Things to do in Arkhangelsk
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Gostiny Dvor
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Arkhan-gelsk’s raison d’être was the Gostiny Dvor, a grand, turreted brick trading centre built between 1668 and 1684. Luxurious European textiles, satin and velvet arrived here while flax, hemp, wax and timber for ships’ masts were exported. The once-huge complex is now only a shadow of its former self but some partly restored sections host exhibition rooms that usually have a couple of worthwhile historical and/or art displays.
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Art Gallery
Arkhangelsk’s most compelling art gallery jams together a remarkable selection of 18th- to early-20th-century Russian paintings ranging stylistically from Stanislav Khlebovsky’s very operatic Death of Prince Oranskogo (1861) to Pili Petrovichev’s impres-sionist Beryozy (Birches, 1917). Upstairs are impressive icons, bone carvings and decorative art displays. However, the building containing all these delights is an architectural crime against humanity.
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Fine Arts Museum
The Fine Arts Museum is surprisingly good. It boasts an impressive selection of 14th- to 18th-century icons and a good selection of 18th-to-early-20th-century Russian painting, with work by nearly all the leading names - look for Stanislav Khlebovsky's Death of Prince Oranskogo (1861) and IB Lampi's portrait of Catherine the Great (1790s). On the 2nd floor, don't overlook the 19th- and early-20th-century textiles and decorative art.
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Restoran Bobroff
This jolly tavern-restaurant opens into a small period-style dining room with formal portraits and Dutch-style tiled fireplace. Its home-brewed ales are eminently quaffable (try the ‘copper’ beer), and menu items range from beef in bilberries to delightfully subtle cod in langoustine sauce (R230). Evening music can get loud.
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Museum
The historical section in this museum has strikingly presented sections on the Soviet-era timber industry, Gulag camps and notably WWII, when the city was pounded by 2100 German bombing runs and survived largely thanks to supply convoys from Scotland. Downstairs the Nature Section is a lumpy taxidermy collection.
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Church of SS Zosima, Savvaty & German
Arkhangelsk is not a city of great churches but there are a few small, pretty ones along the riverbank. The green-and-white Church of SS Zosima, Savvaty & German is an outpost of the Solovetsky Monastery with recently carved wooden sculptures and an iconostasis that's still a work in progress.
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Nikolsky Church
Arkhangelsk is not a city of great churches but there are a few small, pretty ones along the riverbank. The Nikolsky Church, dating from 1904, is still being rebuilt following Soviet-era desecration, but is quite richly decorated and some of the unusual original ceiling frescoes survive.
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Trud Stadium
Arkhangelsk is proud of its bandy team Vodnik, several times European and world champions. Bandy? It's like field hockey on skates, with a red ball and 11 players per side on an ice-covered, soccer-size arena. Vodnik's season is from November to March.
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Northern Seafaring Museum
The Northern Seafaring Museum was closed for long-term renovations at research time. It's worth checking on progress as the museum has interesting collections on subjects like Novaya Zemlya, polar expeditions and Arkhangelsk's shipbuilding history.
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Restoran Pomorsky
Good, if pricey, fish and game dishes served in log-cabin–effect alcoves set around a water feature with bridge, nets and hazel fencing. The restaurant is oddly hidden on the rear 3rd floor of the office building above the Polina Café.
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Regional Studies Museum
The Regional Studies Museum holds a sobering 2nd-floor exhibition dedicated to local soldiers who died in the war with Afghanistan, plus a lumpy taxidermy collection of local sea and land life that's interesting in a ghoulish sort of way.
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Paratov
This floating restaurant behind the Sea & River Terminal serves delicious sushi and other Japanese food in a spick-and-span stainless steel environment. A pictorial menu saves you having to grapple with Japanese in Cyrillic.
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Lair of Art Gallery
In the fine Marfin Mansion, the Lair of Art Gallery hosts occasional miniconcerts, but is most interesting for its furnished interior and large model of how Arkhangelsk looked a century ago.
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Kofeynya U Poliny
U Poliny has everything a good café should - cheesecake, glacé fruit tarts, busy young staff bustling about, and a big choice of coffee and tea. Easily the best café north of St Petersburg.
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SG Pisakhov
For imaginative presentation visit the home of SG Pisakhov whose passion for the Arctic scenery of Novaya Zemlya was shared by AA Borisov.
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Jazz Klub Artel
Jazz fans in town on a Saturday night shouldn’t miss the almost-mythical jam sessions at this cavern–club hidden within the Gostiny Dvor.
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Ek Plotnikov
Best for its period interior furnishings is that of EK Plotnikov whose paintings feature prominently at the Fine Arts Museum.
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Trattoriya
This unintimidating family restaurant is understandably super-popular for well-priced Italian food and good, thin-crust pizzas. Bilingual menu.
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Severnaya Dvina Embankment
The Severnaya Dvina Embankment is where the city began and it makes for a pleasant stroll at any time of year if the weather is half-decent.
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Pomor Tur
City and regional excursions including themed tours to the Solovetsky Islands and one-week paddle-steamer cruises to Kotlas/Veliky Ustyug.
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Solovetskoe Podvorie
Has a Russian izba (cottage)-style room, serving national dishes, and a more satisfying European-style menu in the other room.
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Le Petit Restaurant
The Hotel Dvina's neat little restaurant provides good French and Russian dishes in a relaxed European café atmosphere.
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Kafe Dzji
The relatively intimate black, red and white nightclub room includes cushioned ‘cabin’ lounge-rooms.
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Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Rooms
The Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Rooms usually house at least a couple of worthwhile historical, art or other displays.
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Onega Café
The bar’s decor isn’t special but the draft Bobroff beer and live acoustic blues-folk music are.
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