![Minusinsk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Minusinsk.jpg)
Minusinsk (russian: Минуси́нск; kjh, Минсуғ) is a historical
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
in
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Si ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Population: 44,500 (1973).
Geography
Minusinsk marks the center of the
Minusinsk Hollow
Minusinsk Basin or Khakass-Minusinsk Basin (russian: Минусинская (Хакасско-Минусинская) котловина, ''Minusinskaya (Chakassko-Minusinskaya) kotlovina'') is in Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia locate ...
, one of the most important archaeological areas north of
Pazyryk. It is associated with the
Afanasevo,
Tashtyk, and
Tagar culture
The Tagar culture (russian: Тагарская культура, Tagarskaya kul'tura) was a Bronze Age archeological culture which flourished between the 8th and 2nd centuries BC in South Siberia ( Republic of Khakassia, southern part of Krasnoyar ...
s—all of them named after settlements in the vicinity of Minusinsk.
History
"About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and partly iron, and a group of large collective burial places." Greco-Roman
funerary mask
A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It ...
s, like those found at
Pazyryk, make up the "Minusinsk group: at Trifonova, Bateni, Beya, Kali, Znamenka, etc." "The Indo-European aristocracy with its
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
connections was succeeded at Minusinsk by the Kirghiz after the third century A.D."
The Russian settlement of Minyusinskoye () was founded in 1739-1740
[Н. И. Дроздов, В. С. Боровец "Енисейский энциклопедический словарь". Krasnoyarsk, 1998 (), pp. 391.] at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the
Minusa River with the
Yenisei
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
. The
Turkic ''Min Usa'' means "my brook", or "thousand rivers". The name transformed to Minusinskoye () in 1810.
By 1822, Minusinsk had emerged as a regional center of farming and transit trade and was granted town status.
During the 19th century, it was a node of cultural activities for a very large area. The Martyanov Natural History Museum was opened there in 1877.
It is still very active and publishes a quite useful annual report of its scientific findings, meetings, etc.
The town was also a place of political exile.
George Kennan
George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histo ...
wrote in his very influential book ''Siberia and the Exile System'' (NY 1891) of the town and the museum being an intellectual haven for those tsarist political activists and revolutionaries who had been exiled from European Russia in the 1880s.
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
used to visit Minusinsk on numerous occasions when he was in exile in the nearby village of
Shushenskoye
Shushenskoye ( rus, Шу́шенское, p=ˈʂuʂɨnskəjɛ) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Shushensky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Yenisei and Big S ...
between 1897 and 1900. In November 1918, during the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
, Minusinsk peasants started
a short-lived rebellion against the
White Army
The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв ...
because of extortion and high taxes. However, poor equipment and supplies led to eventual defeat in the December, and the rebels were subjected to execution, exile, prison or fines.
Administrative and municipal status
Within the
framework of administrative divisions, Minusinsk serves as the
administrative center
An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located.
In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...
of
Minusinsky District
Minusinsky District (russian: Минуси́нский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #13-3022 district (raion), one of the forty-three in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the krai and b ...
, even though it is not a part of it.
[Law #10-4765] As an administrative division, it is, together with the
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...
of
Zelyony Bor, incorporated separately as the
krai town of Minusinsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts.
As a
municipal division, the krai town of Minusinsk is incorporated as Minusinsk Urban Okrug.
[Law #13-3049]
Climate
Minusinsk has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Dfb''/''Dwb''), with very cold winters and warm summers.
Precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
is quite low, but is much higher from June to September than at other times of the year.
Twin towns and sister cities
Minusinsk is
twinned with:
*
Norilsk
Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk, ''Norílʹsk'') is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk ...
, Russia
Culture
*Minusinsk Drama Theater
Established in 1882 as an amateur theatrical society, the Minusinsk Drama Theater was known as the "Sovtheater" from 1920 to 1930. The theater building was constructed on the initiative of the exiled Kon F.Y. and funded mainly by the fire society. In the beginning, the theater was on the second floor and the fire department took up the first floor. The modern Minusinsk Drama Theater performs in this building until today.
Milestones in the theater performances were 'Vasilisa Melentyeva' by Alexander Ostrovsky, 'Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich' by Alexey Tolstoy, 'Death Squadron' by A. Korneichuk, 'Destiny' by Petr Proskurin, 'Is Not Listed' by Boris Vasiliev. A performance of Alexei Cherkasov's drama “Hop” won the Stanislavsky State Prize.
*The Martyanov Natural History Museum (Museum of Local Lore)
The main attraction of the town is The Martyanov Natural History Museum. Based in 1877, it is one of the oldest in Siberia and first museum in the Yenisei's guberniya (province).
*Museum of Decembrists in Minusinsk
*Memorial building of Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov
*Minusink Art Gallery
*Museum "Automobiles And Motor Vehicles Of The Soviet Union"
References
Notes
Sources
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{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Krasnoyarsk Krai
Yeniseysk Governorate
Populated places established in 1739
1739 establishments in the Russian Empire
Populated places on the Yenisei River