The city’s Federal Security Services (FSB) headquarters is worth a peek. The bearded dude in the courtyard is Felix Dzerzhinsky, Cheka (KGB and FSB forerunner) founder. A much larger monument to Iron Felix was torn down in Moscow as the USSR imploded, and he is a very uncommon face indeed in modern Russia.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Altai Arts, Literature & Culture Museum
0.73 MILES
The impressively eclectic – not to mention good-value – Altai Arts, Literature & Culture Museum occupies a restored, furnished 1850s mansion. There are…
0.67 MILES
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…
1.28 MILES
Near the train station in pl Pobedy, the War Memorial consists of a statue of a grieving mother with her lost son, an eternal flame and a very long list…
0.71 MILES
Founded in 1823, the reasonably interesting Regional Museum is Siberia’s oldest. Top exhibits include intriguing models of various 18th-century industrial…
0.85 MILES
This bulbous-domed brick building is the most appealing of the city’s many churches and has a fine, gilded interior.
0.19 MILES
This unique Lenin monument sees the revolutionary apparently dressed up as a bullfighter.
Nearby Altai attractions
0.19 MILES
This unique Lenin monument sees the revolutionary apparently dressed up as a bullfighter.
0.67 MILES
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…
0.71 MILES
Founded in 1823, the reasonably interesting Regional Museum is Siberia’s oldest. Top exhibits include intriguing models of various 18th-century industrial…