Chelyabinsk



Chelyabinsk

Name: Anastasia Bogomolova

Age: 31

Profession: Artist

City: Chelyabinsk

How long have you been doing photography? Since 2012.

What style or genre most interests you? Conceptual photography – it is one of the tools in my work as an artist.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for? Chelyabinsk is a million-resident city in the southern Urals. It was founded as a fortress in the 1730s and at the end of the nineteenth century it was transformed from a district city into a huge center for transport and trade. And in the 1930s and 1940s it became a large industrial construction center such that today is is one of the largest industrial sites in the region. But, yes, Chelyabinsk is now most famous thansk to the meteorite which exploded 15-25 km over our city in February 2013.

What are some things that only locals would know about the city?

1. One of the city's unofficial names is Tankograd, which relates to the military era. During the Second World War Chelyabinsk was the site for intensive production of tanks and other military vehicles.

2. Chelyabinsk was the first city in Russia to memorialize John Lennon. In 2000 the city named a boulevard after the famous musician, yet to this day this street does not have a single building, just a sign.

3. Chelyabinsk is the only city in the country which has a sprawling forest in its midst. The grove is a 20 minute walk from the central square and covers 12 square kilometers.

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

1. Kirovka – the city's main pedestrian street, with buildings that have been preserved from the nineteenth century. Locals call it the Chelyabinsk Arbat, but it has had many names (Ufimsky, Yekaterinburgsky, Raboche-Krestyansky). You can see popular bronze sculptures of a beggar (sitting in front of a bank), a peasant reading a decree (at the regional legislative assembly), a shoe shine (near the shoe store), an artists, a fire wagon, etc. Gallant and pseudo-historical monuments stand alongside military memorials.

2. The Historical Museum of the Southern Urals – it has the largest known fragment of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite.

3. Of course, you have to go and see the forest mentioned.

Anything else? The most interesting is what lies beyond the bounds of the "required sites." Thus, when people come to visit me from other cities or countries, I never take them to these places, but lead them on an alternative itinerary, beginning with the metallurgical region, one of the most heavily saturated industrial regions (even by the standards of the very industrial Ural region). During the Second World War, all of the modern territory of this region was part of the labor camp known as Bakallag. Most of the prisoners there were Russian Germans, deported from the Volga region.

Website: https://anabogomolova.viewbook.com

Instagram: @anabogomolova



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

Some of Our Books

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.
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...
Murder at the Dacha

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.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
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.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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