Abakan

The city of Abakan is the administrative center of Khakassia. The city is located in the central part of the Minusinsk basin. Abakan is the transport hub of Khakassia. The population of the city is approximately 69.2 thousand people. Abakan is the industrial, cultural and scientific center of Khakassia. Leading enterprises of urban industry are plants "Abakanvagonmash", container, experimental-mechanical, steel, experimental-mechanical.

Near the mouth of the Abakan River in 1675, the Abakan fortress was built. In the early 19th century, a village called Ust-Abakanskoye was formed, which later became the administrative center of the Kachin Duma.

The only "cultural hearth" of Ust-Abakansk was the Orthodox Church. In 1863, an elementary school appeared in the village. The tannery was built in 1906. In 1913, the village became the center of the Ust-Abacan volost. 1914 was marked by the beginning of the construction of the railway Achinsk-Minusinsk, which was to pass through the village of Ust-Abakansk. The construction of the railway was interrupted by the First World War.

The construction of the Achinsk-Minusinsk railway resumed in the 1920s and ended in 1925, at the same time Abakan station was opened. The village began to develop intensively. In 1928, the first two-storey house was built. Further, the Abakan Museum and the Khakass Pedagogical College were opened in the village. In October 1930, the Khakass Autonomous Region was formed. The village of Ust-Abakanskoye was renamed the city of Abakan in 1931.

In 1932, such industrial enterprises as a fur and leather factory, a confectionery factory, artels of disabled people, collective farms "Sila" and "Red Abakan" were already built in the city. In 1933, Abakan Komsomolists drained Krivoye Lake, later a park was laid on the site of the lake. In 1936 the Palace of Culture was built.

During the Great Patriotic War several enterprises were evacuated to Abakan. After the war, the construction of new factories and factories began, the construction of residential buildings began to develop. In the 1960s, when the construction of the Abakan-Taishet railway in Abakan began, large construction organizations were created. In the period 1972-1985, an experimental repair and mechanical plant, a ceramsite gravel plant, panel housing plants, construction materials for rural builders were built. Abakan became the capital of Khakassia after the collapse of the USSR, after Khakassia separated from the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The attractions of Abakan are the Polytechnic Institute, Khakass University, puppet, drama and Khakass theaters, local history museum, zoo, arboretum.