Sights in Altai
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
FSB Headquarters
The FSB headquarters is worth a peek. The bearded dude in the courtyard is Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, forerunners to the KGB and the current day FSB. A much larger monument to Iron Felix was torn down in Moscow as the USSR collapsed in 1991, and he is a very uncommon face indeed in modern Russia. Be sure to check out the large Soviet-era ‘Workers Unite!’ mural to Felix’s left. Taking photos of the FSB HQ is not advised.
reviewed
-
A
Altai Arts, Literature &Culture Museum
The impressively eclectic Altai Arts, Literature &Culture Museum occupies a restored, furnished 1850s mansion in which piano recitals are held on Saturday afternoons. There are some fine icons, Rerikh sketches, and even the inevitable WWII room is imaginatively handled through cartoons and theatre posters.
reviewed
-
B
Imperator
Rapacious redevelopment has destroyed much of Barnaul's older architecture. Nonetheless, century-old remnants are dotted between the shopping malls of pr Lenina's tree-shaded southern end. A few splendid wooden-lace houses include the famous Imperator, now a nightclub, plus ul Korolenko 96 and ul Polzunova 31 and 48.
reviewed
-
Firsova Ex-Department Store
From the market near the bus station take northbound bus 23 to see the tumbledown patches of once-impressive old town, which hide intriguingly behind a vast, unprepossessing curtain of Soviet-era concrete.The once-mighty, now decrepit Firsova ex-Department Store has crown-shaped corner domes.
reviewed
-
Altaysky Tsentr
Tthe Altaysky Tsentr comprises three Altai-style wooden ail huts with pointed metal roofs. One is an Altai library, another celebrates Churos-Gurkin’s ethnographic work, but most interesting is the traditional ‘home’ ail. Opening hours vary.
reviewed
-
Ioanno Bogoslavski Chapel
Across a small canyon to a craggy island in the Katun River on which is perched the tiny wooden Ioanno Bogoslavski Chapel, rebuilt in 2001 to the original 1849 design. Beside it, the rock miraculously shaped like a Madonna-and-child sculpture is supposedly natural.
reviewed
-
obelisk
Classical pl Demidov was once exaggeratedly dubbed a 'slice of St Petersburg'. Now the slice is itself sliced in half by the tram tracks of Krasnoarmeysky pr and is hardly memorable, apart from the 1825 obelisk which is still faintly bullet-pocked from a 1918 skirmish.
reviewed
-
C
Museum
A moustachioed standing stone idol welcomes visitors to the interesting museum. There’s a reconstruction of a 2000-year-old Pazyryk grave pit and some intriguing archaeological finds from the Turkic and Dzhungarian periods.
reviewed
-
D
Regional Museum
Founded in 1823, the reasonably interesting Regional Museum is Siberia’s oldest museum. Top exhibits include intriguing models of various 18th-century industrial processes.
reviewed
-
E
War History Museum
In an old brick house, the War History Museum is simple and all in Russian but the moving understatement of its Afghanistan and Chechnya memorials is particularly affecting.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Skazka Banya
A visit to the cute, fairytale-themed Skazka Banya, some 300m to the left after the suspension bridge is well recommended.
reviewed
-
Pokrovsky
The bulbous-domed, brick Pokrovsky is the most appealing of the city’s many churches with a fine, gilded interior.
reviewed
-
Museum
The excellent museum, housed in a grand, if dilapidated, 1912 merchant’s house has original art nouveau fittings.
reviewed
-
Assumption Church
Backtrack along Sovetskaya ul where there are several 1890s brick edifices like the silver-domed Assumption Church.
reviewed
-
Pokrovskoe Church
The valley meets the Katun River at Ust-Koksa, which has the delightful wooden Pokrovskoe Church.
reviewed
-
Khazret Osman Mosque
The little wooden Khazret Osman Mosque marks the intersection of the Chuysky Trakt with ul Sovetskaya.
reviewed
-
F
Pokrovskoe Cathedral
The bulbous-domed, brick Pokrovskoe is the most appealing of the city's many churches with a fine, gilded interior.
reviewed
-
G
Altai Fine Art Museum
The Altai Fine Art Museum is the best of several galleries in this very cultured city.
reviewed
-
H
Wooden Church
A small but attractive wooden church is nearing completion towards the market area.
reviewed
