Information about Tomsk

In this message we would like to tell you about our beautiful city.

Tomsk is an old Siberian town. It is situated on the bank of the river Tom, in West Siberia. Tomsk got its name of the river on which it stands. In the Ket language the Tom means “main river”, “big river” or “the centre of life”. The name has also another translation: “Tom” means “dark”. Haven’t you noticed that deep water always seems dark? “Dark” means “clean, mountainous”.
In the winter of 1604, from the banks of the “Dark river”, the chief of Eushtin Tatars, Toyan, arrived in Moscow and addressed the Russian tsar, Boris Godunov, with a request to defend his tribe from the enemy. Therefore, in September of 1604 by the order of Boris Godunov Russian soldiers began to build a fortress intended to defend Russian borders at the highest place, on Voskresenskaya Mountain. So, Tomsk was founded.

Since the middle of the last century Tomsk has been called “Siberian Athens” as Lunacharsky first put it. Indeed, Tomsk is the centre of culture and education of Siberia.
Tomsk is often called a Students’ Town. It is really right. Tomsk University, the first in Siberia, was founded in 1880. There are now seven higher educational establishments in Tomsk: State University, the Polytechnic University, the Medical Academy, the University of Civil Engineering, and the University of Automated Control System and Radioelectronics.
There are over thirty technical colleges. They say that every eighth person in Tomsk is a student. In the streets of Tomsk you can see many young people. The students in Tomsk have everything at their disposal: comfortable hostels, sport palaces and clubs; libraries, labs, and well-equipped workshops. In the evening they may have a good time in the cafes, cinemas, theatres. The students are proud of their “Alma-Matter” and after graduating from the Institute they often come back to Tomsk to meet their teachers, and friends, or to have a walk along Tomsk streets and to say “Thank you” to their teachers and universities. It’s a wonderful tradition.

Tomsk is proud of its wooden houses with their “wooden laces”. In Krasnoarmeiskaya, Gagarin, Shishkov streets one can see a wonderful fairy-tale. You will see wonderful wooden palaces with numerous cupolas, windows, and balconies richly decorated with traditional Russian woodwork, so-called “wooden laces”. Tomsk is famous for its wooden architecture. All these wooden wonders were made by unknown Russian masters. They worked from early morning till late night, but they lived under very difficult conditions. They did not leave their names for us but left these masterpieces for us to admire. Now all these monuments are under state protection and are being carefully restored so people will be able to admire them for centuries to come.

Let us know if you have any questions about our city.