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Russian city; administrative center of Siberian Federal District
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Novosibirsk is the administrative centre and largest city of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the third-most populous city in Russia after Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Additionally, it is the largest city in North Asia and the most populous Russian city that does not have the status of a federal subject. Novosibirsk is located in southwestern Siberia, on the banks of the Ob River.
Novosibirsk was founded in 1893 on the Ob River crossing point of the future Trans-Siberian Railway, where the Novosibirsk Rail Bridge was constructed. Originally named Novonikolayevsk in honor of Emperor Nicholas II, the city rapidly grew into a major transport, commercial, and industrial hub. Novosibirsk was ravaged by the Russian Civil War but recovered during the early Soviet period and gained its present name, Novosibirsk, in 1926. Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Novosibirsk became one of the largest industrial centers of Siberia. Following the outbreak of World War II, the city hosted many factories relocated from the Russian core.
Novosibirsk is home to many notable places such as the neo-Byzantine Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, as well as the Novosibirsk Zoo. It is served by Tolmachevo Airport, the busiest airport in Siberia.
Novosibirsk was founded on the right side of the Ob, near an area traditionally inhabited by Chat Tatars (Chertovo gorodishche). The Russian town originated on 30 April 1893 at the future site of a Trans-Siberian Railway bridge crossing the great Siberian river, and in 1895 became known as Novonikolayevsk (Новониколаевск), in honor both of Saint Nicholas and of the new reigning Tsar, Nicholas II. It superseded Bolshoye Krivoshchyokovo village, located on the opposite side of the Ob, which was founded in 1696 and was resettled in 1893 due to the construction of the Novosibirsk Rail Bridge. The bridge, completed in the spring of 1897, made the new settlement a regional transport hub. The importance of the city further increased with the completion of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway in the early 20th century. The new railway connected Novonikolayevsk directly with Central Asia and the Caspian Sea.
At the time of the bridge's opening, Novonikolayevsk had a population of 7,800 people. The settlement developed rapidly. Its first bank opened in 1906, and a total of five banks were operating by 1915. In 1907, Novonikolayevsk, now with a population exceeding 47,000, was granted town status with full rights for self-government. During the pre-revolutionary period, the population of Novonikolayevsk reached 80,000. The city had steady and rapid economic growth, becoming one of the largest commercial and industrial centers of Siberia. It developed a significant agricultural-processing industry, as well as a power station, iron foundry, commodity market, several banks, and commercial and shipping companies. By 1917, the city had seven Orthodox churches and one Roman Catholic Church, along with several cinemas, forty primary schools, a high school, a teaching seminary, and the Romanov House non-classical secondary school. In 1913, Novonikolayevsk became one of the first places in Russia to institute compulsory primary education.
The Russian Civil War of 1917–1923 took a toll on the city. Wartime epidemics, especially typhus and cholera, claimed thousands of lives. In the course of the war, the Ob River Bridge was destroyed. For the first time in the city's history, the population of Novonikolayevsk began to decline. The Soviet Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of Novonikolayevsk took control of the city in December 1917. In May 1918, the Czechoslovak Legion rose in opposition to the revolutionary government and, together with the White Guards, captured Novonikolayevsk (26 May 1918). The Red Army took the city in 1919, retaining it throughout the rest of the Civil War.
Novonikolayevsk began reconstruction in 1921 at the start of Lenin's New Economic Policy period (1921–1928). The city formed part of Tomsk Governorate and served as its administrative center from 23 December 1919 to 14 March 1920. Between 13 June 1921 and 25 May 1925, it served as the administrative center of Novonikolayevsk Governorate, which was separated from Tomsk Governorate. The city received its present name on 12 September 1926, -Novosibirsk, which, in the Russian language, translates roughly as "New Siberian [town]".
After the Soviet Union abolished governorates in 1929, the city served as the administrative center of the Siberian Krai until 23 July 1930, and of West Siberian Krai until 28 September 1937, when that krai was split into Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai. Since then, it has served as the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast.
Between 1929 and 1951 the NKVD interrogation centre No. 1 in Novosibirsk was one of the main transit prisons in the USSR. In the 1990s there was a campaign to create a memorial on the site but remains found there were not reburied.
The Monument to the Heroes of the Revolution, erected in the center of the city in 1922, became one of the chief historic sites (essentially every child had to visit the monument on school field-trips during the Soviet years). Neglect in the 1990s while other areas were redeveloped helped preserve it in the post-Soviet era.
During Stalin's industrialization effort, Novosibirsk secured its place as one of the largest industrial centers of Siberia. Several massive industrial facilities developed, including the 'Sibkombain' plant, specializing in the production of heavy mining equipment. Additionally, a metal-processing plant, a food-processing plant, and other industrial enterprises and factories were built, as well as a new power station. The great Soviet famine of 1932–33 resulted in more than 170,000 rural refugees seeking food and safety in Novosibirsk. They were settled in barracks at the outskirts of the city, giving rise to slums. Reflecting international recognition of its rapid growth and industrialization, in the US media Novosibirsk was referred to as the "Chicago of Siberia".
Tram rails were laid down in 1934, by which time the population had reached 287,000, making Novosibirsk the largest city in Siberia. The following year the original road bridge over the Ob River was replaced by the new Kommunalny bridge.
Between 1941 and 1942, the Soviets crated up and relocated more than 50 substantial factories from western Russia to Novosibirsk in order to reduce the risk of their destruction through war, and at this time the city became a major supply base for the Red Army. During this period the city also received more than 140,000 refugees.
The rapid growth of the city prompted the construction during the 1950s of a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 400 megawatts, necessitating the creation of a giant water reservoir, now known as the Ob Sea. As a direct result of the station's construction, vast areas of fertile land were flooded, as were relic pine woods in the area; additionally, the new open space created by the reservoir's surface caused average wind speeds to double, increasing the rate of soil erosion.
In the 1950s, the Soviet Government directed the building of a center for scientific research in Novosibirsk, and in 1957 the multi-facility scientific research complex of Akademgorodok was constructed about 30 km (19 mi) south of the city center. The Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (formerly the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union) has its headquarters in Akademgorodok, and the town hosts more than 35 research institutes and universities, among them Novosibirsk State University, one of the top Russian schools in natural sciences and mathematics. Although it possesses a fully autonomous infrastructure, Akademgorodok is administered by Novosibirsk.
On 2 September 1962, the population of Novosibirsk reached one million. At that time, it was the youngest city in the world with the population exceeding one million. Novosibirsk took fewer than seventy years to achieve this milestone. On 8 June 1965, the city was the scene of a dramatic aerial stunt when Lieutenant Valentin Privalov flew his MiG-17 under the October Bridge; an image which purportedly showed the event was later found to be a photocollage. In 1979, work began on the Novosibirsk Metro Transit System, culminating in the opening of the first line in 1985.
On 1 August 2008, Novosibirsk was in the center of the path of a solar eclipse, with a duration of 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
Novosibirsk is the administrative center of the oblast and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Novosibirsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the City of Novosibirsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the City of Novosibirsk is incorporated as Novosibirsk Urban Okrug.
The Administrative divisions of Novosibirsk consists of 10 districts:
According to the 2021 Russian census, the population of Novosibirsk is 1,633,595. This is an increase compared to the 2010 census, when the population of the city was 1,473,754.
People from over eighty ethnicities and nationalities reside in Novosibirsk. The largest groups are Russian, Tajik, Tatar, Uzbek, Ukrainian and Kyrgyz.
The best-known trees native to Novosibirsk are birch, pine, and aspen. Some mountain ash, hawthorn, spruce, and fir are present as well. European species of apple, ash, elm, linden, and oak have been successfully introduced.
The layout of the modern city is based on the planning of the post-revolution period. Before 1917, there was no traditional city center in Novo-nikolayevsk. The main buildings of the railway management and the nearby railway station as well as the most important cathedral and the complex of the city's government were spread throughout the city. This changed following the revolution, with Lenin House built in 1925 in what was traditionally the main avenue, Krasny Prospekt while the first Lenin monument was built in Barnaulskaya Street, closer to the railway station. And thus, until the late 1920s, Novosibirsk did not have a clearly defined city center. The 1930s brought many changes to the development of the city: Its former Bazarnaya Ploschad (Market Square) was chosen as the site for the construction of the Opera House which started in 1931. The Stalin Park of Culture and Rest was established some distance from the main avenue and the city's administrative buildings and park created a radial around the Bazarnaya Ploschad.
There are 3 road (Kommunalny, Dimitrovsky, Bugrinsky), 2 railway (First, Komsomolsky), and 1 metro bridges within the city limits. The dam of the Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Station located on the territory of the city is also used for road traffic.
The city stands on the banks of the Ob River in the West Siberian Plain. The southern boundary of the city runs through the Novosibirsk reservoir, which is formed by the dam of the Novosibirsk Hydroelectric Station and cuts through the Ob Plateau.
The nearest major cities are Omsk, Barnaul, Kemerovo, Tomsk. Novosibirsk is located about 2,811 kilometres from Moscow.
The climate in Novosibirsk is typical of Siberia, with dry winters and far-below-freezing winter temperatures. Among the reasons for these temperatures are the absence of a nearby ocean and the lack of tall mountains at the north of Novosibirsk that could hold back freezing Arctic winds. In fact, Novosibirsk is the second-farthest substantially populated city from the ocean, the first being Ürümqi in China.
The climate is humid continental (Köppen Dfb), with warm summers and bitterly cold winters. Snow is frequent, falling on almost half of all winter days, but individual snowfalls are usually light. On average temperatures range in summer from +15 °C (59 °F) to +26 °C (79 °F) and in winter from −20 °C (−4 °F) to −12 °C (10 °F). However, winter temperatures can go as low as −30 °C (−22 °F) to −35 °C (−31 °F), and summer temperatures can go as high as +30 °C (86 °F) to +35 °C (95 °F). The difference between the highest- and lowest-recorded temperatures is 82 °C (148 °F).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Novosibirsk”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.