Vladivostok

Vladivostok is the Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai with population of 578,8 million people (2008). It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from Russian border with China and North Korea. It is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

 

Vladivostok was part of China before Russia acquired the entire Maritime Province including the island of Sakhalin by the Treaty of Aigun (1858) when China, which had just lost the Opium War with Britain, was unable to act. The Pacific coast near Vladivostok was settled mainly by the Chinese, Jurchen, Manchu and Korean during Imperial Chinese Qing dynasty period. A French whaler visiting the Zolotoy Rog in 1852 discovered Chinese or Manchu village fishermen on the shore of the bay.

 

The naval outpost was founded in 1859 by Count Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, who named it after the model of Vladikavkaz, a Russian fortress in the Caucasus. The first child was born in Vladivostok in 1863. An elaborate system of fortifications was erected between the 1870s and 1890s. A telegraph line from Vladivostok to Shanghai and Nagasaki was opened in 1871, the year when a commercial port was relocated to this town from Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. The municipal coat of arms, representing the Siberian tiger, was adopted in March 1883. The city's economy was given a boost in 1903, with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway which connected Vladivostok to Moscow and Europe. The first high school was opened in 1899.

 

Being the home base of the Pacific Military Fleet, Vladivostok was closed to foreigners from 1930 till the 1990’s. The only exception was made for US President Gerald Ford who met the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok in 1974. In 1992, for the first time, Vladivostok was officially opened to travelers from other countries.

 

Nowadays Vladivostok is an industrial, scientific, cultural and the largest historical city of Far East. The fishing industry and mechanical engineering are well developed here. The Sea Port is the heart of the city and has 16 moorings located for the space of 4190 m. There is a Far East Branch of Russian Scientific Academy with 14 different Institutes. Vladivostok has Theatres, Galeries, Museums, more then 200 monuments. The architectural appearance of the city keeps old and modern buildings.

 

We invite you in Vladivostok to visit its interesting places: Museum of Regional Studies, Oceanarium, Fortress museum, C-56 Submarine museum, Orthodox Saint Nicolas church, to enjoy the best view of Vladivostok from the top of the Eagle’s Nest (Orlinoye Gnezdo) Hill. You can also make a tour to Russian Island or Golden Horn Bay admiring very beautiful natural surroundings of Vladivostok.