khabarovsk, far-east siberia

The refined elegance of Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk, pop. 600 000, is the largest city of the Russian Far East.

Хабаровск, 48.5°N 135.1°E

Khabarovsk is located at the confluence of the Amur River with its tributary the Ussuri River.

In spite of the location just 25 km from China, it looks quite European with tree-lined streets and graceful architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk lies on the right bank of the Amur river, 40 km below the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri.

These two rivers form a natural setting for a borderline between Russia and China.

China

The Amur Bridge is located 4 km from the center of Khabarovsk. Completed in 1916, it was described then as "the Amur wonder".The total length of the bridge is 3,5 km.

Downtown Khabarovsk is mainly a set of paralel avenues running down to the Amur river, the two most concurred being those that start at the Dinamo park and the main square area

The old town and cultural quarter looks over the river

From the town´s main square, decorated with fountains and gardens, starts the elegant main street, Muravyov-Amursky boulevard.

The long avenue stretches from the square down to the river Amur.

The Government of the Khabarovsk Krai, the province of Khabarovsk.

A magnificent simetrical set of 9 fountains decorates the square

The two sets of four iron carved fountains are the square’s main attraction

Muravyov – Amursky blv.

The main street, where shopping and cultural life take place, and where most of the best buildings are located.

The main street looks more elegantly old-fashioned than any other street in Khabarovsk, and is a live chronicle of the city’s history.

Central department store L'Etoile (1914)Nº23, Muravyov – Amursky

Entrance to the cafe “Cup of tea", at the Central department store

Sovkino movie theater,the oldest in Khabarovsk.

36, Muravyov – Amursky

The Old Duma, one of the oldest buildings in the city.

Nº 17-19 Muravyov – Amursky

“Tainy remesla“ : inside the Duma, a souvenir shop: ivory bone, caskets, dolls, toys, goods made by native people of Far East, decorations made of stone, wood and amber, ceramics.

Built in 1907-09

Theater for the young spectator, Khabarovsk Regional Youth Theater

Old “town hall”, 1909

Street scenes

Муравьева-Амурского Муравьева-Амурского

Café “Russia”Russian cuisine

5-9, Muravyov-Amurski

Nurse School house

The Nurse schoolart-nouveau building, Muravyov-Amursky st.

Old town perspective

Lotus trade center, M-A 7

Trading center Kunst and Albers, with its summer esplanade

Downstreet to the river

Intersection with Ussuri and Turgenev streets

An elegant brick façade

Drugstore / pharmacy, M-A, 8

Far eastern State library of science(1900)Muravyov – Amursky, 1

A Research library in Khabarovsk.

Another intricate red-and-gray brick façade.

Office Building of the Amur River Shipping Company. Built in years 1932-1934

Towers of Khabarovsk

Cathedral Square, with Assumption Cathedral ( Komsomolskaya in soviet times) Muravyov-Amursky

Amur Shipping Co.

Shevchenko st. museums

Stairway down to the river

Shevchenko Street Culture and achitecture

There is a fantastic cluster of museums along Shevchenko Street, just behind the tall blue-domed Church on Komsomolskaya square towards the river.

The museums also have their home in some impressive century old buildings dating back to before the revolution.

Fine Arts Museum and Concert hall7, Shevchenko st.

orthodox seminary

Concert hall of the Khabarovsk Krai Philharmonic, founded in 1938

Art MuseumRanks amongst Russia's best and has been awarded numerous awards and commendations.

The museum has an impressive collection of Russian and European art dating back to the 15th century, as well as samples of art by native nationalities of the region.

Rebecca al PozzoTiziano Vecellio (1488-1576).

Among other precious works, one from Canaletto pictures the Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma (1769).

A rich collection of early Slavic icons

The Local Lore Museum, or Far Eastern Arts Museum 11, Shevchenko Street

One of the oldest museums in the Russian far east, laid out in 6 sections in an impressive 1894 red-brick building. http://hkm.ru/texts/view/54

Set up in 1931, at present it holds over 10,000 pieces of Russian and Western Arts, as well as, a unique collection of the Far Eastern aboriginal applied arts, that includes fish skin outfits, beautiful carpets and bone-engraved items.

Nanai (round) and Oroch (square) birch baskets from the Khabarovsk region.

Hunter's hat called bogdo

from the village of Gvasiugi, Amur River

Inupiaq pincushion from Kotzebue, Alaska,1986, of bleached sealskin, leather, felt, sequins, and beads.

Archeological museum

The museum’s main feature are the reproductions and diagrams of the wide-eyed figures found at the ancient Sikachi-Alyan petroglyphs. some dating from 30 000 years ago.

The Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan

Travelling down the Amur river, some cliff-pictures can be found by the village of Sikachi-Alyan. They are the most valuable source of cognition of history and culture of the indigenous peoples.

They have also been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

A petroglyph on a rock by the Amur river

Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Khabarovsk Scientific Center 9, Shevchenko st.

Institute of Applied Mathematics Computer Center Institute for Material Studies Institute of Machinery and Metallurgy Mining Institute Institute of Water and Ecological Problems Economic Research Institute Institute of Complex Analysis of Regional Problems Institute of Tectonics and Geophysics

The russian orthodox Grado-Khabarovsk Cathedral of Mother of God’s Assumption

Constructed in 2002. to replace the cathedral destroyed in the 1930s.

The walkway down to Khabarovsk's Amur River embankment reflects the city’s order, elegance and cleanliness

The city park

Amursky boulevard

Broad avenue with up and down tram lines, hotels and shops, starting at the Railway Station and stretching down to the Amur river walk, where it joins Shebyshev Street.

Khabarovsk Railway Station

The railways, from west and east, from north and south are coming together in Khabarovsk. The Railway square is the Railway Gates of Khabarovsk City..

Ocean Express Okean, runs from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok

The Trans Siberian railroad

The Trans Siberian railroad, the longest in the world, goes through Khabarovsk and connects the Far East with the central Russian areas

Bench in the platform

Привокзальная площадь

The Station square, where Amursky boulevard starts.

Tram lines run along the first part of Amursky blv.

Volochaevskaya street crosses from Amursky blv. to Muravyov-Amursky st.

Restaurant “Khabarovsk”

Volochaevskaya street

Hotel Khabarovsk

Public art on a bench, Amursky blv

Seryshev Street

Far Eastern State Transport University

formed in 1937 as the Khabarovsk Institute of Railway Transport Engineers.

“The arch”, a neoclassical building

Innokenti church (St. Innocent of Irkutsk)

By the Amur River, this is the oldest church in Khabarovsk.

The first wooden church in Khabarovsk

Bbuilt in 1868, two years later it was consecrated and named as Innokentievskaya, in the honor of the holy Innokenty, the first bishop of Irkutsk city, patron of Siberia and the Russian Far East.

30 years later, instead of the wooden one, a new stone building was constructed, which is kept till now with few changes.

Turgenev street

Turgenev street aproaching the cathedral

Cathedral church of the Saviour’s Transfiguration

Only completed in 2004, at 83 meters this is the 3rd tallest church in all Russia

The spectacular set of the cathedral and the seminary makes this square the most monumental in town.

The orthodox seminary

Perspective of the cathedral area and the Amur river.

City Hall of KhabarovskClose to Dinamo park

Far Eastern Railway Co.

Lions close toCity Park entry

Dinamo ParkEntry

Very popular on sunny days; the water ponds are searched for

splashing and cooling down.

Voronezhskaya street

Church of Princess Elizabeth the Great

(railway hospital church)

Near Voronezhskaya st(off center)

Volochaevskaya st.

Khabarovsk CircusVolochaevskaya st.

The Circus is a popular place. It keeps going year round. Talented and well-known circus groups from Moscow and St. Petersburg come to Khabarovsk.

Khabarovsk circus had a brand new home constructed a few years back, in a impressive building. There will usually be guest performances from all over Russia or even China.

Old town wooden houses

Sheronov street

House with ghosts in the downtown of Khabarovsk. Nobody lives there,

The outdoor swimming pools

The Amur walk, the cliff and the beach

Ferry station Amur

In summer, boat cruises start from the beach.

Boat crusing on the Amur river

The Amur Cliff (Utyos)

This is where the city was founded in the spring of 1858: here the mighty waters of the Amur River break against a high cliff.

The historical origin of Khabarovsk, 145 years ago

The cliff facing the Amur is an icon of the city; the building at the top is now a restaurant - Café Utyos - at the bottom of Shevchenko street.

Utyos is located an unusual art nouveau building from the forties on top of the tall cliff dominating the waterfront. It has a large balcony with spectacular views of the Amur,

Café Utyos, 15 Shevchenko St.

The Amur balcons, overlooking to China

Khabarovsk in Winter

The Ice Fantasy Festival

Annual ice sculpting competition that has been held in January every year, the festival attracts some of the best ice-sculptors.

Khabarovsk at night

Around Khabarovsk

The Amur River sets the fronteer between Russia and China; but in places like this, several islands and canals make the line dubious – and some conflict exists: here the russians have buit in a hurry a little chapel to affirm their sovereignt…

Though from space it looks like a impact crater or the remnants of an ancient volcano, the Kondyor Massif, in Russia, is an "intrusion."

An intrusion forms when molten magma of igneous rock crystallizes below the surface of the earth, in this case forming a perfectly circular rocky ring over a billion years ago. It lies in the drainage basin of the lower Amur River in Khabarovsk Krai.

The intrusion is huge, five miles in diameter, and it occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean.

The Amur tiger

Map

Sources:

Photos and text excerpts from

• http://www.trekearth.com• http://www.panoramio.com/• http://www.pbase.com• http://www.flickr.com/• http://picasaweb.google.com• http://www.woophy.com/photo

© Mario Ricca, 2010