Despite the fact that Arkhangelsk was built on the shore, it is a large seaport – thanks to the Dvina River, which connects the city with the sea. Thanks to such a convenient location, Arkhangelsk once began to grow and develop so rapidly, in fact, occupying a crucial position at the crossroads of trade routes.
Of all the cities in the north of the European part of the Russian Federation, it is the largest. In the 16-17th centuries, huge commodity flows passed through Arkhangelsk. This city alone provided up to 50-60% of the replenishment of the treasury of the Russian state. Arkhangelsk was founded as a monastery settlement on the orders of Ivan the Terrible. He lost the role of the main trading port during the reign of Peter I. He actually banned the city from trading, so as not to compete with the newly built Petersburg. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the first Russian icebreaker flotilla was formed in Arkhangelsk. It was here that the first international fair in Russia appeared – Margaritinskaya.
The Russian tricolor was first raised in Arkhangelsk, in 1694, on the first naval ship built at a local shipyard. It was called St. Paul. At the end of the 18th century, here, on the orders of Catherine II, the first naval school in the Russian Empire was opened. It was from the Arkhangelsk port that numerous scientific expeditions were sent to explore the North Pole, with a total of more than two hundred During the Civil War, from 1918 to 1920, their own temporary money, “walruses and gulls” were used here. In 1910, it was in Arkhangelsk that the Moulin Rouge, the first public cinema in Russia, opened. In the sky above the city you can often see the northern lights.
Over the years of World War II, more than 4 million tons of cargo passed through the Arkhangelsk port, delivered by the Allies to the USSR under Lend-Lease. Arkhangelsk has the world’s northernmost railway bridge, as well as the northernmost mills. On the Mezen River near the city, tides reach a height of 6-8 meters. The Solovetsky Islands in the Arkhangelsk Region are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first pedestrian street in Arkhangelsk, Chumbarov-Luchinsky Avenue, appeared here only in the 21st century. Arkhangelsk has no official flag. He is the owner of the Order of Lenin and bears the honorary title of the City of Military Glory. Record frost here was -45.2 degrees.
