Address: Bokhnyaka St.10, office 15, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky,
Kamchatka Krai, Russia, 683031
Phone / Fax: (41522) 5-10-21, mobile.: 8-909-835-3530
Email: traverstour@yandex.ru
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Attractions
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the main administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the Kamchatkan Krai. For arriving tourists this city is a main base and they start their trips from it. 198,000 people live in the city.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is a city among volcanoes. In 25 km (15.5 m) from the city there is a chain of five volcanoes with two active ones such as Avachinsky and Koryaksky. Always smoking Mutnovsky volcano is clearly seen over Avacha Bay and behind it, rarely but also smoking, Gorely, and significantly closer them all is Vilyuchinsky.
The city is located in the shores of Avacha bay, one of the most picturesque bays of the world, discovered in 1703 by Russian Cossacks shortly after joining Kamchatka to Russian State by Atlasov. However after it was discovered it was very quiet there for almost four decades.
In June 10, 1740 navigator Elagin, following the will by Vitus Bering, the head of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, to find a place for expedition base, entered the little-known bay on the St archangel Gabriel sailing boat. It was the first vessel that sailed into Avacha bay, flying the flag of the Russian Navy.
Elagin explored the bay in detail and concluded that Niakina harbour, on the north-east of Avacha bay, between two hills later named as Nikolskaya and Petrovskaya, near Aushin Intelmen nomad camp, was the most convenient place for settling of the ships and for the expedition base.
A house for officers, three barracks, depots and a church were built by the fall 1740.
In October 17, 1740 (in the new style), the St Peter and the St Paul packet boats of the Second Kamchatka Expeditions entered the Niakina harbor. Vitus Bering named it as the harbor of St Apostles Peter and Paul, and the new settlement on its shores as Petropavlovsk harbor. This date is considered to be the city birthday.
In 1779 first foreign vessels entered the bay. They were the ships under command of Charles Clarke, the assistant and deputy of the famous James Cook.
In 1787 famous French seafarer Jean Francois La Perouse visited the harbor and found about 100 residents in the settlement. There were all Petropavlovsk ladies – thirteen people – on the ball in his honor.
In 1822 Petropavlovsk Harbor settlement was raised to the level of the Russian cities and was given a name as Petropavlovsk Port, and from 1924 it has been called Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Now name and destiny of Petropavlovsk Harbor is part and parcel of history of geographic discoveries and exploration of the Russian Far East by the Russian people. City history can be found in names of street and monuments of the city.
Monuments
A monument to Vitus Bering, the city founder. This first Russian Far East monument is located in the city center on Sovetskaya Street. The monument rests on a massive ashlar base with a cast iron plate on it with an inscription that reads “To seafarer Bering, the founder of Petropavlovsk in 1740”.
A monument to English seafarer Charles Clark is placed in the city center, in Leninskaya Street. It is the only monument in our country that reminds about the 3rd English Round-the-World Expedition of Captain James Cook. Captain Ch.Clark was a participant of the First and Second round the world sailing of J.Cook and his assistant in the Third world cruise. After J.Cook died he headed the expedition. Making for shores of Chukotka, the Discovery and Resolution, the ships of the 3rd English Round-the-World Expedition entered into Petropavlovsk Harbor in 1779 to refill water and food.
In the front of the obelisk there is a sign “In the memory of Royal fleet captain Charles Clark who died in August 22, 1779, at the age of 38, and whose body lies under this stone.”
On it’s northern side it reads “This officer made several trips devoted to discovery of new lands under command of Captain Cook, world famous seafarer, and brought his body after the captain was killed by savage people. He died in sea after courageous attempt to break through the ice in front of the Bering strait.”
A Monument to French seafarer Jean-Francois de Galaup La Perouse is one the oldest in Petropavlovsk. It is located in Sovetskaya Street and reminds about a visit of this great seafarer in Petropavlovsk Harbor in 1787 on the Boussole and Astrolabe frigates.
Nikolskaya hill memorial
Glory monument, a five sided obelisk with a gilded top, was erected in the honor of the successful defense of Petropavlovsk port from attack of Anglo-French squadron in 1854.
A special place in the memorial of Nikolskaya hill is a small necropolis with a stone chapel. The graceful chapel with a stone stairs is a more late work. It finishes the ensemble with two common graves in its center. The right one is for Russian warriors, the left one for English and French.
3rd Battery Cannons monument to the soldiers fighting under Lieutenant A. Maksutov has been installed in the 100th anniversary of victory over Anglo-French invaders. A gun, model of 1854, is placed on the four sided pedestal.
A narrow concrete path goes from the monument to bay and a legendary neck where there is a heroic Death battery of Lieutenant Maksutov on the edge of the steep as in 1854. Five guns guard sea approaches to the city. The battery position has been recovered by ship-repair workers of Petropavlovsk.
Museums
Kamchatka State United Museum
Address: 20, Leninskaya Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683000 Russia Tel.: (4152) 42-54-11
Operating hours: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Monday, Tuesday are days off.
The museum's displays are devoted to the history of the region, its flora and fauna, the Kamchatka native peoples and their culture.
Part of it’s collection is unique such as an archaeological collection from late Stone Age sites; an ethnographical collection; a collection of painting, graphic arts, sculptures, and handicrafts of Kamchatkan artists.
Kamchatka Regional Art Museum
Address: 62, Leningradskaya Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683003 Russia
Tel.: (4152) 42-60-25
Operating hours: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, daily.
This museum has only 10 years of its history but its collections contain some unique pieces of art by Russian masters as well as local authors, representatives of Kamchatkan peoples such as Koryaks, Chukchi, Evens, etc.
Military History Museum of North-East Forces
Address: 69, Radiosvyazi Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683000 Russia
Tel.: (4152) 42-50-94
Operating hours: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, daily, Tuesday and Friday are days off. Break from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.
The only large military museum in the north-east of Russia. It was opened in July 26, 1959 by the initiative of vice-admiral G.Shchedrin, the famous submariner, the Hero of the Soviet Union (highest military award in USSR). There are four exposition halls and one showroom in the museum. They display the main historical stages of Kamchatka based military forces development, and also basic points of our Krai history from the moment of Petropavlovsk port foundation till the present days.
Scientific Museum of RAS Far Eastern Branch Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
Address: 9, Piipa Boulevard, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683006 Russia Tel.: (41522) 5-93-46
Attention! Visiting should be booked beforehand.
The museum has a unique collection of minerals, ores, lava samples from numerous volcanoes of Kamchatka and other regions of the world such as Japan, America, New Zealand, Iceland, Mexico, Italy, etc. If you visit the Institute of Volcanology Museum you will get the opportunity to see unbelievable pictures and latest videos about acting volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.
Museum of Kamchatka Research Institute of Fishery and Oceanography
Address: 18, Naberezhnaya Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683600 Russia
Tel.: (4152) 42-57-96
Attention! Visiting should be booked beforehand.
The permanent exhibition of the museum tells about the unique representatives of waters washing Kamchatkan Peninsula, about oceanographic scientific researches, about some fishing industry breakthroughs.
Geological Museum under the Territory Information Fund of Natural Resources and Environment Preservation
Address: 108, Beringa Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683016 Russia Tel.: (4152) 23-90-39
Operating hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, daily.
Attention! Visiting should be booked beforehand.
There are three halls in the museum. The first one displays minerals and semiprecious stones. The exposition of the second hall tells about mineral resources of the Kamchatka Peninsula and its geological structure. The third hall displays the products of Kamchatka volcano eruptions. Here are displayed volcanic bombs, scoria and ashes different in shape and size; specimens of clinker, and in particular, black porous clinkers of one of the last Tolbachik Volcano eruption. Largest minerals and ores fields are put on the relief electric map of the Kamchatka Region with 1:500 000 scale.
Museum of Salmon
Address: 58, Akademika Korolyeva Street, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683049 Russia Tel.: 23-58-35
Operating hours: daily. Saturday and Sunday are days off.
Attention! Visiting should be booked beforehand.
The museum offers information about salmons’ origin, biology, geography of distribution. The museum expositions tell about communication of Kamchatkan aboriginal population with one of the ancient fishes of the Earth; about methods of fishing and processing of salmon from late Stone Age to the third millennium.
Food chains section tells about the eternal life cycle of salmon and it’s place in fragile ecosystems of the North.
The stand materials are backed by 3-D pieces to make the Museum more attractive for excursionists.
phone / fax: +7 (4152) 22-75-12, mob.: +7 914-780-1764 - Tatyana, +7 909-835-3530 - Constantine
Register number in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators – ВТ 010113
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