Russian Blog

Томск [Tomsk] has a population of half a million and is located in Siberia, but since Siberia is a big place one is quite in the right to ask – where exactly? North-east of Novosibirsk by five hours by commute train, to be precise, the city is seated two hours north of the Trans-Siberian railroad route along the river Томь [Tom’]. Founded already in 1604, it is one of the oldest towns of Siberia, and it has the oldest university of the region – Томский государственный университет – which has protected a strong tradition of scientific studies for over 130 years now. In the city there are six more universities, and this has earned it the nickname of “Siberian Athens”, and it is estimated that every fourth inhabitant in one way or another is enrolled in academic courses. In many ways Tomsk resembles another, though more Western, Siberian town – Tobolsk. Both of them were ‘centers’ of exile, Tobolsk in the 19th century and Tomsk in the 20th, and because of this influx of intellectuals and other well educated people from European parts of Russia, they have both – after the terror died out, that is – enjoyed a rise in both scholarly and as well as artistic spheres to set them apart from other remote cities. This is something that can be felt straight away upon arrival to a Siberian town – whether or not it was a place for shuffling exiles to their points of destination – or, if not scientifically proved yet, it is at least my opinion. Yekaterinburg or Novosibirsk both have more of a ‘worker’ feel to them, because they were created to be industrial centers, where as Tobolsk and Tomsk both have a certain ‘sensitive’ air about them due to the intellectual activities that went on there despite of all the hardships. Needless to say, I fell in love with Tomsk as soon as I arrive last Sunday and stayed one day longer than necessary only because I liked it so much. Though now is neither the time nor the place to tell you why – maybe some other time [or read my private blog!] – but I’d like to talk about something else that has to do with Tomsk today, about Томский мемориальный музей истории политических репрессий «Следственная тюрьма НКВД» (филиал Томского областного краеведческого музея) [Tomsk Memorial Museum of History of Political Repressions “Investigatory Prison of the NKVD” (branch of Tomsk Regional Museum)] located in the very heart of the city.

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