Ulan-Ude

Ulan-Ude is the capital of Buryatia and one of the most beautiful cities in Siberia. There are 234 monuments of architecture, history and town-planning.

If you come to this city, you should certainly walk along the Lenina street. It has a lot of sights to see. At the beginning of the street there's Odigitrievsky Cathedral, which was built in the second half of the 18th century. Also you can see here many houses of the local merchants. The buildings were constructed in 19th century in classical style.

The Sovet Square is the main square of Ulan-Ude. In the middle of it there is the House of Sovets, which was built in 1931. Also you can observe the historical monument, which looks like a giant bronze head of V. I. Lenin.  This is one of the most well-known sights of the city.

Tourists may enjoy visiting some of many local museums: the Museum of Ulan-Ude, the Museum of Buryatian History, where you can find the unique collection of works of arts made by people of different countries, the Art Museum,  where you can see the works of arts made by Buryatian artists, the Nature Museum of Buryatia, where all the natural sights of this land can be observed.

If you enjoy some thrills, you can visit the ski slopes of Ulan-Burgasy, which are situated nearby the city.

Republic Buryatia is one of the centres of buddhistic culture in Russia. Ivolginsky Datsan is situated 30 km from Ulan-Ude and has become the buddhistic capital of Russia. It was founded in 1945, and now there's a whole temple group. It consists of the main temple (Soshin-dugan), the smaller temples (Maydreen-sume, Sahyusan-sume and Devajin), and the building of the philosophy department Choira, the study building of the institute Dashi Choynhorlin, the library, the hotel, the museum of buddhistic art and the house of lamas. This is one of the most unusual places in Russia. Many tourists think that they should visit this land one day.

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk is also one of the biggest cities of Russia. It is situated on the river Enisey. This city is wall-known for its wonderful landscapes, thick Siberain forests, beautiful mountains and infamous Stolby Nature Sanctuary (470000 hectare), which has a lot of extraordinary mountains looking like giant columns.

Nearby this place there's the biggest zoo in Russia - "Roev Ruchei". There is about 2 700 animals in this zoo. Among all the others you can see the exotic African animals and one of the biggest collection of the cat family in the world. A lot of species if this zoo are in the local The Red Book. Some of them can be found in the Russian and the International ones.

The city has also many things to see. The locals love to visit the Central Park of the city. The Opera and Ballet  Theatre here is one of the most famous in Russia. The Museum of Local History is one of the oldest in the region and in the whole country. It has very interesting history. The exhibits of this museum were moved from one building to another several times. The collections of museum show the exciting and long history of this land. There are about 400 thousand exhibits, including the rarity, which are important for science.

One of the most unusual sights of the city is the steamship "Svyatitel Nikolay" ("Bishop Nicholas") It was built in 1886, and in 1887 it started its first journy alond Enisey. At that time it used to be the fastest ship in these lands. After the October revolution the name was changed into "Nikolay", and in 1927 it started to transport oil. In 1960 it was wrote off and after ten years it was in again, as a museum, presenting the display, dedicated to Lenin's visit to this ship. Now the steamship "Svyatitel Nikolay" is in the middle of Krasnoyarsk, and its appearance and the exhibits inside attract many tourists. It is an extraordinary place to visit!

Kemerovo

The history of Kemerovo comes up to the period of exploration of Siberia and the founding of village Sheglovo at that place in 1701. In 1918 the village was transformed into a town Sheglovsk. In 1932 Sheglovsk changed its name into Kemerovo. Since 1943 Kemerovo has been the centre of Kemerovsky district. The history of the city is tightly connected with the history of mining in this area. One of the biggest mines became the city-forming factory of Kemerovo and determine the status of the city as the city of miners. Nowadays Kemerovo is one of the biggest industrial cantres of Siberia.

The city has a lot of different museums and theatres. In the Museum of Local Lore you can find out about the nature of the land, its exciting past, culture and traditions. The local Museum of Fine Arts is one of the biggest art museums in Siberia . It has many works of arts like paintings, sculptures and so on. The cultural life of the city is very colourful and diverse. The locals and the tourists are able to visit such theatres like the drama theatre, the musical theatre, the puppet theatre, the Studio-Theatre "Synthesis" and so on. During the year a lot of theatrical, art and musical festivals take place in this city. They are always visited by many guest from different parts of Russia.

The exceptional place in the city's landscape is occupied by the majestic Snamensky temple. It has become the greatest tourist sight of the city and the most beautiful building in the whole city. Talking about parks we should mention the Victory Park on the left side of the river Iskitimka. There are a lot of sculptures of tanks and artillery, monuments dedicated to G. Zhukov and war workers.

One of the most interesting museums of this district is the historico-cultural open-air museum "Red Hill" ("Krasnaya Gorka"). There you can visit the museum mine, where you can learn about the history and conditions of the miners' toil and living. Nearby Kemerovo there's a unique  historico-cultural open-air museum of primitive petroglyphic art called "Tomskaya Pisanitsa".

Tomsk

Tomsk was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by order of Russian tsar, Boris Godunov. The city became one of the trade centres of Siberia and one of the richest cities in this region. The local merchants used to be the most wealthy people of Russia at that time. Later the first university in Siberia was found here. Now the city has lost its significance, but its history and architecture still attract a lot of tourists, and its universities host the students from different parts of Russia and the whole world.

The Museum of Tomsk's History is situated near the place the city has been founded: at Voskresenskaya hill. What leads to in is the real cobblestone road, and the church nearby the museum if made completely of wood. There used to be a monument, dedicated to a lover, hanging on a ledge of his girlfriend's house, but now it's removed. But at the same time the city has the statues of homeslippers, travelling frog, wolf from the Russian cartoon called "There used to be a dog" and many other funny sculptures.

The wooden houses of Tomsk are very well-known. The city has a lot of buildings, created in 18-19th centuries. They make the city look extremely cosy. Also the city has a lot of churches, cathedrals and monasteries.  The most impressing is Voskresenskaya church. It stands at the top of a hill, and you can see the whole centre of the city from it.

The first university of Tomsk was founded in 1878. Later the amount of them increased until 9. Lenina street has been included into the Guinness Book of Records as the street with the biggest amount of universities on it. The city is reputed to be the city of students. Indeed, Tomsk looks abandoned during summers, when all the students from other places come home.

Also the city has a lot of museums. The most interesting and unusual is the museum of the brewery "Tomsk Beer" ("Tomskoye pivo"). It's a private place, but all the tourists are eager to visit it. All the exhibits here are somehow connected with the process of brewing and pouring of beer since 18th century. Here you can see the old equipment and vessels for brewing this drink, the bottles, mugs and  labels, which have been used from the founding of the brewery until now.

It's not everything that can be told about this exciting city. Everyone can come here and find out, what's the most interesting thing about Tomsk for him.

Irkutsk

Irkutsk has always been the most important and big cities in Siberia. It used to stay on the way of the greatest trade routes: to the USA and China. Now it's one of the biggest cities of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Because the city is close to Baikal, has unique history and beautiful architecture, hundreds thousands of tourists come there every year. So the city has an advanced industry of entertainment and tourism.

In Irkutsk you can see different memorial houses, built in 19th century, almost everywhere: churches and temples, masons of merchants of decabrists, dwelling houses and tenement buildings. The city is famous because of its wooden architecture and temples. Also it has many different museums and theatres, unusual monuments and buildings of different periods of Russian history. Most of Irkutsk's sights are located in its centre, and it's very convenient for the tourists.

One of the main streets of the city is Karl Marx street. Walking along this street you can enjoy the wonderful buildings of 19-20th century, built after the great fire of 1879. Also you should walk along the Angara's riverside. There's also an excursion motor ship sailing up and down the river. If you embark it, you will be able to enjoy the beauty of this land.

Many travellers deem visiting Baikal their duty. There are buses, that can take you to the village Listvyanka, where you can see the lake (of swim in it, if you're brave enough), try some Baikal omul and watch the unique animals of this land - the Baikal seals.

The city itself becomes more and more about tourists. In 2011 a lot of new sights appeared in Irkutsk: the Moscow gates, the monuments dedicated to the founders of the city and the decabrists' wives, block #130 and so on. Also on demand there is a big variety

of guidebooks, was founded the Tourist information office, the signs were place at every sight of seeing, and a special pedestrian route "The Green Line" was designed. The efforts hasn't spent in vain: now Irkutsk is one of the most interesting tourist places in Siberia.

Omsk

The second biggest city in Siberia is Omsk. It was founded by a squad of Cossacks in 1716 in order to broaden the Russian Empire and protect it from barbarians. After the World War 2 the city started to enlarge intensively, a lot of new houses were built, but many of the old ones remained untouched. Now the city is one of the greatest places of culture in Russia, it has many different monuments of different times and styles.

Omsk has a lot of places for walking, like the Victory Park, the park nearby the "Voschod" health centre, the arboretum, and the park, dedicated to the city's 300 anniversary. You should certainly walk along the Irtish's coastline, there's a great view in the evening.

The unusual monuments of Omsk

The city has a lot of new and unique monuments. For example, the statue of a plumber Stepanych. Every time there's a celebration in the city, the locals put a shot of vodka nearby it. There's also monuments, dedicated to books, Quixote, and "Chudo-Judo Riba-Kit" ("Wonderfish")!

Also you should visit the infamous Omsk fortress, Uspensky and Nikolayevsky Cathedrals, the drama theatre, Vrubel museum and many other sights of seeing.

The cultural life in Omsk

The Birthday of the City Omsk is selebrated at the first Sunday of August. It's one of the main celebrations there. Every year there are about 800 thousand people (locals and tourists) taking part in this wonderful event.

I suppose, that the ones, who enjoy sport, will like the amount of sport events, which regularly happen in the city. The Siberian Marathon is one of the greatest marathons in Russia - and it takes place here! It's the third biggest Russian marathon. In this city the people, who like sport, will never have troubles thinking "Where should I go?" - there are a lot of sport centres here. Omsk is a great place to find some entertainment and have a lot of fun.

Novosibirsk

The most prominent city in Siberia is Novosibirsk. It has the population more then 1 million citizens and is the biggest and the most densely populated city throughout the whole region. People here are kind and helpful, they can always tell you the right direction. The city is very young, it was founded about 100 years ago. It is enlarging so fast, that some people call it "the Siberian Chicago". Novosibirsk is always growing, a lot of new buildings are under construction. The places of culture and entertainment are not an exception. You can see a lot of new interesting things here.

Sightseeing in Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk has many places to visit. If you arrive there by train, the first thing you will see will be the railway station called "Novosibirsk Glavny" ("Novosibirsk's Main Railway Station"). It's the biggest and the most beautiful stations throughout the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The architect's idea was to make the building look like an old-fashioned train.

The trademark of the city is its Opera and Ballet Theatre. It's the biggest theatre in Russia. It can contain the Bolshoi Theatre under its doom!

The Chapel of Saint Nicolas is also a well-known place. It's also one of the emblems of the city. It used to be a geographical centre of Russian Empire.

If you visit the park "The City's Onset", you will see one of the most interesting memorials of the city - one of the spans of the first bridge across the river Ob. It used to be a part of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Many people love to visit the Novosibirsk Zoo. It's the biggest zoo in Russia. It's extremely well-known among the Russian tourist and foreigners. It hosts a lot of exemplars of species under threat of extinction. The location is also very unusual: the zoo was founded in the middle of a piny wood.

Other sights of the city are: 15 museums, theatres, an art gallery, parks and cathedrals.

The Central Siberian Botanical Garden is the greatest botanical garden in this part of Russia.  It also worth to visit the Museum of Sun - the only museum in Russia, that is dedicated to the signs and symbols of this heavenly body.

There are a lot of different things to be mentioned: the great many monuments of Novosibirsk, its molls, which are very extravagant for Siberia, the beautiful streets of this city. But it's better to see it with your own eyes.