Discover Khabarovsk with the Presidential Library

“The pattern of life in the Far East differs from a similar picture of the development of municipal life in old cities of European Russia, which may turn out to be educative…” - says the 1913 book “From the Life of Khabarovsk” available on the Presidential Library portal.

80 years ago, on October 20, 1938, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the division of the Far Eastern Territory, Khabarovsk Territory was formed. In the framework of the project “Discover Russia with the Presidential Library”, we propose the electronic collection “Khabarovsk Territory: Pages of History”.

"1858 is the year as memorable in the history of Khabarovsk as it is in the history of the whole new Amur Region, attached to the possessions of the Romanov dynasty by the works and merits of Count N. N. Muravyov-Amursky, who concluded the Aigun agreement with China in that year and ceaselessly assigned to the Russian power the young region, by the way, a military settlement along the banks of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, the location of which had a deep strategic meaning ... ” - writes A. M. Bodisko in the book “From the Life of Khabarovsk”.

The article “Porto-Franco on Amur” of 1900 illustrates the vast region growing to Russia by the efforts of diplomats and the military: “Diplomatic agreements too weakly secured the possession of the newly annexed areas, they needed to concentrate a certain number of the troops, they needed to be settled by the indigenous Russian population, including Cossacks, who were able not only to restore internal order in the province, but also to give a feasible rebuff to any attempt at a foreign invasion”.

One of the first settlements here was the post Khabarovka founded in 1858.

“With the course of time, Khabarovka’s favorable not only strategically, but also economically, position has enabled it to gradually grow and develop”, - continues A. M. Bodisko. The presence in the village of a military team attracted here trade and industrial people, who found their income by supplying vegetables, meat, fish and other vital products and trading various necessities and unpretentious luxury”.

In 1880, Khabarovka became a city, and in 1893 it was renamed Khabarovsk. The growth of the latter was so fast that it could not have done without abuse: “The arrival of new officials, officers, traders kindled the appetites of homeowners, and they, without embarrassment, either verbal or written agreements, added prices to apartments almost monthly”.  

Famous traveler Mikhail Kozhukhov and historian Sergey Tsvetkov told a lot about the city in a radio program about Khabarovsk from the Our Geography series available on the Presidential Library portal: “At the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries Khabarovsk turned from a provincial city on the outskirts into a large administrative, military, industrial and cultural center of the Far East. The year 1894 has become the key to the cultural life of Khabarovsk: a department of the Russian Geographical Society was formed in the city, which members opened a museum of local lore and a library, the Amur Gazette newspaper started to release, and in the autumn of the same year Khabarovsk first came to their theater. At the beginning of the 20th century, one of the first Pushkin’s street in Russia and the first Leo Tolstoy’s street in Russia emerged here. A three-kilometer railway bridge across the Amur was called by contemporaries the miracle of the 20th century. The gigantic construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed with its construction... ”    

A remarkable atmosphere of Khabarovsk Territory and the Far East as a whole makes it possible to feel the cycle of documentary films “Russia from the train window”, also available on the Presidential Library portal. In particular, it tells about the expedition along the section of the Baikal-Amur Mainline from Vanino to Tynda in the Khabarovsk Territory.

“At Baikal-Amur Mainline long non-stop transitions can last for days”, - says one of the film’s authors Anton Lange. “During this time you can’t see a single soul”.

He compares BAM with the second main railway of the Far East: “Trans Siberian line even in the most remote places, is a civilized, powerful, almost glamorous road. BAM is another, much more brutal, severe”.

Another transport "attraction" of Khabarovsk Territory is the ferries plying between the mainland (Vanino) and Sakhalin (Kholmsk). It was only in the mid-70s of the last century that the long-term problem of delivering people and goods to the largest island of Russia was partially solved. At that time, 10 special ferries were built in Kaliningrad, which crossed three oceans before reaching here. These amazing vessels are able to take a whole train at a time!

Information about the sights of Khabarovsk Territory would be incomplete and without natural “wonders”. They are famous petroglyphs on the right bank of the Amur, for instance. The article “Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan” from the magazine “Russian Reporter”, also available on the Presidential Library portal, says that about 150 of these unique images of animals, people and masks are preserved on local basalt boulders. Although it is assumed that earlier there were at least twice as many of them: some stones over time were turned over and rooted in the ground, some ended up in the river. The purpose of the petroglyphs is difficult to determine. But so far for devotees of shamanism, they are places of worship.

Khabarovsk today is the administrative, transport, educational and cultural center of the Far East. The city houses the Federal Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the headquarters of the Eastern Military District. Khabarovsk Territory as a whole has an impressive and in many respects not yet developed territory, various natural beauty and wealth.