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Lipetsk is the capital of Lipetsk Oblast, a city of about half a million people on the Voronezh River in the Don basin, 438 kilometres south-east of Moscow. Its name means linden town, and today it is best known for the huge Novolipetsk steel works and for mineral springs and mud baths used since the start of the 19th century.
The modern city grew from the ironworks Peter the Great ordered here in 1703 to make cannon and shells, and it received town status from Catherine the Great in 1779. In 1805 Alexander I opened a spa on the old works pond, which turned Lipetsk into a resort for the nobility, and in 1954 it became the capital of a new oblast.
Visitors climb Cathedral Hill to the Nativity of Christ Cathedral and the shady Upper Park, walk down to Lower Park, the old spa and the zoo, and see the statue on Peter the Great Square. Bykhanov Garden, the ravine of Kamenny Log and the Tolstoy drama theatre complete a visit.
Nativity of Christ Cathedral is the main Orthodox cathedral of Lipetsk, standing on Cathedral Square at the top of the old town. Begun around 1791 and finished with its refectory in 1842, it has a classical bell tower of 1825-1835 with city chimes, and it was returned to worship in 1991.
Upper Park is the old Noble Park of Lipetsk, laid out in 1911 at the top of the steep right slope of the Voronezh valley between Lenin Street and Saltykov-Shchedrin Street. A protected dendrological site, it is shaded by century-old oaks, lindens and maples, with fountains added in Soviet times.
The Evdokiya Church is a classical Orthodox church in the centre of Lipetsk, by Heroes' Square, built in 1817-1818 in the shape of a four-lobed rotunda on the cemetery of the cathedral. Used as a grain store and offices after 1918 and closed in 1935, it now serves worshippers again.
The Plekhanov House-Museum is the wooden family home in Lipetsk bought in 1867 by the father of Georgy Plekhanov, the Marxist thinker, who spent summer holidays here. First opened as a museum in 1928, the house collapsed while being moved in 1969 and was rebuilt, reopening in 1977.
Lower Park is the largest city park of Lipetsk, founded in 1805 together with the mineral water spa on the site of the 70-hectare Petrovsky Pond, which once powered Peter the Great's ironworks. Its shady paths pass the cannon monument to the birth of local metallurgy and lead to the city zoo.
The Lipetsk Spa is the mineral water resort in Lower Park, one of the oldest in Russia, opened by a decree of Alexander I in 1805 at springs that Peter the Great tried in 1722. Its first stone building was the mineral baths by Andrey Voronikhin, and the Lipetsk sanatorium still works in the park.
Peter the Great Square is the ceremonial square of Lipetsk, where the main City Day events take place. Laid out in the 1980s as Karl Marx Square, it took its present name after a statue of Peter the Great by Vyacheslav Klykov was unveiled here in 1996 for the 300th anniversary of the Russian navy.
Lipetsk Zoo is the city zoo inside Lower Park in Lipetsk, founded on 6 November 1973 from a small animal corner opened the year before. On more than four hectares it keeps over 1,500 animals of 150 species, and 43 of those species are listed in the international Red Book.
Bykhanov Garden is a park of about 13.5 hectares in central Lipetsk, made in 1954 on the old nursery of the local gardener Vasily Bykhanov. Known as Komsomol Park and then Skorokhodov Park in Soviet times, it took the Bykhanov name in 1993 and is shaded by spruce, birch and chestnut.
Kamenny Log is the ravine carved by the Lipovka River that runs for 8 kilometres across the right-bank part of Lipetsk. Named for the limestone that outcrops on its slopes and once paved the streets, it was kept as a green recreation zone, and part of it is a protected natural monument.
Victory Park is a 35-hectare park in the west of Lipetsk, planted in 1974-1975 for the 30th anniversary of victory in the Second World War. Thousands of residents, schoolchildren and students set out 400,000 trees and 700,000 shrubs, and today pine, birch and maple fill its walks.
The Lipetsk Drama Theatre traces its history to 1921 and has played since 1968 in an 841-seat building on Theatre Square in Lipetsk, opening with And Quiet Flows the Don. Named after Leo Tolstoy in 1981, it is the only theatre in Russia to bear the writer's name.
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