Syktyvkar (, rus, Сыктывка́р, p=sɨktɨfˈkar; kv, Сыктывкар) is the
capital city
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the ...
of the
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of th ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
, as well as its largest city. It is also the capital of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk, after the
Sysola River.
Etymology
The city's name comes from ''Syktyv'', the
Komi name for the
Sysola River, plus ''kar'', meaning "city".
Geography
Syktyvkar is located on the Sysola River, which is the origin of its former name Ust-Sysolsk. The city is located close to where the Sysola joins the larger
Vychegda River, which is itself a branch of the
Northern Dvina.
History
It is believed that the city was founded in 1586 as a settlement Ust-Sysola.
It was granted city status by
Catherine the Great in 1780, and in 1992, it became the capital of the Komi Republic. It has remained the capital since then, although a large influx of ethnic Russians in the 20th century has actually left the Komi a minority there.
The majority of the population were merchants and peasants. The main occupations of the inhabitants were agriculture, cattle-breeding, hunting, fishing, and trade.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the population had grown to 6,000 people. The Tsarist government made the Komi region a place of political exile.
In 1921, Ust-Sysolsk was given the status of administrative center of the newly formed
Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast. It was renamed as Syktyvkar, which is Komi for "a town on the Sysola" in 1930, to mark the 150th anniversary of its receipt of city privileges. In 1936, Syktyvkar became the capital of the
Komi ASSR
The Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (russian: Коми Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика; kv, Коми Автономнӧй Сӧветскӧй Социалистическӧй ...
.
Administrative and municipal status
Syktyvkar is the
capital of the republic.
[Law #16-RZ] Within the
framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with three
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 ...
s (
Krasnozatonsky,
Sedkyrkeshch, and
Verkhnyaya Maksakovka) and three
rural localities
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are des ...
, incorporated as the
city of republic significance of Syktyvkar—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts.
As a
municipal division, the city of republic significance of Syktyvkar is incorporated as Syktyvkar Urban Okrug.
[Law #11-RZ]
Economy
The Sysola, the
Vychegda, and the Northern Dvina are navigable and are a major transport route of
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...
products from Syktyvkar. Lumber and woodcrafts are the city's largest industries.
Previously
Komiinteravia had its head office in Syktyvkar.
Transportation
The city is served by
Syktyvkar Airport and
Syktyvkar Southwest airfield. The city has a railway station as well. Syktyvkar is the end point of route R176 (
Vyatka Highway
Russian route R176 or Vyatka Highway (russian: Федеральная автомобильная дорога P176 «Вятка» ) is a Russian federal highway that runs from Cheboksary to Syktyvkar with a total length 872 km. The name comes ...
).
Culture and education
Syktyvkar is the center of the cultural life in the republic.
The oldest museum of the Republic of Komi, the National Museum, was founded in 1911. Nowadays, the National Museum is the Literature Memorial Museum of
Ivan Kuratov
Ivan Alekseevich Kuratov (; Komi: , ', in Kibra village, current Kuratovo village, Komi Republic — in Verny, current Almaty) was a Komi poet and linguist, seen as renovator of Komi literature.
Kuratov began writing verses at age 13, ...
and the museum of
Viktor Savin
Viktor Savin ( kv, Виттор Нёбдiнса, Vittor Njobdinsa; russian: Виктор Алексеевич Савин; 21 November 1888 – 11 August 1943) was a Komi poet who lived in the Soviet Union. He created the anthem of the Komi Repu ...
.
The National Gallery was founded in Syktyvkar in 1943. It welcomes exhibitions from different museums of the country. The Theater of Opera and Ballet began its history in 1958.
The National Library numbers 2.5 million volumes, including books in the Russian language, foreign languages and in the Komi language.
Syktyvkar State University was founded in 1972 and has over 3,500 full-time students and 250 faculty members.
The city's folk ensemble "Asya Kya" has been representing Komi Republic on national and international festivals.
One of the oldest Russian
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
bands
The Gourishankar
The Gourishankar is a progressive rock band from Russia formed in 2001 by university friends guitarist Alexandr "Nomy" Agranovich ( Agranson) and keyboardist Doran Usher in the Russian provincial city Syktyvkar.
In 2002 the band released their d ...
was founded in Syktyvkar in 2001.
Sports
Stroitel which has played many seasons in the highest division of Russian
bandy
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
, nowadays called the
Russian Bandy Super League, has then played several seasons in the second division, called
Russian Bandy Supreme League. At the final tournament of the 2016–17 season, with two Super League tickets held in Syktyvkar, Stroitel won and was thus eligible for promotion. After discussions whether or not to accept, the answer was a yes and the team will play Super League bandy again in the season of 2017–18. Its home venue is Respublikanskiy Stadion. In the 2016/17 season, the club adopted a new logotype (shown to the right in this article) instead of an old one which had a white bear playing bandy.
There is also a youth team called KDYuSSh-1.
Events
*In January 2017 the
Bandy Y-19 World Championship was organized in Syktyvkar.
*Syktyvkar was to host the 2021
Bandy World Championship
The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the W ...
, for which an indoor arena was to be erected. However, the tournament was repeatedly postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, and ultimately pulled from Syktyvkar altogether as a consequence of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Climate
Syktyvkar experiences a
subarctic climate (
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, nota ...
''Dfc'') with long, cold winters and short, warm summers. Compared with areas at a similar latitude in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
, winters are less extreme, but still much longer than summer and bitterly cold by European standards.
Twin towns – sister cities
Syktyvkar is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Cullera, Spain
*
Debrecen
Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...
, Hungary
*
Los Altos, United States
*
Lovech, Bulgaria
*
Taiyuan
Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province ...
, China
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
Official website of SyktyvkarAll news of Syktyvkar and Republic of KomiAbout Syktyvkar: Churches, History & Photogallery
{{Authority control
Ust-Sysolsky Uyezd