Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk, the industrial, transport, administrative and cultural center of Khabarovsk Territory, was founded in the spring of 1858 on a spot there the mighty waters of the Amur River break against a high cliff. The city's foundation was laid by workers of Nerchinsk and Cassacks from the Upper Amur and Trans-Baikal regions, all of them descendants of the pioneers who explored ans settled Siberia.
The city is named not without reason in honor of a Vologda peasant and later a Siberian dealer Jerofei Khabarov - one of the first in the exploration and settlement of Siberia of the 17th century.
It was in 1649 that Khabarov's Cassacks brought with them to the banks of the Amur River iron ploughs and seeds of Russian grain to begin a new life on the virgin lands of the Far East.

"There will be rich fields... and this be a place of greater Beauty and plenty than in all Siberia" was how Khabarov described the future russian Amur regions.
His monument - a big bronze figure, rising above a high cliff-inveiled on the city's centenary day stands in Railway Station Square.
Khabarovsk has developed into a well-built modern city with a population of nearly 700,000. The city's 5 large districts stretching for 45 km along the bank of the Amur River are linked by bus, tram and passanger motor vessel routs.
It's streets with their handsome multistoreyed buildings give one an impression of bread river-beds.

The city continues to grow and thanks to its new residentialy blocks and districts it's getting younger and more beautiful with each passing year.
There is abundance of greenery, gardens and parks as though the Taiga itself has swept through the city, leaving long rows of trees and shrubs behind. Dense Far Eastern forests which reach up to the city and the broad ribbon of the Amur fill the air with fascinated freshness.
Khabarovsk links 3 major transport routs: the Trans-Siberian railway, the longest in the world, the Moscow - Khabarovsk airline, one of the most important and busiest airlines of the country, besides, Khabarovsk is a large port on the Amur, famous for its "river-sea" operations.
There are hundreds of industrial and building enterprises, research and designing institutes, higher educational institutes, secondary and vocational schools and cultural establishments in the city.

The city is famous for its Regional Lore Museum and Art Museum rare exhibits, i.e. a Steller cow (sea cow) sceleton in the Regional Lore Museum and the collection of old Russian icons in the Art Museum.
There are many theatres, cinemas, sport clubs, stadiums, playgrounds and other recreation centers in Khabarovsk. The pride of the city is the Central Stadium, the largest in the Far East, which was opened in 1957. It was built on a reclaimed land plot.
Of great interest is a new modern building of the Musical Comedy Theatre.