Welcome to our interactive guide tour around Komsomolsk-on-Amur

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Welcome to our interactive guide tour around
Komsomolsk-on-Amur!
• This interactive guide is the best way to know the city and
learn about its history.
• On our way we will visit many places of interest such as
the Memorial Stone, the House of Youth, the
Monument to the First builders, the Monument to the
Japanese Prisoners of War and many others.
• These sights will tell you about the history of the city, its
development and growth.

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Let’s get started!

3. Komsomolsk-on-Amur

is the second largest
city of Khabarovsk krai and the fourth
largest city in the Far East of Russia,
standing on the left bank of the Amur
River, 404 km north-east of Khabarovsk
(by road). The distance to Moscow is about
8,800 km.

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8. The Memorial Stone

was unveiled on
June, 14, 1967. The sculptor is S.V.
Nikolin.
In 1848 admiral G.I.Nevelskoy who
was the Amur Krai explorer and
scientist-navigator set on the
expedition on the barque “Baikal”.
As a result it was officially proved that
the Amur river was a navigable one
and had an access to the Pacific Ocean.
As a strategic waterway it was of great
significance for Russia.
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9. The Memorial Stone

One of the first Russian villages on the banks of
the Amur river was the village of Permskoye
which was founded by the peasants from Perm
province.
They arrived on August, 18, 1860. This date is
commonly believed to be the date of the village
foundation.
The first resettlers gave the village the name
Permskoye-on-Amur. Later on, peasants from the
Tambov, the Orel and other provinces located in
the central part of our country started to arrive.
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10. The Memorial Stone

The wooden Church of the
Holy Prophet Elijah built in
1909 stood at the highest
point of the village and was
seen from everywhere in the
settlement.
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11. The Memorial Stone

In the early 1930s the USSR Government paid
special attention to the national defence capacity and
the Far East territory which was an important part of
the country.
It was necessary to fortify Pacific Fleet and air
forces. That is why the main aim was the
construction of shipbuilding and aircraft-building
plants.
On February, 23, 1932 the decision to construct the
shipbuilding plant near the village of Permskoye
was made. On May, 2 steamers “Kolumb” and
“Komintern” and the barge “Clara Zretkin”
brought the group of the city first builders to the
Amure shore.
On June, 14, 1967 the rocky lump was erected at the
sight where the first Komsomol builders had landed.
The inscription runs as follows:
“Here on May, 10, 1932 the first
Komsomol members, builders of the city,
landed ashore”.

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13. The House of Youth

was designed by
Moscow architect F.I. Otradinsky. The
official opening ceremony took place on
June, 15, 1967.
The right to cut the entrance tape of the
country’s first Komsomol House of Youth
was granted to the honorary guest of our city,
the first cosmonaut Y.A.Gagarin.
The House of Youth was the first recreational
center of such a type in the city.
There is a concert hall with 600 seats, the
city’s first swimming pool, an exhibition
hall, a dance hall and a café.

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15. River Station

The River station, built upon the project
by the Leningrad architect B. A. Votinov,
was opened on May 2, 1976.
It was designed to look like a ship from
the Amur's side. In its construction you
can discern decks, a bow, a stern, a funnel
and a gangway.
Its three wharfs mark the level of the
Amur within ten meters.

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17. The Monument to the First Builders

And on this high pedestal you can see bronze figures of those
young men and women who laid the foundation of the city.
A young builder, probably a Komsomol leader, is ahead.
There is a girl next to him. Near them you can see a farm
worker with a shovel in his hands and a soldier with a
greatcoat over his shoulders. The young land-surveyor closes
the sculptural group. He turned his head back as if to call
those who must follow the First builders of the city.
There is a guitar among the things the builders of the new city
have taken with them. The guitar symbolizes the romantic
spirit of that time to build a “model” city - a new future,
carrying the Soviet dream to the Far east.
The monument embodies the style of that time, which is
distinguished by stylization, romantic elation, dynamism.
The Monument to the First Builders was erected on the
Embankment in the year of Komsomolsk-on-Amur 50th
anniversary.

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19. The Monument to the Japanese prisoners of war

Over 640 thousand of the Japanese army soldiers were
captured during the WW II. From 1945 to 1949 the prisoners
of war and soldiers of the Kwantung Army were dislocated on
the territory of former USSR.
The Japanese people worked at the factories, stored up timber
for the city, unloaded the cars, made furniture, and built
houses. There are more than 423 objects built by the Japanese
prisoners of war.
Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the first city in the Russian
Federation that collected and systematized the data about the
Japanese war-prisoners. In the summer of 1990 the former
Japanese prisoners of war arrived in Komsomolsk and
appealed to the city authorities to put a memorial for all the
Japanese prisoners of war who died in the Komsomolsk region
in 1945-1949.
The author of the installation is the Komsomolsk sculptor A. P.
Smirnov. The stone for it was brought from Solnechny district.
On October 5, 1991 it was erected on Mira Avenue near the
city’s first hotel "Amur", built by the Japanese prisoners of
war.

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21. The Museum of Fine Arts

The museum moved to the building on Mira
Avenue in 1992.
On the ground floor is a hall for temporary
exhibitions. Upstairs one can find a nice
collection of indigenous art including ritual
sculptures, clothing, utensils and ornaments
from the Narnaii's and other Amur estuary
aboriginal peoples.
In 1993, the museum hosted an exhibition of
paintings by Japanese artist Yoshida Isamu.
Another Japanese artist Tsutomu Miyamoto
has been exhibiting his works in this museum
for many years. Both are former Japanese
prisoners of war.

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23. The Palace of Culture

DK ZLK is the first Palace of Culture in the city. Its
construction began in October 1939 by the projects
of the Leningrad architects F.I.Milyukova and V.I.
Taleporovskiy, the sculptor I.I Suvorov.
In 1944 the central part of the Palace was erected. In
the 1960s, the Palace was rebuilt according to the
project by the Leningrad architects A. Y.Gladkikh,
S.I.Sokolov, B.I.Sretensky.
The construction of the modern building was
completed in 1975. The Palace of Culture has a hall
for 865 people, a lecture hall for 400 seats, a library
with reading rooms, a dance hall, a cafe, rooms for
club activities and others. The right wing of the
Palace of Culture houses the Sports Centre with two
swimming pools, a sports hall and a sauna.

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25. Gubernator’s technical school

The first house which appeared on Mira
Avenue was a shipbuilding technical
school. In 1930s the shipbuilding plant
greatly needed young specialists. The
classes began on September 1, 1938 in
one of the barracks on Garazhnaya
street.
The building of the modern technical
school was constructed in 1939. And
right after that the technical school got a
new name – “Shipbuilding college”. It
was convicts who build the school.

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27. N. Ostrovsky library

The first city library was opened in
1936 in a wooden house on the
embankment of the Amur river.
The library moved to the new
building in 1973. In front of the
library there is a memorial sign to
Nikolai Ostrovsky.
N.Ostrovsky is a Soviet writer, the
author of the novel “How the Steel
Was Tempered”.
The sculpture is made of copper
and is 3.80 meters high. The height
of the pedestal, covered with red
marble is 4 meters.

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29. Orthodox cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the God’s Mother

The opening of the temple was
held on November 4, 2001 on the
day of the celebration of the
Kazan Icon of the God’s Mother.
The Cathedral with a cross is 29
meters long, 19 meters wide and
28 meters high.

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31. The Present from Jiamusi

International ties in culture, education and sports are
developing in the city. Every year universities of the
city host foreign students and tutors. Sports contests
and international festivals are held in Komsomolsk.
International ties connect Komsomolsk-on-Amur with
the cities of Jiamusi (China), Kamo (Japan) and
Weinan (China since 2016).
At the intersection of Pervostroiteley Avenue and
Lenin Avenue you can see an unusual installation, the
gift from the city of Jiamusi (Komsomolsk-on-Amur
sister city).
The composition consists of 2 parts: a round platform
as a symbol of the universe and red tongues of flame as
a symbol of luck, sun, active work and energy.
The opening ceremony took place on July 20, 2007.

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33. Lenin Square

The first square with the
completed architectural ensemble
is the square named after Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin. The grand opening
was held on June 15, 1957.
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34. Lenin Statue

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Statue is set
on the 5-meter pedestal. The
pedestal is encircled by the
ornamental belt with 5 roundels
with inscriptions “1870”, “1905”,
“1917” . They are framed with oak
leaves roped at the bottom. It was
designed by Moscow sculptor A.
M. Portyanko. The House of Red
Army was the first building in
Lenin Square. It was constructed by
military builders in 1939.

35. House with a spire

The unofficial symbol of
Komsomolsk-on-Amur is a “house
with a spire”, built in 1956 at the
intersection of Lenin Avenue and
October Avenue, near Lenin Square.
On the facade of the house there is
an inscription “Work in the Soviet
Union - a matter of honor, valor and
heroism.”
The building is under the state
protection and one of the city’s
landmarks.

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37. Metallurgov Square

is the very centre of the
city. It was built before the war but the first
buildings appeared in the square only in the
70-s after the project of architectural
ensemble was completed. All the tram lines
convene at the intersection of Lenina and
Mira Avenues at Metallurgov Square. The
first tramline was opened in 1957. Trams
from Metallurgov Square take you to all
parts of the city: to the river terminal, the
railway station, Amursteel district and
Dzemgi district.

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39. The House of Justice

It was built in 1976. The head of design group
is V. Shiggulin. Komsomolsk-on-Amur House of
Justice won the competition of the most beautiful
courthouses in the Soviet Union. What is worth
paying special attention to is the bas-relief on one
of the walls. Architect V.V. Gilev offered his own
vision of the Soviet Legal System. Greek goddess
of justice Themis is depicted with open eyes to see
and hear everything and make fair judgments. The
symbolic image of Soviet Justice was the only one
in the country at that time (in 1982).
There were several attempts to remove the
bas-relief from the wall, but it turned to be
impossible, as each of twenty fragments goes 60
centimeters deep into the wall.

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41. Komsomolskoe Roadway & the Silinka River

The longest roadway in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is
named Komsomolskoe roadway. It was opened on the
fifth anniversary of the city in 1937.
Two construction sites, “City” and “Dzemgi”, were
connected by the roadway. Now the official names of
the city’s two districts are Central and Leninsky
districts of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
The distance between them is12km and they are
divided by the river Silinka, which flows into the Amur
River.
Almost untouched forest was left on the left bank of
the Silinka River along Komsomolskoe roadway. This
area got the nickname “the lungs of the city”.
Silinka’s forest is a root cedar-broad-leaved forest with
an admixture of spruce, fir, and yew. The average age
of trees is 80-100 years.

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43. Pobedy Avenue

In December1985 Odesskaya Street in Lenin
District was renamed as Pobedy Avenue. The
author of the avenue is the Komsomolsk
architect T. Pashkova
The Victory Memorial on Pobedy Avenue
was opened on May7th, 2005. There is an
inscription on the memorial plaque fixed on
the Steles: " In honor
of the 60th anniversary of the victory in
the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
(from Komsomolsk-on-Amur organizations
and enterprises)“.

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45. School of Art № 11

In 1936 the city’s first evening
school was opened in the
second building constructed in
Lenin district.
Now it’s a School of Art where
students master different kinds
of art exhibiting their creations
at local, state and international
competitions.

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Welcome to
Komsomolsk-on-Amur!