Novokuznetsk Travel Guide, Russia

Novokuznetsk, Russia (formely known as Kuznetsk) is located in Siberia on the Tom River.  Omsk is the largest nearby neighboring large city, and Novokuznetsk is 3000 kilometers east of Moscow. This city is near mountains and became a major coal mining center in the 1930s, when the name became Novokuznetsk. The name had briefly been changed to Stalinsk in honor of Stalin, from 1932 until 1961.

Joseph Stalin was instrumental in turning Novokuznetsk into the major center of industry that it is today. In addition to coal, the region around the city has rich deposits of zinc, copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, making Novokuznetsk the most important ore and metal producing region in the country. Aluminum is also produced here and there is a growing chemical industry in this city, that capitalizes on recycling the chemical byproducts of metal making and mining.

However, the main industry is steel and metal making and the city is the home of  both the West-Siberian Metal Plant and the Novokuznetsk Metal Plant, two of the largest metal products suppliers in Russia. In these plants, the rails for Moscow’s rail transit system and for the network of railway that service Russia’s huge expanse are made. A thriving industrial and commercial city with a population just over one half million residents has grown up around this industry.

Due to the climate, this area has not developed into an agricultural region, despite having rich soil.

Novokuznetsk is composed of several City districts: Kuybyshevsky, Kuznetsky, Novoilyinsky, Ordzhonikidzevsky, Tsentralny, and Zavodsky  It is the site of the Novokuznesk branch of the Kemerovo State University and also of the Siberian State Industrial University, as well as nine affiliated research centers.  

The Metallurgy Novokuznetsk ice hockey team represents the city and its many ice hockey fans in the Russian Hockey Super League.

 This city is beginning to attract tourism due to its unique history, the city's many attractions and the dining and hospitality offerings that have grown up in this industrial center. Novokuznetsk is also known for fine local handcrafts, many of which are made from metal. There are several historical monuments in  Novokuznetsk. Among them is a monument to the Soviet head of metallurgy I.P.Bardin sculpted by S.Shaposhnikov and a monument to Lenin and Gorkey.

There are several Russian Orthodox churches, including Transfiguration Cathedral, the Bogoroditskaya church, and the Ogiditrievskaya church, where Dostoyevsky was married. There are several theaters and nine museums to visit.