Tomsk founded in 1604 is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. And only two other cities of the Siberian region are older than Tomsk. They are Tyumen (1586) and Tobolsk (1587). For some time Tobolsk was the main city of the Siberian region.
Several years after its foundation Tomsk was a fortress at the summit of the Voskresenskaya (Resurrection) hill rising above the rivers Tom and Ushayka. Now you can see there the restored Tomsk ostrog (prison) housing the Tomsk Local History Museum.
Lenin Square and the stone bridge over the river Ushayka are at the foot of the ostrog. Further on towards the river Tom you can see the Drama Theatre and the Annunciation Cathedral. Also it will be very interesting to have a walk on the embankment of the river Tom where it flows into the river Ushayka.
If you go from the Voskresenskaya (Resurrection) hill on the Obrub street running along the river Ushayka, you can go to Shishkov street. There you can see many beautiful wooden buildings.
Generally, Wooden Architecture is the the main attraction of Tomsk. For centuries all houses were wooden in Tomsk. The city was repeatedly burnt and each time the houses were rebuilt from wood. And eventually there was formed a distinctive architecture featuring a beautiful carved decor of windows and roofs. The window surrounds have very beautiful wood carvings.
Apart from Shishkov street, you can also see the restored wooden houses on Krasnoarmeyskaya, Gagarin, Tatarskaya and Alexei Belents streets. All of them are in different parts of the city. Also, you can see one or two wooden houses on the other streets of Tomsk. Many curious ancient window surrounds and decorative elements of wooden houses are exhibited at the the museum of wooden architecture on Kirov street.
On the stretch of Lenin Avenue from the river Ushayka to the buildings of Tomsk universities you can see the house built in the style of Soviet constructivism, as well as stone multistorey houses, which appeared in Tomsk in the 19 century. In the neighborhood of the Troitsky (Trinity) public garden is the memorial museum «The NKVD (People`s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) remand prison», as well as the local history museum where you can get acquainted with the history of Tomsk.
The Monastery of the Virgin and Saint Alexey is on Yurtochnaya hill not far from the today center of Tomsk. The main sacred thing of the monastery is the relics of the starets Feodor Kuzmich. It is claimed that he was Alexander I of Russia, who faked his death to become a hermit.
