Petrozavodsk



Petrozavodsk (Петрозаво́дск; Karelian, Vepsian and Finnish: Petroskoi) is the capital city of Karelia with a population just above 263,000.

Understand
On September 11, 1703, Prince Menshikov founded Petrovskaya Sloboda ("Petrine Settlement") at the behest of Tsar Peter the Great, who needed a new iron foundry to manufacture cannons and anchors for the Baltic Fleet at the time of the Great Northern War (1700–1721). At first the foundry used the name Shuysky zavod (literally, "factory at the Shuya River"), but a decade later it became Petrovsky zavod ("Petrine factory"), after the reigning monarch.

By 1717, Petrovskaya Sloboda had grown into the largest settlement in Karelia, with about 3,500 inhabitants, a timber fort, a covered market, and miniature palaces of the Tsar and Menshikov. The town's best-known landmark became the wooden church of Saints Peter and Paul, rebuilt in 1772 and renovated in 1789. The church retained its original iconostasis until it was destroyed by fire on October 30, 1924.

After Peter's death, Petrovskaya Sloboda became depopulated and the factory declined. It closed down in 1734, but revived in 1773 when Catherine the Great established a new iron foundry upstream the Lososinka River. Designed to provide cannons for the ongoing Russo-Turkish Wars, the foundry was named Alexandrovsky, after Alexander Nevsky, who was considered a patron saint of the region.

During Catherine's municipal reform of 1777, Petrovskaya Sloboda was incorporated as a town, whereupon its name was changed to Petrozavodsk. A new Neoclassical city center was then built, focused on the newly planned Round Square. In 1784 Petrozavodsk was large enough to become Karelia's administrative center.

The factory was modernized and expanded under supervision of Charles Gascoigne in 1787–96. Local pundits claim that the first railway in the world (чугунный колесопровод) was inaugurated for industrial uses of the Alexandrovsky foundry in 1788.

After the Finnish civil war of 1918 and after the Great Depression of 1929, there was a significant influx of Finns, especially in the early 1930s also of Finns from North America. The town more than doubled, from 20,000 to 50,000, during this time. The Finns had a significant role in the development of the region, but the Stalinist purges hit hard on the Finns.

Petrozavodsk was occupied by Finland during World War II (1941–1944). In the 1950s, many Ingrians moved in. At the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 15,000 Finns lived in the town. Finnish connections with the town were retained, with Finnish economic contributions to education and the press, and many Finnish tourists until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

By train
The city is easily reached by RZD train from Saint Petersburg. There are both day and night trains leaving from Ladozhsky station, a second class sleeper ticket will set you back about ₽1100. The Lastochka Premium train takes just under five hours while most other trains have a travel time of 7-8 hours. Moscow is 16 hours away on a over-night service, trains depart from the Leningradsky station with second class tickets costing from ₽2200. All trains bound for Murmansk makes stop-overs here so there are long-distance connections with Kaliningrad (44 hr), Kyiv (41 hr), Minsk (24 hr) and seasonal trains from Black Sea resorts as Sochi (55 hr) which serves mostly tourists travelling home. Slow regional trains also connects with various smaller cities in Karelia such as Kostomuksha (13 hr) and Suoyarvi (4 hr). (Петрозаводск-Пасс) is located on ul. Gagarina, just west of the city centre.

By bus


There are bus services from Saint Petersburg daily with Avokzal.

International connection from Helsinki with Petrozavodsk transport and Inkeriline. There is also a bus service from Tampere. A one-way ticket costs €40, return €75. Savonlinja has services from Joensuu for as cheap as €13. PTZ-Trans and Karelavtotrans offer services from Joensuu also.

By car
Petrozavodsk is along the highway, also known as Kola Highway which links Saint Petersburg and Murmansk. The road is mostly in good condition but expect long driving distances and few gas stations along the way. From Norway, Sweden or Finland you might want to come along the Blue Highway (Russian: Голубая дорога), a tourist route along ancient waterways. In Russia it comes in via Sortavala (Со́ртавала) at the north end of Ladoga.

Get around
The town has a moderate size. Center is easily walkable. A taxi anywhere in town costs ₽100 or less. Buses run frequently along the major routes.

The railway station is at the southern end of Leninsky Prospekt, which cuts through the center of town all the way to the embankment on Lake Onego. It is about a 30-minute walk from the station to the lake.

See

 * All the neoclassical architecture
 * The lake, the shore, and things nearby
 * Visit the main theatre. The architecture is gorgeous and the square along with a nearby park offer great walking opportunities

Museums and galleries


There are three main museums in the city: the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Kizhi Petrozavodsk Museum.



Eat
Dine out. Check out one of several local restaurants. Many trend foreign but some still serve local cuisine. Karelian dining often features fish cooked whole in its own soup.

Consulates

 * 🇫🇮 Finland
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden