Description : Krasnoyarsk (Russian: Красноя́рск, tr. Krasnojársk, IPA: (About this soundlisten)) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk and Omsk, with a population of 1,035,528 as of the 2010 Census. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russia's largest producers of aluminium. The city is known for its nature landscapes; author Anton Chekhov judged Krasnoyarsk to be the most beautiful city in Siberia. The Stolby Nature Sanctuary is located 10 km south of the city. Krasnoyarsk is a major educational centre in Siberia, and hosts the Siberian Federal University. The city was founded on August 19, 1628 as a Russian border fort when a group of service class people from Yeniseysk led by Andrey Dubenskoy arrived at the confluence of the Kacha and Yenisei Rivers and constructed fortifications intended to protect the frontier from attacks of native peoples who lived along the Yenisei and its tributaries. Along with Kansk to the east, it represented the southern limit of Russian expansion in the Yenisei basin during the seventeenth century. In the letter to Tsar Michael I the Cossacks reported: ...The town of trunks (log buildings) we have constructed and around the place of fort, we the servants of thee, our Lord, have embedded posts and fastened them with double bindings and the place of fort have strengthened mightily... The fort was named Krasny Yar (Russian: Кра́сный Яр) after the Yarin (a dialect of Khakas) name of the place it was built, Kyzyl Char ('red steep-riverbank'), which was translated as Krasny Yar. The settlement was granted town status in 1690. An intensive growth of Krasnoyarsk began with the arrival of the Siberian Route (the road M53 nowadays) in 1735 to 1741 which connected the nearby towns of Achinsk and Kansk with Krasnoyarsk and with the rest of Russia. In 1749, a meteorite with a mass of about 700 kilograms (1,500 lb) was found 230 km (140 mi) south of Krasnoyarsk. It was excavated by Peter Simon Pallas in 1772 and transported to Krasnoyarsk and subsequently to Saint Petersburg. The Krasnoyarsk meteorite is important because it was the first pallasite ever studied and the first meteorite ever etched.
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