Tayshet is a city in Russia, the administrative center of the Tayshet district of the Irkutsk region. Population - 32 671 people. (2020). The city is located in the western part of the Irkutsk region, 680 km from the regional center - Irkutsk and 320 km from the center of the neighboring region - Krasnoyarsk. The area of the city is 7572 hectares. Large railway junction.
Early Origins and Etymology
The name "Tayshet" originates from the
Evenki language, spoken by the indigenous Evenki people of Siberia, a
Tungusic ethnic group historically inhabiting the taiga regions of
eastern Russia. It combines the words "ta" (meaning "swift") and "yshet"
(meaning "river"), referring to the swift-flowing Biryusa River on which
the settlement is located. Prior to Russian colonization and settlement
in the late 19th century, the area around Tayshet was part of the vast
Siberian wilderness, sparsely populated by nomadic Evenki hunters,
herders, and fishermen who relied on the region's rivers and forests for
sustenance. The Evenki, along with other indigenous groups like the
Buryats, had inhabited these lands for centuries, but there are no
records of permanent settlements in the immediate vicinity of modern
Tayshet before the arrival of Russian explorers and railway builders.
The broader Irkutsk region saw increasing Russian influence from the
17th century onward, as fur traders (promyshlenniki) and Cossack
expeditions pushed eastward, establishing ostrogs (fortified outposts)
and incorporating Siberia into the Russian Empire. However, Tayshet
itself remained undeveloped until the industrial ambitions of the late
imperial era.
Founding and the Trans-Siberian Railway
(1897–1920s)
Tayshet was officially founded in 1897 as a modest
supply depot and railway station during the construction of the
Trans-Siberian Railway, one of the most ambitious infrastructure
projects of the Russian Empire. Initiated under Tsar Alexander III and
continued by Nicholas II, the railway aimed to connect European Russia
with the Far East, facilitating trade, military movement, and
colonization. Tayshet's strategic location—669 kilometers northwest of
Irkutsk and at the intersection of major Siberian rivers—made it an
ideal logistics hub for workers and materials. The settlement grew
rapidly around the railway station, attracting laborers, engineers, and
settlers. By the early 1900s, it consisted of wooden barracks,
warehouses, and basic amenities to support the railway crews.
The
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) highlighted the vulnerabilities of the
Trans-Siberian line, particularly its southern route near the Chinese
border, prompting early discussions about alternative northern routes
through Siberia. This laid conceptual groundwork for what would later
become the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). However, Tayshet's development
was disrupted by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing Civil
War (1918–1922). Siberia became a battleground between Bolshevik Red
forces, White anti-communist armies, and intervening foreign troops.
While specific battles in Tayshet are not well-documented, the region
experienced chaos, with railways used for troop transport and
occasionally sabotaged. By the 1920s, under Soviet control, Tayshet
stabilized as a small railway outpost, with a population likely
numbering in the low thousands.
On May 25, 1925, Tayshetsky District
was formally established as an administrative unit within Irkutsk
Oblast, with Tayshet as its center. This reflected the Soviet Union's
push for regional organization to support industrialization and resource
extraction in Siberia.
The Gulag Era and Forced Labor
(1930s–1950s)
The 1930s marked Tayshet's darkest chapter,
transforming it into a key node in the Soviet Gulag system—a network of
forced-labor camps established under Joseph Stalin to suppress dissent,
exploit resources, and build infrastructure. Tayshet served as the
administrative headquarters for Ozerlag (Ozernyi Corrective Labor Camp),
one of the largest Gulag complexes, encompassing about 50 camps engaged
in logging, mining, railway construction, and other grueling activities.
Ozerlag, operational from the 1930s to the 1950s, stretched across the
taiga between Tayshet and Bratsk, with prisoners enduring brutal
conditions: subzero temperatures, malnutrition, disease, and overwork.
Survivor accounts describe high mortality rates, with one estimate
claiming a "dead man under every sleeper" along the railway tracks.
The camps housed political prisoners, common criminals, and ethnic
minorities deemed "enemies of the state" during the Great Purge
(1936–1938). After World War II, Ozerlag absorbed thousands of prisoners
of war, including Japanese from the Kwantung Army and Germans, many
sentenced to 25 years of labor. Notable figures like German General
Dietrich von Saucken were interned here. The camp administration rotated
chiefs frequently, with oversight from the central Gulag authority in
Moscow. Another camp, Angarstroy, was also managed from Tayshet,
focusing on hydroelectric and industrial projects.
In 1937,
construction began on the first section of the Baikal-Amur Mainline
(BAM) from Tayshet eastward, primarily using Gulag labor. Conceived as a
strategic backup to the Trans-Siberian, BAM aimed to tap Siberia's
mineral wealth and bolster defenses against potential Japanese invasion.
By the 1950s, sections like Tayshet to Ust-Kut (720 km) were completed
amid immense human cost. Work halted during WWII but resumed postwar.
Tayshet gained town status in 1938, partly due to its growing importance
in these projects.
Stalin's death in 1953 led to de-Stalinization
under Nikita Khrushchev, with amnesties beginning in 1956. Many
prisoners, including foreigners, were released; surviving German POWs
were repatriated in 1955 after West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's
Moscow visit. Ozerlag was gradually dismantled, though its legacy of
trauma persisted.
Postwar Development and the BAM Completion
(1960s–1990s)
In the postwar decades, Tayshet evolved into a major
railway junction, where the Trans-Siberian and BAM intersect. The BAM
project, dubbed the "construction project of the century" by Leonid
Brezhnev in 1974, resumed large-scale work in the 1970s, employing
Komsomol (Communist Youth League) volunteers, military units, and
civilian workers rather than forced labor. Completed in 1991 after
decades of delays and billions of rubles in costs, BAM boosted Tayshet's
role in transporting timber, minerals, and oil from Siberia. The town's
economy diversified into timber processing, metalworking, and railway
maintenance, supporting a peak population of 42,391 in 1989.
The
Soviet collapse in 1991 brought economic turmoil. Hyperinflation,
privatization, and deindustrialization led to job losses and
outmigration. Population declined to 38,535 by 2002 and 35,485 by 2010.
Tayshet adapted by leveraging its transport hub status, with investments
in aluminum smelting (e.g., the Tayshet Aluminum Plant, operational
since the 2000s) and logging industries.
Recent History and
Memory (2000s–Present)
In the 21st century, Tayshet remains an
industrial and transport center, with its economy tied to Russia's
resource exports amid global shifts like the pivot to Asia. The BAM line
has seen modernization, including electrification and capacity upgrades,
to handle increased freight from China and the Arctic.
Efforts to
reckon with the Gulag past have intensified. In summer 2020, a monument
to victims of Stalinist political repression was unveiled in Tayshet,
sponsored by local authorities and the Memorial human rights
organization. Featuring a granite obelisk and plaques with victim names,
it symbolizes acknowledgment of the town's role in the Gulag. However,
it was vandalized with paint shortly after, reflecting ongoing societal
divisions over Soviet history—some view Stalin as a strong leader, while
others emphasize the atrocities. The local lore museum, established in
the post-Soviet era, documents regional history, including Gulag
exhibits.
Today, Tayshet faces challenges like depopulation and
environmental degradation from logging, but its strategic location
ensures relevance in Russia's Siberian development plans. The town's
history encapsulates Siberia's broader narrative: from indigenous lands
to imperial expansion, Soviet repression, and post-communist transition.
Tayshet is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, serving as the
administrative center of Tayshetsky District. It is positioned at
coordinates 55°57′N 98°01′E, approximately 669 kilometers (416 miles)
northwest of the regional capital, Irkutsk, and lies at an elevation of
about 320 meters (1,050 feet) above sea level. The town occupies an area
of around 49 square kilometers and is strategically located in the
southwestern section of the Biryusinsky Plateau, part of the broader
Central Siberian Plateau. This plateau features gently rolling terrain
typical of Siberian landscapes, with elevations generally ranging from
300 to 500 meters, characterized by low hills, broad valleys, and
extensive flatlands shaped by ancient geological processes including
glacial activity and erosion over millennia.
The surrounding
landscape is dominated by the Siberian taiga, a vast boreal forest
ecosystem comprising dense stands of coniferous trees such as larch,
pine, spruce, and fir, interspersed with birch and aspen in more
disturbed areas. This taiga covers much of the region, providing a rich
habitat for wildlife including bears, wolves, elk, and various bird
species. The area around Tayshet includes significant natural forest
cover, with approximately 36% of the local land area under forest as of
recent assessments, though deforestation rates have been noted due to
logging and infrastructure development. Soils in the region are
predominantly podzolic, typical of taiga zones, with permafrost
underlying parts of the northern and higher-elevation areas, influencing
drainage and vegetation patterns. The plateau's geology is part of the
stable Siberian Craton, with sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
underlying the surface, contributing to the relatively subdued relief
without major mountain ranges nearby—the nearest significant highlands
are the Sayan Mountains to the south, which feed into local river
systems.
Hydrographically, Tayshet is situated on the banks of
the Biryusa River (also known as the Ona in its upper reaches), a major
waterway in the region. The Biryusa is formed by the confluence of the
Bolshaya Biryusa (Big Biryusa) and Malaya Biryusa (Little Biryusa)
rivers, originating in the Sayan Mountains, and flows northward for
about 1,012 kilometers (629 miles) with a drainage basin of 55,800
square kilometers before merging with the Chuna River to form the
Taseyeva River, a tributary of the Angara. The river is navigable in
parts and supports activities like fishing, with species such as
grayling, pike, and lenok common in its waters. There may also be a
smaller local stream referred to as the Tayshet River, possibly a
tributary or minor inflow, reflecting the town's name which translates
to "cold river" in the indigenous Ket language. The broader Irkutsk
Oblast is rich in water resources, with numerous rivers, lakes, and
proximity to Lake Baikal (about 400 kilometers southeast), the world's
deepest freshwater lake, influencing regional hydrology through its vast
watershed.
Tayshet experiences a subarctic climate (Köppen
classification Dfc), bordering on humid continental, marked by extreme
seasonal variations. Winters are long, severely cold, and dry, with
average January temperatures around -18.9°C (-2.0°F) and record lows
reaching -50.0°C (-58.0°F). Summers are short, warm, and relatively
humid, with July averages of 18.4°C (65.1°F) and highs up to 36.3°C
(97.3°F). Annual precipitation is moderate at about 424 mm (16.7
inches), distributed across roughly 164 days, mostly as rain in summer
and snow in winter. Relative humidity averages 72%, and the region
receives around 2,150 hours of sunshine per year, with peaks in June (up
to 295 hours) and lows in December (around 49 hours). This climate
supports the taiga biome but poses challenges like frozen ground for
much of the year, affecting agriculture and construction.
Natural
resources in the Tayshet area are tied to the broader Irkutsk Oblast's
wealth, including extensive timber from the taiga forests, which support
logging industries. The region also holds deposits of coal, oil, natural
gas, gold, and iron ore, though extraction around Tayshet itself is more
limited compared to nearby areas like Bratsk. Environmental concerns
include deforestation and potential impacts from industrial activities,
given the town's role as a major transport hub on the Trans-Siberian
Railway, Baikal-Amur Mainline, and M53 Highway. Overall, Tayshet's
geography reflects the harsh yet resource-rich Siberian interior,
blending natural beauty with infrastructural significance.
In Taishet, there is a railway junction and a
large out-of-class marshalling yard, where highways of four
directions converge. The Trans-Siberian Railway runs from west to
east, the Baikal-Amur Mainline begins in Taishet (the first
kilometer of the Baikal-Amur Mainline is located in Taishet), the
South Siberian Mainline is located in the south, connecting BAM with
Kuzbass, Altai, Northern and Central Kazakhstan, and also with the
South Urals (ends in Magnitogorsk).
In the immediate vicinity
of the city is the federal highway P255 Siberia. All long-distance
trains stop at Taishet station, except for international ones,
following in the Moscow - Ulan Bator and Moscow - Beijing route.
In addition, Taishet is the starting point of the Eastern oil
pipeline (there is an oil pumping station in the city).
A significant number of the population is employed at the enterprises
of the railway transport of the Taishet station of the Eastern Railway
(wagon repair and maintenance depot, locomotive depot, sleeper
impregnation plant and other enterprises).
The following
industrial enterprises also operate in the city:
OJSC "Taishet plant
for the repair of road-building machines" (in 2012 it was declared
bankrupt);
LLC Construction Diversified Enterprise No. 621;
food
industry enterprises;
forest industry enterprises.
In 2007, at
the industrial site in Taishet, the Russian Aluminum company began
construction of the Taishet aluminum plant with a capacity of 750
thousand tons per year. The cost of the project was estimated at about $
2 billion. The commissioning of the first stage was originally scheduled
for 2009, later it was postponed to 2011. As of July 2009, the readiness
of the first start-up complex of the plant was estimated at 60%. In
2012, it was announced that the launch of the plant would be carried out
only in the second half of 2014. In December 2021, the first stage of
the Taishet aluminum smelter was launched in the integrated testing
mode.
Schools
Secondary school No. 1
Secondary school №2
Secondary
school №5
Secondary school №14
Secondary school №23
Secondary
school №85
Private educational institution boarding school №24
Special (correctional) boarding school №19
technical schools
Taishet Medical College
Taishet Industrial and Technological College
The city has a museum of local lore, which presents a small
exposition that tells about the history of the region and the main
events of the city. Near the museum there are several military guns.
The city is home to the Orthodox Peter and Paul Church and a Muslim
mosque.
The part of the city located north of the railway station is built up
with brick apartment buildings no higher than five floors. To the south
of the railway station, the city is represented by wooden buildings with
one or two floors.
Several buildings of pre-revolutionary
construction have been preserved in the city, for example, a water
tower.
Oleg Larionov (1950-1991) - lieutenant colonel of the Soviet army, posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star.