Biysk

Biysk is a city in Russia, the administrative center of Biysky district of the Altai Territory, science city of the Russian Federation.

It is located 163 km south-east of Barnaul, on the relatively narrow right-bank terrace of the Bia River and the steeply rising slope of the Biisko-Chumysh hill, as well as on the left side of the river to the "ribbon".

Biysk - one of the oldest Altai cities, was built by decree of Peter I in 1709 as a fortress.

On February 29, 1709, Peter I signed a decree on the construction of a fortress at the source of the Ob River.

The beginning of the existence of the so-called Bikatun fortress built in the arrow between Bija and Katunya is considered to be June 18, 1709 (this date is recorded in the first list of settlers of the fortress). The fortress was to participate in the defense of the southeastern borders of the Russian Empire trade routes leading to China and Mongolia. However, in the summer of 1710, the wooden fortress was destroyed by nomads-Jungars and in 1718 was restored in a new place - 20 km higher upstream Bia, on the right bank of the river.

The new location did not correspond to the old name, and in 1732 the Bikatun Fortress was renamed Biskiy. Part of the Biysk-Kuznetsk Cossack line, he in 1756 played an important role in the process of voluntary entry of the Altaians into Russia. Until 1779, the Biysk fortress was part of the Tobolsk province.

According to the Decree of Catherine II of May 1, 1779, she entered the Barnaul district formed as part of the province of Kolyvan region. Since 1782, the Biysk fortress has been a county town. In 1783 Kolyvan region was transformed into Kolyvan province. In 1786, the county center was moved to Barnaul.

Inaccuracies in official documents of that time led to the fact that the modern cities of Biysk and Barnaul dispute the priority of the "first city" of the Altai Territory. On May 1, 1797, the city magistrate of Biysk was liquidated, and the residents were subordinated to the Kuznetsk city magistrate (now Novokuznetsk).

February 26, 1804 Tomsk province was formed, which formed Biysky district of Barnaul district. From that time Biysk became a city again, and on March 12, 1804, its coat of arms was approved: "In the shield, divided horizontally in two, in the upper half of the Tomsk coat of arms, and in the lower half - in a blue field on a golden mountain, a mountain mine." (In 1822 Biysk was converted to the village, but in 1827 it was again recognized as a county city.)

With the liquidation of the fortress (1846), the city was transformed from a military-administrative to a commercial and industrial center.

In Biysk, enterprises for processing local raw materials began to be built: leather, distillery and sawmill plants, flour and linen factories, a steam mill, a refrigerator and a number of brick factories, as well as semi-artisanal metalworking workshops. A distinctive feature of financial and economic development in the pre-revolutionary decade is the high concentration of bank capital.

Along with local credit institutions, branches of such large banks as the Siberian Trade Bank, the Russian-Asian and the Petrograd International Commercial Bank successfully operated in Biysk. Investments of capital, including foreign ones, went mainly to oil raw materials, forestry, gold mining, grain farming. In addition, for many decades (1830-1917) it was the center of the Altai Spiritual Mission. It was within its walls between 1834 and 1841 that Archimandrite Makariy (Glukharev) made one of the first Russian scientific translations of the Bible from the original language (Hebrew and Greek) into Russian. On December 17, 1917 the power of the Soviets was established in Biysk. However, on June 19, 1918, the city came under the control of the troops of A.V. Kolchak, and Soviet power was restored only on December 9, 1919.

During the Great Patriotic War, 26,456 people went to the front, of whom 9,772 people died and did not return. A number of large industrial enterprises were evacuated to Biysk, and the production of products necessary for the country continued in the deep rear. In addition, 23 hospitals were located in Biysk, where more than 200 thousand wounded were restored to their health.