Tomsk

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Tomsk (English) Томск (Russian)

Tomsk on the map of Russia
Coordinates 56°30′N 84°58′ECoordinates: 56°30′N 84°58′E
Coat of Arms	Flag

City Day: June 7
Federal subject Municipal status In jurisdiction of Administrative center of	Tomsk Oblast n/a Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast, Tomsky District
Mayor	Alexander Makarov
Legislative body	Duma
Charter	Charter of Tomsk
Area
Area - Rank	294.6 km² n/a
Population (as of the 2002 Census)
Population - Rank - Density	487,838 inhabitants 34th 1,655.9 inhab. / km²
Founded	October 7, 1604
Town status	1782
Other information
Postal code	634xxx
Dialing code	+7 3822
Official website
http://www.admin.tomsk.ru/

Main railway station in Tomsk

Tomsk State University main building

Silver three-rouble coin, 2004

Tomsk (Russian: Томск) is a city on the Tom River in the southwest of Siberian Federal District, Russia, the administrative centre of Tomsk Oblast. It is located about twenty kilometres south-east of the town of Seversk, a major centre of plutonium production and reprocessing and uranium enrichment in Russia. One of the oldest towns in Siberia, Tomsk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2004. Population: 487,838 (2002 Census). It is served by Bogashevo Airport.

1 Geography
2 Climate
3 History
4 Politics and government
- 4.1 Proportional representation
- 4.2 Double mandates
5 Education
6 Culture
7 Famous people
8 Economics
- 8.1 Energetics
- 8.2 Transport
  - 8.2.1 Railways
  - 8.2.2 City transport
9 Tomsk Sister Cities
10 External links

[edit] Geography

Tomsk is divided into four city districts: Kirovsky, Leninsky, Oktyabrsky, and Sovetsky. The historical areas of Tomsk include: Voskresenskaya Gora (Resurrection Hill), the Swamp, Belozerye, Greater and Lesser Yelany, Zaistochye (Tatar settlement), the Lakeside, Kashtak, Kirpichi, and Mukhin Mound^{[citation needed]}.

In 2005, the city annexed the settlements of Eushta, Dzerzhinsky, Timiryazevskoye, Zonalny, Loskutovo, Svetly, Kirgizka, and Kopylovo.

[edit] Climate

Tomsk has a continental climate. The annual average temperature is −1.3 °C (29.7 °F). Winters are severe and lengthy, and the lowest recorded temperature was −56 °C (−68.8 °F) in January 1996. However, the average temperature in January is between −21 °C (−5.8 °F) and −19 °C (−2.2 °F). The average temperature in July is +24 °C (75.2 °F). The total yearly rainfall is 435 mm.

[edit] History

Tomsk was founded in 1604 according to tsar Boris Godunov's order. About two hundred Cossacks headed by Tyrkov and Pisemsky arrived here early spring 1604 to build a wooden fortress on a brow of Tom River's bank which overlooked the location. Later this brow was called Voskresenskaya hill. The fortress was shielded by falls on three of its sides as well as by a swamp in the east and small river Ushaika on the south. This new settlement was founded on the land of local Tatar lord Toyan who had accepted Russian control. Since then Tomsk fortress has resisted a lot of prairie people's invasions.

Year 1804 is a very important date in city's history. Tomsk was chosen to be an administrative centre of a new governorate. The administrative area was built. That was a city board building, magistracy, a police department building and a city hall. By the middle of the 19th century Tomsk had eight churches and fifty stone buildings. Troitsky council was founded at that time.

Tomsk Governorate occupied vast territories, it even included parts of current Altai, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, and East Kazakhstan areas. In the 1830s, gold mines were opened here and it was the time of most intensive development of the city. In 1873, the first book store and public library in Siberia were opened in Tomsk. In the late 19th – early 20th centuries, Tomsk was far ahead of other Siberian cities in its social-cultural level.

In the 1890s Trans-Siberian railway road was laid over Tomsk Governorate. It was built to the south of Tomsk and was connected with the city by a railway branch in 1896. The more important railway unit, Novonikolayevka village (modern Novosibirsk), started to grow very fast then. Soon Tomsk had lost its leading economical positions because of its far distance from main railway roads.

Tomsk used to be the place for exile. Each fifth citizen of Tomsk guberniya (about thirty thousand men and seven thousand women) was an exile.

Year 1880 is the date when Tomsk University was founded. It was the first university on vast territory from Urals to Far East. Famous architect Bruni A.K. had projected its building. But before its construction had started there was formed an outstanding university library. Count Stroganov presented his own rich collection of books to future Tomsk University. Eight years later, in 1888, emperor Alexander III ordered to open the first in Siberia Tomsk University. First it counted 72 students and 2 free listeners of the only one medical department. In 1990 the Technological Institute (modern Tomsk Polytechnic University) was founded in Tomsk.

At the beginning of the 19th century Tomsk had leading position in Siberia in the field of education – it counted 104 educational units. Besides, Tomsk had 4 newspapers, 4 theatres, 5 cinemas, 7 libraries and 3 entertainment parks. In 1911 its population was about 110 thousand people and its territory was 15 square kilometers.

After the revolution of 1917 Tomsk was the part of West-Siberia region. In 1937 Tomsk and its nearby territories were allotted to Novosibirsk region. Tomsk lost its chance of economical and cultural development. But there was a University in Tomsk and before the World War II each twelfth citizen of Tomsk was a student.

In 1941 about 30 plants were evacuated to Tomsk, it was the base for city's industrial future. On the 4th of August, 1944 there was signed a decree of foundation of Tomsk region with the territory of 316, 9 thousand square kilometers. Soon after that oil and gas occurrences were found in Tomsk region. Tomsk became one of the most important economical and cultural centres in Siberia again.

[edit] Politics and government

The statue of Lenin still stands in Tomsk

Tomsk is governed by a mayor and a 33-member city Duma. The current mayor is Alexander Segreyevich Makarov (who was arrested in 2006) and the current Duma chairman is Nikolay Nikolaychuk, both members of United Russia. Mayor Makarov is currently suspended from his post pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him. in russian Of the 33 members, 16 are elected from the eight double mandate districts while 17 are chosen from party lists.

In the October 2005 local elections, United Russia was expected to cruise to a solid victory; however, the Pensioners Party put up a strong showing. The final count was:

[edit] Proportional representation

19.42% - 5 seats - Pensioners Party
17.85% - 5 seats - United Russia
9.95% - 3 seats - Communist Party
8.57% - 2 seats - Union of Right Forces/Yabloko coalition
7.77% - 2 seats - Liberal Democratic Party of Russia -
14.67% - Against all candidates

[edit] Double mandates

10 seats - No party affiliation
4 seats - United Russia
1 seat - Pensioners Party
1 seat - Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

[edit] Education

Main article: Education in Siberia

Tomsk has a number of prominent universities:

Tomsk State University is the first university in Siberia (founded in 1878, opened in 1888). The prominent Tomsk State University library book reserve is considered to be among the richest in Russia.
Tomsk Polytechnic University which opened in 1900 is the first technical university in Siberia.
Siberian State Medical University, one of the oldest and highest rated medical schools in Russia.
Tomsk State Pedagogical University
Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building
Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics
Tomsk Economics and Law University
Tomsk Institute of Business

Thanks to its strong university presence, Tomsk has become a center of the IT industry in Russia.

[edit] Culture

Tomsk Regional Studies Museum and the Organ Hall of the Philarmony

Tomsk has many local cultural institutions including drama theaters, a children's theater and a puppet theater. One can find music at the city concert hall, home of the local orchestra, or the sports palace where pop and rock stars perform. The city also has centers of German, Polish and Tatar culture where residents can study languages or learn about other countries.

Unfortunately, one of Tomsk's theaters was destroyed in a bloody act of terrorism in 1905. The Korolevskii Theater (built in 1884-85) was being used by a group of communist revolutionaries one evening, when members of the Black Hundred struck. The Black Hundred was a hardline organ of the tsar and brutally stamped out opposition. The theater was set on fire with Black Hundred members shooting those who tried to escape the flames. Estimates of casualties ranged from 200 to 1000 people.

There are a number of museums in Tomsk including those devoted to art, local history and wood carving. Tomsk State University has a number of small museums with exhibits on archaeology, paleontology, zoology as well as a herbarium and botanical garden.

The Epiphany Cathedral at the Lenin square

As in many other cities in the former Soviet Union, the government destroyed a number of old churches in the city including two that had existed since the 17th century. However, Tomsk managed to retain some of its churches by creating alternative uses for them such as machine shops, warehouses, archives, and even residences. Since the end of communism, some of the churches have been renovated and handed back to their congregations.

Tomsk is well-known for its (gingerbread) carved wooden houses. The quantity of these wooden houses is constantly decreasing due to fire and new construction.

Trud (Labor) Stadium, in central Tomsk, plays host to FC Tom' Tomsk, the city's soccer team. Thanks to the team's promotion to the Russian Premier League in 2005, local fans have the opportunity to see Russia's best soccer teams when they visit each year.

Tomsk does have many local media outlets including a television station TV2, radio stations (Radio Siberia and Echo Moscow - Tomsk) and newspapers (Tomskii Vestnik, Tomskaya Nedelya, Krasnoye Znamya and Vechernii Tomsk).

Tomsk received notoriety thanks to a major economic cooperation summit, held in Tomsk between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in April 2006.

[edit] Famous people

Ironical monument to Anton Chekhov who visited Tomsk on the way to Sakhalin and mentioned it in his diary unfavourably

Mikhail Andreyev - poet
Mikhail Bakunin - anarchist
Gavriil Batenkov - Decembrist, philosopher
Nikolai Burdenko - surgeon, the first president of the USSR's Academy of Medical Science
Edison Denisov - composer, musicologist, public servant
Princess Yekaterina Dolgorukova - bride of Peter II from (Old Style) 22 December 1740 until 10 January 1742.
Nikolai Erdman - dramatist
Abram Petrovich Gannibal - famous as "The Negro of Peter the Great" and great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, lived in Tomsk from December 1729 to February 1730
Nikolay Garin-Mikhaylovsky - writer
Leonid Govorov - Marshal of the Soviet Union
Nikolai Il'yich Kamov - chief engineer of the Kamov helicopter
Sergei Kirov - revolutionary
Nikolai Klyuev - poet
Vladimir Korolenko - writer
Valerian Kuybyshev - revolutionary
Yegor Ligachev - second in command to Mikhail Gorbachev (name pronounced "Ligachyov")
Pyotr Makushin - founded Tomsk's first public library and helped found Tomsk State University
Mikhail Mil' - helicopter engineer
Nikolai Nikitin - scientist involved in oblast' creation
Vladimir Obruchev - geologist, geographer, writer, academic
Grigory Potanin - geographer, ethnographer, publicist, folklorist, oblast' supporter
Alexander Radishchev - writer, philosopher
Nikolai Rukavishnikov - cosmonaut
Vyacheslav Shishkov - writer
Gustav Shpet - philosopher
Konstantin Staniukovich - writer
Kanysh Satpayev - Soviet geologist
Leonty Usov - actor, sculptor
Mikhail Usov - geologist, academic
Alexandr Volkov - writer
Lyubov Yegorova - six-time Olympic cross-country ski champion
Yakov Yurovsky - Bolshevik, chief executioner of the last Romanovs

[edit] Economics

[edit] Energetics

The Tomsk energy system is the oldest in Siberia. There are three power stations in the city:

TEC-1 (started on January 1, 1896)
GRES-2 (started on May 28, 1945)
TEC-3 (started on October 29, 1988)

Tomsk consumes more electric energy than it produces. Main volume of electric and thermal energy is produced by GRES-2 (281 MWt) and TEC-3 (140 MWt) that belong to Tomskenergo Inc. Tomsk also uses energy that is produced in Seversk (this energy is called 'far heat').

[edit] Transport

Roads:

northern branch of M 53 federal road;
road R 398 to Kolpashevo;
road R 400 to Mariinsk;
Northern latitude highway Perm — Surgut — Tomsk (under construction).

Port on the Tom River. Bogashevo Airport.

[edit] Railways

Tomsk is a small railway center that is situated on the Taiga — Bely Yar line (Tomsk branch) that connects Tomsk to the Trans-Siberian railway.

The Trans-Siberian railway (Transsib) was build in 1896 and bypasses Tomsk, which remains 50 km to the north of it. Access from Tomsk to the Trans-Siberian railway is available via the town of Taiga. A regional rail links Tomsk with Taiga.

The Tomsk Railway existed until 1961. At the present time, the Tomsk line belongs to the West-Siberian Railway, branch of Russian Railways Corp.. Trains link Tomsk to Anapa, Asino, Barnaul, Bely Yar, Moscow, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Sochi and Taiga.

[edit] City transport

The main part of inner-city and suburban transportations is provided by minibuses (so-called marshrutnye taksi, about 1,000 , mainly PAZ), serving about 40 bus routes.

In addtion, city buses (11 routes), trolleybuses (since 1967, 8 routes), trams (since 1949, 5 routes) and taxis are available forms of public transport.