One of the largest cities in the Far East is Blagoveshchensk. This is the only administrative center in our country located on the border with another state, on the banks of the Amur. On one side of the river is Blagoveshchensk, and on the other - the city of Heihe (China). The state border between them runs along the riverbed.
This is a beautiful and very distinctive city, in which there are many interesting memorable places that will interest its guests. We will introduce you to some of them in this article.
Blagoveshchensk: natural attractions. Lake near the village of Ivanovka
There are many unique places to see in this northern city and its environs. Usually, it is the lake near the village of Ivanovka that is brought first of all by sightseers who visited Blagoveshchensk. The sights of this city are described in many travel brochures advertising booklets , but this lake must be seen with your own eyes.
It is located east of Blagoveshchensk (30 km). Locals call it the lotus lake, because lotuses are really bred here. Thousands of tourists come here every year to enjoy this extraordinary beauty. Growing a lotus is far from easy. This laborious work requires accurate research and calculations. So that this exquisite plant, listed in the Red Book, takes root in Ivanovka, the initiators of this idea (the teacher of the local school) worked hard for five years. As a result, today the lake is decorated with more than two hundred magnificent plants, which are the hallmark of Blagoveshchensk.
Zeya Nature Reserve
The nature of these places captivates everyone who comes to Blagoveshchensk. The sights of the city cannot be described without a nature reserve located on the Tukuring Range. It occupies an area of more than eighty thousand hectares, which is crossed by fast mountain rivers - tributaries of the beautiful Zeya and the majestic Gilyuy.
Zeya Nature Reserve is characterized by a huge variety of plants, animals and birds. Many of them are listed in the Red Book. The work of scientists and the protection of ecologists made it possible to preserve many populations. This applies to lynx and roe deer, wolverine and sable, cedar and wood grouse, as well as Amur lemmings. The flora and fauna of the reserve has a pronounced taiga character. One part of it represents the mountain tundra - this is the mysterious kingdom of lichens, mosses and shrubs. The other part is a magnificent coniferous forest, smoothly turning into deciduous.
Historic Monuments: Arc de Triomphe
And now we want to introduce you to seven more sights of Blagoveshchensk (Bashkortostan) that tell about the history and culture of this northern city.
The first triumphal arch in Blagoveshchensk appeared in 1891. It was built in honor of the arrival of the heir to the throne, Nikolai Romanov, who later became the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. This was the only head of the Russian state who traveled the whole country even before taking office.
By his arrival in those days, triumphal arches were everywhere built. The construction of Blagoveshchensk significantly exceeded the size and decoration of similar structures in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.
The triumphal arch was erected on the banks of the Amur River - at the very pier, where they met the future emperor. It was a twenty-meter stone gate that crowned the tower with icons and double-headed eagles. This magnificent structure has been an adornment of the city promenade for fifty years. In the last century, the famous royal gate was destroyed by severe flooding.
Unfortunately, almost nothing remained of the arch on the river bank - no plans, no drawings, just a few photos. The city authorities decided to create Victory Square on this site. Almost eighty years later, historians began to talk about restoring the arch. The project for its reconstruction was developed from 2003 to 2005 based on photographs stored in the city archive.
Surprisingly, during the construction it turned out that it was possible to accurately determine the place of the destroyed monument - when laying the foundation, the workers found an old foundation. Today this building is included in the list of "Sights of Blagoveshchensk (Bashkortostan)."
The arch of the arch is a reinforced concrete structure whose weight is more than thirty tons. There are two ceramic icons on the vault: the face of Nicholas the Passion-bearer is facing China, and the icon of the Mother of God looks at the capital of the Amur Region. The masonry is made of clay brick with the addition of brick (profile) from Krasnoyarsk.
Cathedral
The sights of Blagoveshchensk cannot be imagined without the Cathedral, which is the central church of the Diocese of Blagoveshchensk. Its rector is the ruling bishop, Archbishop of Tynda and Annunciation Gabriel.
The temple was erected in a holy place for many citizens. It was here until 1980 that the first building of the city was located - St. Nicholas Church. The design of the cathedral was developed in a characteristic "brick" style, which was inherent in Orthodox churches of the late XIX century.
The magnificent structure is crowned by seven gilded domes. The eighth, gilded dome crowns the bell tower. The height of the main dome (to the cross) is 38.85 meters, the bell tower rises by 32.5 meters. The temple is designed for 540 worshipers, inside its height is 21.12 meters. Here is stored the main shrine of the Far East - the Albazin Icon of the Mother of God, which appeared on the Amur banks in 1667.
Cultural Monuments - Museum of Local Lore
Sights of Blagoveshchensk, the description of which we provide in this article, attract visitors with their diversity. History buffs and anyone who wants to learn more about this city are advised to visit the Amur Museum named after G. S. Novikov-Daursky (local history). It was founded back in 1891. The initiators of its creation were members of the Blagoveshchensk City Council.
The museum’s collection began to take shape from the exhibits of the exhibition, which were organized by gold miners in honor of the arrival of Nikolai Romanov. After the visit, all exhibits (models of gold-washing machines, mines, photographs and diagrams) were transferred to the city.
The museum is located in an old brick two-story building (a monument of architecture of republican significance). In the first half of the XX century there was a store of a German trading company. The museum occupies 2 floors, the exhibits are located in 26 rooms. Today the museum fund has more than 155 thousand exhibits, more than 120 thousand of which are related to the main fund.
Many museum items are unique: the attributes and costumes of Evenki and Daurian shamans (XIX-XX centuries), a music box (Germany, XIX century), armor of a Japanese samurai of the XVIII century, bones of prehistoric dinosaurs and mammoths.
Drama theatre
Arriving in Blagoveshchensk, you can find the sights for every taste. Theater-goers will enjoy visiting the city Drama Theater. It was founded in 1883. Then the first performance was held on the rented stage of the City Assembly, in which professional actors took part. After a successful staging, the Public Assembly came to the conclusion that there was a need for building a building for the city theater. It was built in 1886, and with funds that mainly consisted of voluntary donations from citizens of all classes. The theater troupe plays in this building today.
The very spacious auditorium, which has excellent acoustics, a deep stage and comfortable rooms for artists, always inspired visiting entrepreneurs, who invariably noted the refined theater taste of the local audience. In 1920, the troupe was given state status.
For fourteen years (1948-1962), the Amur Drama Theater was directed by the Honored Artist of Russia N.I. Uralov. At this time, a lot of foreign, Soviet, Russian classics were put here.
Amur Regional Actor and Puppet Theater
Today, many travelers come with children to Blagoveshchensk. Sights of this city will delight even young guests. We advise you to visit this amazing puppet theater. He began his work in 1964. Its founder and first chief director was S. I. Bogorad, who arrived in Blagoveshchensk, having completed directing courses at the Central Puppet Theater.
His name is mentioned in the history of the theater today along with the most famous puppeteers of our country. Initially, the theater was called "Amurchonok." His first performances were Harmful Vitamin and Caprica. In the early years, the troupe did not have its own premises, it toured the clubs and children's institutions of villages and cities of the region. Today in the theater works O. G. Goloshchapov, who found the "traveling" period. Now he works as the main theater artist.
Later, the collective received the Small Hall of the City Philharmonic, and even later (1991) the entire building was given to him. In the 60-70s, the theater from the traditional was gradually transformed into a synthetic one: puppets of various designs were increasingly used in performances. Together with the doll, an artist appeared on the stage, who danced, sang, owned a pantomime.
Original Monuments - Bull Statue
It is impossible not to say that Blagoveshchensk possesses very original monuments. Sights (photos you can see below) of this city are rather harmoniously supplemented by the Bull Statue, located on the Amur embankment. It was opened at the end of July 2014.
The unusual monument is made of scrap metal specially selected for this purpose. The author of the project is sculptor A. Alekyan (Armenia). The creation of this sculpture took three months. In the work, automobile auto parts, metal springs, as well as other parts reliably fastened by welding were used. The works of this master adorn many different cities, including Brussels, Moscow, Yerevan and others.
Monument to the Shuttle
And this unusual monument is a symbol of entrepreneurship of the late XX century. It is installed at the city fair building in 2008. The author of the project is the famous sculptor V. Razgonyaev. The monument is made of bronze. Its weight is two tons, and its height exceeds two meters. The structure was cast in parts, and then the individual elements were already adjusted to each other. Experts believe that this is truly jewelry work - no seams can be seen on the monument.
This is a collective image of local entrepreneurs of the late XX century. The shuttles from Blagoveshchensk went to China, bought goods, brought them to Russia and sold them. Quite a lot of firms that have established themselves on the market today were created by shuttles.
The sculpture is a man who holds in one hand a bag of incredible sizes, and with the other hand holds an impressive box on his shoulder. An intelligent and serious face, glasses, a tired look - this is exactly what the initiators of the project saw the Amur “shuttle”.