Tobolsk
Tobolsk
Tobolsk is a historic capital of Siberia, now an ordinary town in Tyumen
Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of rivers Tobol and Irtysh.
Population: 92,880 (2002 Census).
Tobolsk was founded by Yermak's Cossacks in 1585–1586 during the first
Russian advance into Siberia near the ruins of Siberia Khanate's capital Qashliq.
It became the seat of the Viceroy of Siberia and prospered on the trade with
China and Bukhara. It was there that the first school, theatre, and newspaper in
Siberia were established. In The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel
Defoe made his Robinson Crusoe character stay in Tobolsk from September 1703
to June 1704.
With administrative divisions of the territory, Tobolsk remained the seat of the
Governor-General of Western Siberia until it was moved to Omsk in 1820s–
1830s. Bowing to the city's authority, many Siberian towns had their original
arms display the Tobolsk insignia. This included Omsk, Tyumen, and Tomsk;
Omsk honors the legacy to this day.
Until the Russian Revolution of 1917, the city served as the capital of the
Tobolsk guberniya. Dmitri Mendeleev and Vasily Perov are the most famous
natives of the city. Some of the Decembrists were exiled and lived there too. The
city's importance declined when the Trans-Siberian Railway bypassed it in the
1890s.
In August 1917, after the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and
his family were brought here to live in relative luxury in the former house of the
Governor-General. In April 1918, after the White Army approached the city, the
entire royal family was shot in Yekaterinburg, thus ending the imperial Romanov
dynasty.
Economy of modern Tobolsk centers on a major oil refinery. Some traditional
crafts, such as bone-carving, are also preserved.
Tobolsk is the only town in Siberia and one of the few in Russia which has a
standing stone kremlin, or elaborate city-fortress, built at the turn of the 17th and
18th centuries. Its white walls and towers with an ensemble of churches and
palatial buildings spectacularly sited on a high river bank were proclaimed a
national historical and architectural treasure in 1870.
The principal monuments in the kremlin are the Cathedral of St. Sophia
(1683–1686), a merchant courtyard (1703–1705), an episcopal palace (1773–
1775) (now it is the museum of local lore), and the so-called Swedish Chamber,
with six baroque halls (1713–1716). The city contains some remarkable baroque
and Neoclassical churches from the 18th and 19th centuries. Also noteworthy is a
granite monument to Yermak, constructed to a design by Alexander Brullov in
1839.
The city's neighbourhood is rich in ancient kurgans and pagan shrines. Some
of these date back to the 10th century BC.
Tobolsk is a historic capital of Siberia, now an ordinary town in Tyumen
Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of rivers Tobol and Irtysh.
Population: 92,880 (2002 Census).
Tobolsk was founded by Yermak's Cossacks in 1585–1586 during the first
Russian advance into Siberia near the ruins of Siberia Khanate's capital Qashliq.
It became the seat of the Viceroy of Siberia and prospered on the trade with
China and Bukhara. It was there that the first school, theatre, and newspaper in
Siberia were established. In The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel
Defoe made his Robinson Crusoe character stay in Tobolsk from September 1703
to June 1704.
With administrative divisions of the territory, Tobolsk remained the seat of the
Governor-General of Western Siberia until it was moved to Omsk in 1820s–
1830s. Bowing to the city's authority, many Siberian towns had their original
arms display the Tobolsk insignia. This included Omsk, Tyumen, and Tomsk;
Omsk honors the legacy to this day.
Until the Russian Revolution of 1917, the city served as the capital of the
Tobolsk guberniya. Dmitri Mendeleev and Vasily Perov are the most famous
natives of the city. Some of the Decembrists were exiled and lived there too. The
city's importance declined when the Trans-Siberian Railway bypassed it in the
1890s.
In August 1917, after the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and
his family were brought here to live in relative luxury in the former house of the
Governor-General. In April 1918, after the White Army approached the city, the
entire royal family was shot in Yekaterinburg, thus ending the imperial Romanov
dynasty.
Economy of modern Tobolsk centers on a major oil refinery. Some traditional
crafts, such as bone-carving, are also preserved.
Tobolsk is the only town in Siberia and one of the few in Russia which has a
standing stone kremlin, or elaborate city-fortress, built at the turn of the 17th and
18th centuries. Its white walls and towers with an ensemble of churches and
palatial buildings spectacularly sited on a high river bank were proclaimed a
national historical and architectural treasure in 1870.
The principal monuments in the kremlin are the Cathedral of St. Sophia
(1683–1686), a merchant courtyard (1703–1705), an episcopal palace (1773–
1775) (now it is the museum of local lore), and the so-called Swedish Chamber,
with six baroque halls (1713–1716). The city contains some remarkable baroque
and Neoclassical churches from the 18th and 19th centuries. Also noteworthy is a
granite monument to Yermak, constructed to a design by Alexander Brullov in
1839.
The city's neighbourhood is rich in ancient kurgans and pagan shrines. Some
of these date back to the 10th century BC.