Yakutsk, Russia

Yakutsk, Russia

Yakutsk is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located 450 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It is the second coldest large city in the world after Norilsk, although Yakutsk experiences colder temperatures in the winter. The city is the largest city built on continuous permafrost, and many houses there are built on concrete piles.

About Yakutsk, Russia in brief

Summary Yakutsk, RussiaYakutsk is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located 450 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It is the second coldest large city in the world after Norilsk, although Yakutsk experiences colder temperatures in the winter. The city is the largest city built on continuous permafrost, and many houses there are built on concrete piles. The lowest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast of Yakutk, making it the coldest major city on Earth. July temperatures soar to an above-normal average for this latitude, with the average being several degrees hotter than such more southerly Far East cities as Vladivostok or Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. July daytime temperatures are even hotter than some maritime subtropical areas.

The annual Ysyakh festival takes place in the last weekend in summer. There are a number of museums as well as the National Fine Arts Museum of the Local History, named after E. Yaroslavsky; the State Russian Drama Theater named after A. Pushkin; and the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, named for D. Kivtsev. Yakutia Airlines has its head office in the city, with a flight station on the Lena River. The Yakuts migrated to the area during the 13th and 14th centuries from other parts of Siberia. They mixed with other indigenous Siberians in the area. The town was founded in 1632 as an ostrog by Pyotr Beketov. It became the center of a voyevodstvo in 1639, and the Voivode became the most important Russian official in the region and directed expansion to the east and south.