Achinsk
The city of Achinsk is spread on a spur of the Arga mountain range, on the right shore of the Chulym river (a confluent of the Ob river) where the Chulym river is crossed by trans-Siberian Railroad and Federal road M-53. Achinsk is a junction of railroads to Abakan and Lesosibirsk. Achinsk is located about 174 km away from Krasnoyarsk.
The date of Achinsk’s foundation is July 25, 1683 (when the first burg was built).
In 1782 Achinsk was promoted to the category of the Tomsk province’s district towns, in 1822 it became a district town of the Yenisei province.
In 1785 Achinsk was granted an emblem with a picture of a bow and a quiver with arrows.
At the end of the 18th century the Achinsk region consisted of 11 districts. In 1834 there were 1 linen factory, 3 tanneries, 2 soap factories and 1 candle factory. In those days Achinsk was a terminal point. And little by little Achinsk was formed as a merchant town located on the old Moscow tract.
The following famous people had visited Achinsk: A.Hannibal – a close associate of Peter the First, and also a grandfather of A.Pushkin; A.Radishev, N.Chernyshevskiy, A.Chekhov and others.
Achinsk is also known by the names of some famous people who lived there in different times: D.Davydov – a composer of the song “Nice sea – sacred Baikal”; a writer V.Yan who wrote the historical novels “Genghis Khan”, “Batiy”, “To The Last Sea”; a theater and movie actress M.Ladynina, a singer K.Shulzhenko, an Olympics champion S.Masterkova, a minister of Russian Federation Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Response S.Shoigu.
Achinsk became an industrial city in post-war years when one of the largest alumina plant was built (in 1955). Nowadays Joint Stock Company “AGK” (Alumina Plant of Achinsk) of the “Rusal” company is a local economic mainstay. The following development of the city was building of an oil refinery (1970). Nowadays ANPZ (Oil Refinery of Achinsk) of the “Yukos” company is a supplier of all the trademarks to the Siberia market.
In 1990 Achinsk was included in the official list of Russian cities that have a historical and cultural value of All-Russian means.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries a construction of stone mansions for city’s merchants started. Its architecture has a unique style that was formed on the basis of classicism mixed with elements of modern and some other styles, with a varied use of brick’s capabilities in creation of difficult ornaments and face decorations. The most of the buildings of the military town (1911-1914) are made in this “brick style”.
The architecture sights of the city: Kazan Cathedral (1832), the building of a former Synagogue (1907), the building of the former female gymnasium (1912) (currently - normal school), the former Public Meeting House (currently – Drama Theater of Achinsk).
The Achinsk people got thousands of rewards for their valor and bravery in Great Patriotic War (World War II). 18 soldiers became the Heroes of the Soviet Union. Streets, prospectuses, schools are named in their honor (Lapenkov prospectus, Nazarova street, Lebedenko street and others).
Since 1925 Achinsk had been the center of the Achinsk region, since 1934 Achinsk has been the center of the Achinsk district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The square of the city is 103.21 square kilometers, the population is 120 thousand people (2002).
The city of Achinsk comprises a working settlement Mazulskiy (1.4 thousand people).