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Madagan is a port city in northeastern Russia. The
administrative center of the Magadan region, forms the municipality
"City of Magadan". Population - 92,782 people. (2018). Located
around the hills on the shore of the Taui Bay of the Sea of
Okhotsk, on the isthmus connecting the Staritsky peninsula with
the mainland between the coves of Nagaev and Gertner. The climate is
harsh with a short summer, which accounts for the period of white
nights.
Founded as a working village for the development of
mineral resources of the Kolyma Territory in 1929, the status of the
city was acquired since 1939. The Magadanka River divides the city
into two parts. The largest river within the city district is
Dukcha, the valley of which is of great agricultural and
recreational importance to the economy of the city. The historic
center is formed by ensembles of buildings constructed in the 1950s
according to the designs of Leningrad architects in the neoclassical
style.
Tourist Information Center , per. School, 3. ☎ +7 (4132) 60-70-11. Mon-Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat-Sun - days off.
By plane
Magadan International Airport (IATA:GDX) (also known as
Sokol Airport) is located 40 kilometers north of the city in the village
of Sokol. Regular flights of airlines "S7 Airlines", Aeroflot, Russia,
"Aurora", "Yakutia", "IrAero", "Chukotavia" arrive at the airport.
Airport.
The airport building is a long, rectangular piece of
Soviet-era glass that hasn't seen a boom in renovations, yet the airport
is reasonably clean and tidy. Airport parking is open and free. The
infrastructure for those waiting is not rich: on the first floor in the
far right corner from the entrance there is a fast food "Burger Club",
on the balconies of the second floor there are a couple of ordinary
cafes. Several stalls with souvenirs are scattered around the hall and
also on the balcony. Between the arrivals and departures halls there is
a fish and seafood shop, more designed for those departing who have not
decided on the purchase of delicacies before. The products sold are not
packaged in an industrial way, and local departing ones bring thermal
packages with them from the city and do not stock them at the airport.
It is connected with the prices or quality - it is not known. The
waiting room is small, with a cafe counter and a souvenir counter, there
is nothing to do here, but on flights with a large number of passengers,
waiting here is better than an endless line for inspection.
From
the airport you can get to the city by direct international bus.
By train
At the moment it is not possible to get to Magadan by train.
The Yakutsk-Magadan railway line is under project development. The
mountainous terrain and the presence of many rivers and swamps
complicate the situation.
By car
First you need to get on the
R-297 "Amur" highway, and drive about 1000 more km from Chita to the
east to the fork in Yakutsk. The Far East will be closer, but hardly
easier. Further along the A-360 "Lena" highway to Yakutsk, from there
along the R-504 "Kolyma" highway. The total length of the journey from
the fork on the Amur highway to Magadan will be more than 3,000 km,
which is comparable to a trip along the M-4 from Moscow to Novorossiysk
and back without stopping ... only these roads will be completely
different, in absolutely every respect.
Traffic on the road is
very low. That is, during the day, single cars go once an hour, or small
columns, at night the movement stops, there are very few cars.
The surface alternates with asphalt sections from good to bad, but most
of the route is still dirt and gravel. The dumping is periodically
updated and graders pass. Through the river There is no Aldan bridge, in
winter there is an ice crossing, in summer there is a ferry. In bad
weather and in the off-season, the crossing is difficult, in the spring
it is blocked during ice drift.
And although this road is quite
passable for ordinary passenger vehicles, it should be borne in mind
that it is here in our country that record low temperatures are recorded
in winter, and without appropriate preparation it is better not to
meddle, if a car has a technical malfunction, you can easily freeze (and
not to snot, but to death) overnight. It is better to postpone a trip in
the spring, because with the onset of warming, groundwater comes out in
places on the roadbed, rather rather big and difficult to pass ice
forms. In the summer it can be difficult to drive because of the healthy
dust plume of the car in front, after the rain there is no dust, but
dirt.
But, as they say: the road will be mastered by the walking
one. People go here, though sometimes it is hard. If you are a resident
of a big city, then immediately forget all your city habits, they are
unlikely to be needed here, but turn on common sense to the maximum. A
resident of European Russia is strongly advised to think a hundred times
whether it is worth going to these places at all? What you have to face
here, you will not experience or see anywhere else in your life.
(but the local landscapes are certainly beautiful).
By bus
Intercity bus service is available only with other settlements of the
Magadan region: Sokol, Palatka, Yagodny, Susuman.
The city has a network of fixed-route taxi routes.
Museums
The city has the Magadan Regional Museum of
Local Lore, the Museum of Natural History of the North-Eastern Complex
Research Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, the Museum-apartment (salon-museum) of Vadim Kozin, the
geological museum of the Magadan branch of the Territorial Fund of
Geological Information for the Far Eastern Territorial District ".
The local history museum in Magadan appeared in 1934 after a local
history exhibition timed to coincide with the First Congress of
Collective Farmers of Kolyma. The basis of the collection was the
household items of Evens and Yakuts, collected by members of the
Okhotsk-Kolyma local history circle. Initially, it was called the
Okhotsk-Kolyma Museum of Local Lore. After the creation of the Magadan
Region in 1953, it received its modern name. The museum has natural
history, ethnographic, archaeological and art collections. It also
contains unique materials on the history of the Kolyma region during the
period of Stalinist repressions. Museum staff take part in
archaeological research in Chukotka and the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk.
The museum's funds include over 250 thousand items.
Mask of
Sorrow
“Mask of Sorrow” is a memorial to the victims of political
repressions who were imprisoned in the labor camps of the Sevvostlag in
Kolyma.
The central monument of the memorial (sculptor - Ernst
Neizvestny, architect - Kamil Kozaev) is a stylized face of a man, from
whose left eye tears flow in the form of small masks. The right eye is
depicted in the form of a window with a lattice. A bell hangs outside
the window, ringing in the wind. On the reverse side of the monument are
a weeping woman and a man with his head thrown back on the cross. Inside
the monument is a stylized copy of a prison cell.
The monument
was erected on Krutaya Hill and opened on June 12, 1996. Here in
Stalin's times there was a "Transitka" - a transit point from which
stages of prisoners were sent to various Kolyma camps.
Religion
Holy Trinity Cathedral in Magadan is a temple-monument to the victims of
political repression. Construction began in October 2001 (it was built
with funds and donations from parishioners and organizations). The
initiator of the construction is Bishop Feofan (he left the service in
Magadan in connection with the transfer to Krasnodar). Consecrated on
September 1, 2011. This is the largest Orthodox church in the Far East.
The total area of the Cathedral, taking into account the adjacent
territory, is more than 9 thousand m². The prototype of the
architectural solution was the ancient Russian Vladimir-Novgorod
architecture. The Holy Trinity Cathedral is one of the highest in
Russia: the height of the central dome with a cross is 71.2 m. The
painting of the cathedral was made by Palekh masters. Rector: Bishop
John of Magadan and Sinegorsk.
There are also the Magadan
Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, the church
of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the church in honor of St. Sergius of
Radonezh, Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
There is
a Protestant Church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians.
There are cinemas in Magadan - Gornyak, Nagaevsky, Raduga-Kino.
There are two theaters in Magadan:
The construction of the
building of the Magadan Regional House of Culture named after M. Gorky
began in the spring of 1940. The opening took place on October 5, 1941.
After the merger of the theater troupe of the House of Culture with the
Magadan Variety Theater, the Magadan Gorky Music and Drama Theater
arose. The modern name is Magadan State Musical Drama Theatre.
The
Magadan State Puppet Theater was founded in 1979 by Alexander Romanov, a
graduate of the Shchukin School. The first productions took place on the
stage of the Magadan Palace of Trade Unions. Since 1994 the theater has
its own building. The basis of the repertoire is performances based on
fairy tales, including those based on the folklore of the peoples of the
north. Among the performances are the plays of the Chukchi poetess A.
Kymytval "Deer - golden horns" and "Festival of the Sun", the Magadan
writer V. Leontiev "The Adventures of the Brave Eyvelkeya."
Regional Museum of Local Lore, st. Karl Marx, 55. ☎ +7
(4132) 60-58-59. Wed-Sun: 10.00-18.00. 150 r.
City Park.
Marchekansky hill. free of charge. In winter and summer, you can climb
the Marchekanskaya Sopka, located south of the city, and enjoy beautiful
views of the city and bays.
In the 20th century, in connection with the search for new places
for the extraction of precious metals, the interest of the Russian
government in Chukotka and the Okhotsk coast increased. Several
expeditions were sent to the outskirts of Russia, but industrial
gold was not found. In 1915, in the Srednekan basin, a lone
prospector Shafigullin, nicknamed Boriska, found the first gold in
the Kolyma. In 1926, the expedition of S. V. Obruchev established
favorable geological conditions for the occurrence of this metal.
Two years later, Yu. A. Bilibin's First Kolyma Expedition marked
the beginning of a detailed study of the Kolyma. Reliable
information about the economy of the region was obtained by the
hydrographic expedition of I.F. Molodykh, who recommended the Nagaev
Bay as convenient for the construction of the port and the starting
point for the construction of the road.
On October 13, 1928,
the Olsky District Executive Committee decided to build the
Vostochno-Evenskaya (Nagaevskaya) cultural base, and on June 22,
1929, the construction of residential buildings, a school, a
veterinary station, a hospital and a boarding school building began.
The settlement of Magadan on the site of the future city was
founded in 1929. In 1930-1934 it was the center of the Okhotsk-Even
national district.
On November 11, 1931, the Decree of the
Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On
Kolyma” was issued, which ordered the formation of a “special trust
with direct subordination to the Central Committee of the All-Union
Communist Party of Bolsheviks” for gold mining in Kolyma. On
November 13, 1931, the State Trust for Road and Industrial
Construction was organized in the Upper Kolyma region - Dalstroy. In
order to ensure the existing and planned work of Dalstroy in
territories where the permanent population was previously almost
completely absent, on the basis of the order of the OGPU dated
04/01/1932 No. 287 / s, the North-Eastern Correctional Labor Camp
(Sevvostlag or USVITL) was created. The first group of prisoners (at
least 100 people) arrived in Nagaev Bay on the Sakhalin steamer
along with other civilian employees of the state trust and
paramilitary guards on February 4, 1932. According to the Dalstroi
report, in 1932, out of 13 thousand people in the workforce, there
were 9.9 thousand prisoners and 3 thousand civilians; in 1932, 1387
people arrived in Kolyma and 872 left for the mainland.
When,
in November 1931, the demobilized soldiers of the Far Eastern Army
arrived on the ship Slavstroy, the population immediately increased
from 500 to 2,000 people. A tent - "calico" town appeared, and the
tent street was named after the commander of the Far Eastern Army
V.K. Blucher (now - Nagaev Street).
The miners and geologists
needed food and equipment, and the delivery of goods along the
Olskaya pack trail and then by rafting along the Multan and
Bakhapcha took a lot of time, so the construction of a road from the
Okhotsk coast to the mining areas began.
On March 4, 1933, a
hospital was opened that served the population of Magadan, Nagaev
and nearby settlements. The therapeutic department was the first to
start working.
By the end of the 1930s, the Kolyma Territory
became the location of the Gulag camps. Tens of thousands of
prisoners were employed in gold mining. In addition, thousands of
prisoners in 1937-38 were shot by decision of the NKVD troika.
Berzin, the first director of Dalstroi, the initiator of all
publishing initiatives in Magadan, Robert Apin, journalist Alexei
Kosterin, writer Isaac Gekhtman, heads of factories and departments
were also repressed. The sinister reputation of Kolyma prompted
Alexander Solzhenitsyn to call it in his book The Gulag Archipelago
"the pole of cold and cruelty" in the Gulag system.
On July
14, 1939, the working settlement of Magadan was transformed into a
city. This date is considered to be the year of birth of Magadan.
After Stalin's death in 1953, prisoners in Kolyma began to be
gradually replaced by workers and specialists from other regions of
the country, attracted by economic rather than repressive methods
(higher wages, benefits).
On December 3, 1953, the Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet of the SSR issued a decree "On the Formation
of the Magadan Region", and on April 26, 1954, the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR approved the creation of the Magadan Region. Magadan became
an administrative, economic, scientific and cultural center. The
appearance of the city-camp was rapidly changing. The transit towns
could not accommodate the thousands of released prisoners returning
to the mainland. Camps were liquidated, barracks were demolished. In
1953, the city received students in the beautiful building of the
Mining and Geological College (architect - P. N. Andrikamns,
designer - V. A. Illarionov). In 1954, regular air service
Magadan-Moscow began (on an Il-12 aircraft, the flight lasted 48
hours). The Palace of Sports (the authors of the project are A. V.
Mashinsky, S. M. Kurdubov, G. P. Malschkin) became a gift for the
residents of the city; its opening took place on July 15, 1954.
Three years later, television screens lit up in the region,
receiving signals from an amateur television studio.
In 1955,
a regional hospital was opened (on the basis of the city hospital).
The city is located on the territory between the bays of Nagaev and
Gertner, on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The distance from Magadan
to Moscow by road is 10,210 km. To the south of Magadan is Vladivostok,
to which the distance is about 5000 km.
Magadan is in the MSK+8
time zone. The offset of the applicable time from UTC is +11:00. In
accordance with the applied time and geographic longitude, the average
solar noon in Magadan occurs at 12:57.
Magadan is characterized by a subarctic climate with maritime features. Winter is long and cold, moderated by the Sea of Okhotsk. Summers are short and cool, with frequent winds. The average temperature overcomes 0 °C only in May, and falls below 0 °C in early October. The warmest month of the year is August with an average daily maximum of +15 °C, the coldest month of the year is January with an average daily temperature of -16.4 °C.
Motor transport
From Magadan, the federal highway P504 "Kolyma"
passes through the main settlements of the region, connecting the region
with Yakutia and the "mainland".
Magadan motor transport
enterprises carry out regular bus trips to the settlements of Ola,
Arman, Palatka, Sokol, Uptar, Yagodnoye, Susuman, Ust-Omchug, Matrosovo.
Shuttle taxis also run around the city.
Railway
There is
currently no operating railway in Magadan.
In 1940-50s. the
Magadan-Palatka line operated.
Russian Railways is considering
the possibility of building a railway to Magadan from the Nizhny
Bestyakh station of the Amur-Yakutsk railway by 2035, which will
contribute to the development of the territory with huge deposits of
minerals.
Sea port
The second largest seaport in the
north-east of the country (after Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky)[68], which
operates year-round (from December to May - ice assistance - one or more
icebreakers guiding a group or caravan of ships).
Air transport
International Airport "Magadan" (Sokol) named after V. S. Vysotsky - the
largest in the north-east of Russia, it is, one might say, the only hub
that serves to transport people and urgent cargo. The second airport
(Magadan-13) lost its importance in the 1990-2000s and is currently used
for a small number of charter flights.
Air Navigation of the
North-East, a branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise State
Corporation for Air Traffic Management in the Russian Federation, serves
and monitors about 450 flights daily. This is the only enlarged flight
control center in Russia.
The Magadan branch of the research and
production company "PANH" carries out the transportation of special
equipment, construction and installation and other special aviation
works
The Magadan Aircraft Repair Plant repaired Mi-8 helicopters
until its bankruptcy in 2018. On its basis, the flight enterprise
"Polyar-Avia" was organized.
Magadan is home to the North-Eastern Scientific Center of the Far
Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which unites the
following academic institutions: North-Eastern Complex Research
Institute (SVKNII) FEB RAS, Institute for Biological Problems of the
North (IBPS) FEB RAS, Research Center "Arctic » FEB RAS. In addition,
Magadan is home to the Magadan Research Institute of Fisheries and
Oceanography (FGBNU "MagadanNIRO"), as well as the North-Eastern
Permafrost Research Station of the Institute of Permafrost named after.
Melnikov SB RAS.
Higher education is represented by the only
institution in the entire region - the North-Eastern State University
(SVGU). Previously, there were also branches of universities from other
regions:
Magadan branch of St. Petersburg University of
Management Technology and Economics (until 2019),
Magadan branch of
the Moscow State Law University named after O. E. Kutafin (until 2016),
Magadan branch of the Russian State University for the Humanities (until
2016)
7 colleges and vocational schools, 22 secondary schools are
teaching.
There are 11 libraries and several museums, among which
the Regional Museum of Local Lore and the Regional Scientific Universal
Library named after M. A. S. Pushkin.
Fixed telephone communication in the city and in the villages of the
Magadan Region is provided by Rostelecom PJSC, AltaVistaTelecom LLC,
Arbuz LLC and Maglan LLC, six-digit city telephone numbers. In addition,
6 federal cellular operators operate in the city: MTS, Beeline, MegaFon,
YOTA (on Megafon networks), Tele2 and Rostelecom (on Tele2 networks).
Rostelecom, in addition to providing fixed and cellular telephone
services, is the largest Internet provider in the city and in the
region, providing access to the global network using FTTB technology.
Home Internet services are also provided by Far Eastern
Telecommunications Company (DVTK), Maglan, Magnet and Arbuz. In 2016,
Rostelecom put into operation its own FOCL, which was laid from Sakhalin
to Magadan, which made it possible to significantly increase the speed
of unlimited wired Internet access. In the future, it is planned to
launch the Yakutia-Magadan FOCL, the laying of which is carried out by
NPO Impulse.
Television and radio broadcasting is provided by the
Magadan Regional Radio and Television Transmitting Center, which is a
branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Russian Television and
Radio Broadcasting Network, LLC Seven Krugov and LLC TV-Kolyma-Plus.
Cable television services in the city are provided by LLC Far East
Telecommunications Company (under the Mir Antenna brand) and LLC Maglan
TV, and interactive television services are provided by PJSC Rostelecom
and LLC Arbuz.
Among the well-known media of the city, there are 3 television and
radio companies - these are the State Television and Radio Broadcasting
Company "Magadan", "TV-Kolyma-Plus" and "Karibu", online publications -
"Kolyma.ru", "MagadanMedia", "Very", "Magadan Says", print publications
- "Arguments and Facts. Magadan, Magadanskaya Pravda, Evening Magadan,
News of the City M, Kolyma Trakt and others.
Local TV programs
can be seen on the 2nd, 7th and 9th positions of the first digital
terrestrial TV multiplex (TV channels Russia-1, Russia-24 and OTR), as
part of the tie-ins of the Magadan State Television and Radio
Broadcasting Company on the channels of the All-Russian State Television
and Radio Broadcasting Company and the regional television and radio
company TV-Kolyma-Plus on OTR channel. In cable broadcasting, TV
channels "TV-Kolyma-Plus" (21 buttons) and "TV-Karibu" are available.
Also, in the city, in addition to various network radio stations, 2
independent ones broadcast - these are Caribou-Art (104.2 FM) and Radio
Kolyma (107.5 FM).
In April 1956, the Magadan art and production workshops of the Yakut branch of the Art Fund of the RSFSR were opened. On April 27, 1962, the Magadan branch of the Union of Artists was formed. It annually holds exhibitions of artists of the Magadan region. The appearance in the city of a branch of the Union of Artists made it possible to work professionally in the field of fine arts. Since the 1960s, Magadan artists have taken part in zonal, republican and all-Union (after 1991 - all-Russian) exhibitions. Their works are kept in many museums in Russia, including the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Artists such as Valentin Antoshchenko-Olenev, Dmitry Bryukhanov, Georgy Wagner, Hertz Shlomanis, Vasily Shukhaev, sculptors Kim In Ho, Mikhail Rakitin, Georgy Lavrov worked in the city.
The Magadan Regional Philharmonic Society organizes the activities of
musical groups and conducts concerts. The Ener (Star) Song and Dance
Ensemble and the Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments operate at the
Philharmonic.
Every year Magadan hosts the Starfall performing
arts competition, the purpose of which is to identify and encourage
talented pop music performers.