Khakassia



Khakassia

Name: Constantine Gulyaev

Age: 34

Profession: Photographer

City/Region: Republic of Khakassia

How long have you been doing photography? What style or genre most interests you? 

I have been doing photography since 2012. I am most interested in photojournalism and environmental portraiture, visual storytelling about people, places and events.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for?  

Khakassia is a subject of the Russian Federation and is located in southern Siberia. It is blessed with natural beauty (steppes, mountains, lakes, caverns), monuments of ancient culture that are thought to be thousands of years old, the richness of Khakassian national culture and customs, and shamanism. Esoteric Tourism has become extremely popular here of late. Khakassia has many so-called “places of power,” where there is a strong and variegated concentration of energy forces, such that people experience a wide range of unusual reactions, from deep meditation to conditions of unfounded happiness.

What is something about your city that only locals would know?

Locals call Khakassia "Warm Siberia." The number of sunny days in the republic far exceed those in neighboring regions. What is more, the Minusinsk Depression, located in Khakassia, is protected from winds by the Western and Eastern Sayana mountain ranges, as well as by the Kuznestk Alatau, which creates beneficial conditions for all sorts of life.

Shamanism has always played and continues to play an important role in the life of Khakassian society. They conduct ceremonies, lead craft groups, treat illnesses, bring the souls of unborn children to be with their countrymen, and accompany the souls of the deceased to the other world. If in Moscow millions of rubles are spent to chase off clouds from coming holidays, in Khakassia local politicians merely turn to the shamans for help in guaranteeing better weather.

According to ancient tradition, Khakass men grow their hair long and braid it in a tight braid, a kichege, which symbolizes their close bond with the heavens, the spiritual world of Tengri [The main god of the Turkic pantheon, considered to be the chief god who created all things, and which has been worshiped by Central Asian and Eastern European people’s since the sixth century, but which may have roots in China dating back ten centuries prior.]

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city?

Historical and natural sights: the lake in Shirinsky Rayon, the Sunduk mountain rang, Tiyum Depression, Caverns, Petroglyphs in various regions of Khakassia.

Abakan is the capital of Khakassia. The city is young (founded in 1932) and similar to many other Soviet cities. But there are things to see. For example the Khakass Republic Philharmonic, in order to experience Khakass national dances (the ensembles «Кÿн сузы» and «Солнечный луч») and music (the ensembles «Унгер» - «Созвездие»). Abakan also has tourism sites conveniently located near the city:

  • Askiz Rayon, where the Khakass people predominate, and site of the stone sculpture known as “Улуг Хуртуях тас” (Great Old Woman Stone).
  • Sayano-Shushensky Hydroelectric Station and the picturesque road leading to it along the Yenisey River.
  • Mount Kunya (Sun Mountain), with its soul piercing views of the Krasnoyarsk Sea.
  • The great Salbyk Kurgan and Oglakhty National Park.

It is also easy to get to several sites in neighboring Krasnoyarsk Krai from Abakan: Shushenskoye (the town where Lenin was exiled and now home to an annual festival of ethnic music), the city of Minusinsk, Mount Tepsey (a mountain along the Yenisey river that is considered sacred by the Khakass).

Anything else you would like to add?

The natural landscape in Khakassia surprises with its scale, variety and primordial state. Here, you can sense the true power of nature and the richness of ancient history. Being a photographer and visual storyteller, I want to return to these places again and again...

Do you have a website? www.constantinegulyaev.com



Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955