Culture of Southern Siberia

1 day

Early morning arrival in Abakan - the administrative center of the Republic of Khakassia.

Meeting of tourists at the railway station (train No068 Moscow-Abakan ch/z Yaroslavl, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk) or at the airport.

The population of the city is 179,000 people, which is a third of the population of the entire Republic. Distance to Moscow - 4314 km, to Krasnoyarsk - 408 km. The city is located south of Krasnoyarsk, approximately on the same parallel with Magnitogorsk, Minsk and Hamburg, in the very center of the Asian continent, in the Minusinsk basin, the boundaries of which are in the west of the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, in the south and east - the rock formations of the Western Sayan, and in the north - the Eastern Sayan ridges. From south to north, the basin is crossed by the Yenisei. In its center from the south-western side, the Abakan River flows into the Yenisei. In the place of their confluence and the city is located.

Sightseeing tour of Abakan with a visit to the landscape design park. There is so much unexpected and interesting in the park: the Eiffel Tower, the sinister claws and beak of a huge eagle, nondescript grass buds near turn out to be a funny hedgehog, English lawn, meditation in a Japanese garden, photos against the background of an alpine slide and numerous Siberian and overseas plants, cozy arbors, swings, cheerful animals sitting on the edges of the paths, and much more.

Next, the group goes on an excursion to the ancient Siberian city of Minusinsk. It is a city-monument of architectural antiquity. Spasska Cathedral, the house of the merchant Belova, the house of the Wilner brothers, the Martyanov Museum or the Decembrists Museum, the Metelkin printing house. Each street is marked by a historical event, especially noticeable in the old part of the city - green, clean, with shutters-gates of wooden houses still former, merchant buildings.

During the tour, you will take a walk around the city center with a visit to the local market, where you can buy the famous Minusin tomatoes. Tomatoes in Minusinsk began to grow in the last century. In the archives of the Minusinsk experimental production station there are tomato drawings dating from 1928. Many locals still use seeds of varieties that they inherited from their grandparents. The largest tomato weighing almost 2 kg was grown by a local resident in 2010. This small Siberian town will remain in your memory for a long time!

Then follows the transfer to the village of Shushenskoye on the highway Krasnoyarsk-Kyzyl. The program will take you to a real Siberian village of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Tourists will visit the real pearl of the village - an ethnographic museum-reserve. The history of the museum is inextricably linked with the name of V.I. Lenin, who lived in Shushenskoye in exile in 1897-1900. This corner of antiquity is located on the bank of the Shusha River, not far from its confluence in the Yenisei. Numerous monuments of rural architecture are located on an area of 7 hectares: peasant houses, a trading shop, a prison, a tavern, a total of about 200 wooden buildings. This is an amazing atmosphere, exciting even for hardened skeptics, a visit to a real Siberian village. Tourists will visit the inn, visit a real merchant shop and get acquainted with the skill of artisans.

You will spend the night in the architectural and ethnographic complex of the Shushenskoye Museum-Reserve, it has preserved the customs and traditions of the Siberian village of the late XIX century with its streets and houses, it will help you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of peasant life. The estates of the hotel complex are recreated with the preservation of the cultural styles of the Angara region and the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The realities of peasant life are successfully combined with modern comfort of living. Having stopped for a rest in a new village, becoming owners of estates, having tasted traditional peasant cuisine, having learned the basics of crafts, guests will be able to feel like real Siberian peasants.

Accommodation in guest houses, rest, dinner, free time.

Shushenskoye, Guest Houses of the Ethnographic Museum (Shushenskoye)

2 days

After breakfast, check out the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP. This is the most powerful (6.4 million kW) power plant in Russia, located on the Yenisei River in the village of Cheremushki near the city of Sayanogorsk. The Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam, built in 1987, is called the strongest dam in the world, because it is designed to withstand pressure of 18 million tons from a fully filled reservoir of 31,300 million m3. There are special observation decks, which offer an extensive and very beautiful view of the hydroelectric power station and reservoir, a visit to one of them. In the area of the reservoir is Sayano-Shushensky Biosphere Reserve. Surprisingly clean water, which is constantly updated from the station part of the huge tank, allows trout farms to exist near the hydroelectric power station, because trout, as you know, does not tolerate contaminated water. Visit the trout farm, where you will be able to buy fresh fish.

Departure to Abakan, visit the Khakass National Museum of Local Lore named after L.R. Kyzlasov (Monday is a day off!). The museum has a unique collection of stone sculptures – echoes of the oldest cults and beliefs. It is believed that many of these sculptures have not lost their power.

After lunch, the group will travel to the Valley of the Kings (Din-Lin), which unites dozens of royal and hundreds of ordinary mounds on an area of several tens of square kilometers. The Great Salbyk Kurgan is the largest archaeological monument of Khakassia, which received its name from the Salbyk basin. This is a stone earthen pyramid up to 20 meters high - the burial place of one of the powerful Dinlin kings and members of his family. Around the mound are vertical stone slabs weighing from 20 to 60 tons, the height of which reaches 8 meters. According to ancient legends, this is the “road of spirits”, which led the souls of the dead through a ridge of hills to the sunrise in the “upper” heavenly world. Inside is a tomb with a mummy. The Dinlins, like the Egyptians, embalmed their masters. The tomb is shaped like a pyramid with a truncated top. It is built of larch, and inside is lined with a thick layer of birch bark.

Return to Abakan, dinner, boarding the Abakan-Krasnoyarsk train.

3 days

Arrival of the group at the railway station of Krasnoyarsk, transfer to the cafe for breakfast.

The program will begin with a sightseeing tour of Krasnoyarsk with a visit to all the main attractions of the city: the monument to A. A. Dubensky, the founder of the city, which offers a magnificent view of the city; Guard Mountain, where the chapel of Paraskeva Friday is located; Annunciation Church, Pokrovsky Cathedral, Roman Catholic Church. Along the way there is also Peace Avenue, Drama Theatre, Opera and Ballet Theatre, Yenisei Embankment.

Tourists will visit the museum-estate of V.I. Surikov (Monday is a day off!). This good two-storey log house with all the furnishings and utensils inside, as well as the spacious courtyard with buildings adjacent to it, are preserved in their original form. It was this estate at the end of the XIX century and left the boy Vasya Surikov to later gain fame as one of the greatest artists of the XX century.

After lunch in one of the restaurants of the city departure to the railway station, from where it will be possible to continue the journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway to the east (Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok, Ulaanbaatar or Beijing) or to the airport.