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Omsk is a city in southwestern Siberia, Russia, and the capital of Omsk Oblast, set where the Om River flows into the Irtysh. With over a million people it is one of the largest cities in Siberia. It is famous for its historic Lyubinsky Prospekt, the Dormition Cathedral and its links to Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Omsk was founded in 1716 by Ivan Buchholz as a fortress on the Siberian frontier and became a town in 1782. It was the seat of the governors-general of Western Siberia, and in 1918 to 1920 it briefly served as the capital of the anti-Bolshevik Russian State. Today it is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Begin on Cathedral Square, then walk Lyubinsky Prospekt to the Jubilee Bridge and the Tara Gate of the old fortress. The Vrubel Museum, the history museum and the Dostoevsky Literary Museum fill a second day, and evenings bring drama and music theatre. Late spring and summer are best.
The Dormition Cathedral on Cathedral Square in Omsk is one of the largest churches in Siberia, with colorful domes in the Russian Revival style. Its first stone was laid by the future Tsar Nicholas II in 1891. Blown up in 1935, it was rebuilt to the original design in the early 21st century.
Lyubinsky Prospekt is the popular name for the old section of Lenin Street in central Omsk, from Cathedral Square to the Jubilee Bridge. Its rare ensemble of buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries is protected at federal level. On holidays it closes to traffic for street festivities.
The Jubilee Bridge crosses the Om River in the center of Omsk and is one of the city's calling cards, nicknamed the Blue Bridge. Built in 1965 to 1967 for the 50th anniversary of Soviet power, it replaced an iron bridge from 1903. Stop on it for a fine view of the historic buildings along the river.
The Tara Gate marks the northern entrance of the old Omsk Fortress, where a gate was built in 1792 on the road to the town of Tara. Tarskaya Street, one of the oldest streets in Omsk, starts here and is pedestrian as far as the Holy Cross Cathedral. It is a short walk from Cathedral Square.
Omsk Fortress is where the city began, founded in 1716 by Ivan Buchholz where the Om River flows into the Irtysh, as a guard post on the Siberian frontier line. The area of the later fortress, with the Tara Gate, now forms a historic quarter of Omsk. Walk it to see where the city's story starts.
The Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk is one of the largest art museums in Siberia, named after the painter Mikhail Vrubel, who was born in the city. It began in 1924 in the Governor-General's Palace, built in 1859 to 1862, and holds Russian and foreign art from antiquity to the present day.
The Omsk Museum of History and Local Lore was founded in 1878 and is one of the oldest museums in Siberia. Its collections of about 235,000 items cover the history, nature and peoples of the Omsk region, and it also hosts touring shows from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Allow a couple of hours.
The Dostoevsky Literary Museum in Omsk is the only literary museum in Western Siberia, gathering the stories of writers linked with the Omsk region. It honors Fyodor Dostoevsky, who served four years of penal labor in Omsk from 1850 to 1854, an experience behind Notes from the House of the Dead.
St. Nicholas Cossack Cathedral in Omsk was founded in 1833 to a design credited to the architect Vasily Stasov and paid for largely by the Siberian Cossacks. Consecrated in 1840, it is a fine example of late Russian classicism. It remains a working Orthodox church in the city centre.
Achairsky Monastery is a convent of the Holy Cross in the village of Naberezhny on the Irtysh, south of Omsk. Behind walls with four gates stand a cathedral, several churches, chapels and a bell tower, along with a guesthouse for pilgrims. Boat cruises from Omsk have run up the Irtysh to Achair.
Omsk Drama Theatre is the largest and oldest academic drama theatre in Siberia, with roots in a theatre building of 1875. Stars such as Mikhail Ulyanov began their careers here, and Moscow's Vakhtangov Theatre, evacuated to Omsk in wartime, shaped its style. Book a seat for an evening show.
Omsk Music Theatre was founded in 1946 as a musical comedy theatre and is one of the leading theatres in Omsk, with a repertoire from classic opera to modern ballet. Since the early 1980s it has played in its own modern building in the city center. Check the program for operettas and musicals.
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