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'Yakutsk' (; ) is a city in the Russian Far East, located about 4° (450 kilometres) below the Arctic Circle. It is the capital of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic (formerly the ''Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic''), Russia and a major port on the Lena River. It is served by Yakutsk Airport as well as the smaller Yakutsk Magan Airport. Population: 210,642 (2002 Census); 186,626 (1989 Census).
It is also a highway center and has tanneries, sawmills, and brickworks. Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as a Cossack fort but did not grow into a city until the discovery of large reserves of gold and other minerals in the 1880s and 1890s. These reserves were developed extensively during the industrialisation under Stalin. The rapid growth of forced labour camps in Siberia also encouraged Yakutsk's development.
Additionally, Yakutsk is connected with Magadan by the Kolyma Highway, dubbed the Road of Bones, which was constructed by inmates from Gulag and Sevvostlag labor camps.
Work is underway to connect Yakutsk to the Baikal Amur Mainline. This project, the AYAM, is expected to be completed in 2010.
The city has a university (founded 1956) and a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which contains, among others, the ''Institute of Cosmophysical Research'', which runs the Yakutsk Extensive Air Shower installation (one of the largest cosmic-ray detector arrays in the world), and the ''Permafrost Research Institute'' developed with the aim of solving the serious and costly problems associated with construction of buildings on frozen soil.


Yakutsk is also home to Sakha theater and the Museum of Mammoth. It has offices of many mining companies, including ALROSA, whose diamond mines in Yakutia account for about 20% of the world's rough diamond output.
Yakutsk is one of the coldest cities on earth, with January temperatures averaging . The coldest temperatures ever recorded outside Antarctica occur in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast. Despite this however, July temperatures can often exceed , making the region among the greatest in the world for seasonal temperature differentials. Yakutsk is the biggest city built on ''continuous permafrost''. Most houses are built on concrete piles.
The Lena River runs through the city, and in the summer there are various boat cruises offered, including upriver to the Lena Pillars, and downriver which visit spectacular scenery in the lower reaches and the Lena Delta.

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External links

External links

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★ Flickr photos tagged yakutsk

★ Yakutsk State University

★ Lena Pillars at Natural Heritage Protection Fund site

★ Some photos of Yakutsk

★ Yakutsk past and present: a photo gallery at the site of the Ministry of Construction of the Sakha Republic