmansk in 1917, a trans-polar non-frozen seaport at Barents Sea. The honour came to Arkhangelsk again during World War II, when Arkhangelsk was the key destination for Allied sea convoys.

Until the 20th century nearly all buildings were wooden. That is why there are not so many examples of old architecture here anymore. Wooden buildings are making place for stone and concrete buildings, but Arkhangelsk still contains many sections of such a 1-2 floor houses. Even the sidewalks are wooden, crunching under feet. The city authorities are now removing the most beautiful and well-maintained wooden buildings to Chumbarova-Luchinskogo street which is planned as a "museum street".

Travellers can orient themself easily by searching the skyline for Arkhangelsk's only skyscraper; a 24-floor administrative building standing at Lenin square in the centre of the city. Areas of interests are Dvina's embankment (Naberezhnaya) in the west, the Kuznechevsky Bridge in the north, Obvodny Kanal prospekt in the east, and the Sea and River passenger harbour in the south. Most of attractions e.g. views, buildings, museums, restaurants, theatres etc are located within this shape. The passenger harbour is start/end point for cruises to Solovetsky Islands and to the Arctic Russia as Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and even the North Pole.

For more detailed information about Arkhangelsk we refer to Wikipedia page: Arkhangelsk