
Текст III
Everyone who has once visited Omsk notices its openness, breadth and peculiarity. The city on the banks of the Irtish and Om rivers is beautiful and sweeping in a Siberian manner. A beautiful site was chosen for the new fortress by the guardsman of Peter the Great I.Buchholz, when in spring of 1716 he and his detachment made a landing on the shore of the free Irtish, in the place where this powerful Siberian river takes the quiet Om into its broad riverbed. According to the edict of the tsar Peter the Great and his deputy in Siberia prince Gagarin, pioneers erected here the fortification to guard the south Russian borders. Thus was founded the town, which in our days became the largest industrial and cultural center of Siberia. No trace was left of wooden fortress - primogenitor of the town. But the ancient stone houses and the entrance fortress gates on the right bank of the river Om, where it flows into the Irtish, still keep the voices of the remote past. Right here in the 1760s, when the wooden buildings of the first Omsk fortress became dilapidated, a new fortification was founded, this time built of stone.
In 1782 the fortress
settlement was given the name of a town. Among inhabitants of this
town were merchants, artisans, officials, but most people were the
military.
In 1812
battalions of the 24th Siberian division went to fight
with
Napoleon. Many of them died the death
of brave on the Borodino
field.
The Shirvansky musketeer regiment
units guarding the borders of Omsk
fortress also distinguished themselves in the fights with Frenchmen.
Later the
heros and participants of that war served in Omsk.
At different times the post of West
Siberian Governor-general
was held by P. Kaptsevich and G. Husford. During
that time the town grew considerably, was decorated with gardens
and sturdy stone buildings. In the 1820s Omsk
was lined with buildings by the project
of the famous Russian
engineer V.Geste.
Since that
time the central
architectural
ensemble of the town began to take shape. One of the Omsk
central buildings became the palace
of Governor-general. In celebration days the tricolor flag
appeared on the tower. From
this tower the young town was viewed by many guests - well-known
scientists, diplomats and travellers.
They could see new squares, wooden houses with mezzanines and
galleries, the broad Irtish, ships, fresh green Lyuba's Grove and the
fortress with mighty belfry of Voskresensky Cathedral.
The military significance of Omsk
determined the fates of many Russians.
We are not sure if the famous horses of talented sculptor Peter Klodt
could appear on the Anitchkov Bridge
in Petersburg
without his Omsk
experiences. Because here in Omsk
a gifted boy fell for horses - these proud and
beautiful
animals. The fame found him in the Northern
capital but here in Omsk,
far away from European
artistic world,
for the first time baron Klodt felt the desire to learn curving,
modelling and
studying
horses. Among
that lot a huge to him Cossack Nikolsky Cathedral in the garden of
which the artist could have walked. "Its severe slim appearance"
is very alike to its architectural brothers in Petersburg. And it's
quite explicable because the Cathedral was built by the famous
architect V.Stasov's drawings, who built a lot in the city on the
banks ofNeva.
In 1894 when
the railroad came
to Omsk
it was called the Gates of Siberia. The Great Siberian Track made the
economic
contacts
of business
men more active and easier, by
connecting
Omsk
with Moscow,
Petersburg and Far East. The representatives of famous Russian
and foreign
firms came to the far Siberian town. Due to this Omsk
started intensive
construction
of imposing buildings: banks, shops, apartments and offices.
In our days
the work of organizations
responsible for the keeping of Omsk
antique memorials
became animated, there appeared enthusiasts-students of local
lore, whose opinion is considered by the community. The city's
department of architecture
lead by A.Karimov has provided the restricted
areas where the erection of new buildings is strictly regulated.
One of such
areas are the Cossack suburb. Each house here has its unique history.
On Pochtovaya street remained some ancient houses, among them No, 27
- the Khiebnikovs
house where
Omsk
artists are working now. Durable house with a verandah facing the
garden, with carved laurel branches on the front door and frieze
reflected the taste of his owner the famous public
figure, lawyer Arseny Khiebnikov. In the beginning
of the 20-s this house was visited by the talented youth, among them
was young Vissarion Shebalin, who performed many of his works in this
house on Pochtovaya for the first time.
In the
50-s-60-s in the North West of Omsk
due to the construction of the first Siberian oil refinery grew the
town of oil industry
workers. This town appeared on the spot
which since
the 18th century
occupied "the quiet little village of Zakhlamino, surrounded by
the windmills" as wrote I.Belov in his "Travel Notes and
Impressions of Western Siberia" in
the 1850s. A
new city was created designed, by the indivisible architect-artistic
project (the Vesniny Brothers architectural-planning workshop).
The idea
of the city-garden presented for the first time in 1919 by the
engineer D.Werner was incarnated in the end of the 50-s, when the
city was all in green and the lawns of parks
and public gardens were filled with exotic floraflora.
Many interesting buildings appeared in Omsk
during last
decades.
Among the buildings which enriched the city's panorama we can
enumerate the Trade Center, the builders of
which were
awarded the State
prize in 1968, the Pushkin
Scientific Library
(architects Y.Zakharov, G.Narizyna, T.Moraz, I.Lubchich) on the
Krasny Put street. Omsk
architects are trying to form the complete ensembles, they attach
great importance to the moulding of building's silhouette, use widely
the natural
factors in their creative plans. And at the same time they don't
forget the antiquity and understand
the necessity of its preservation.
The city
cherishes its past. The architects and antiquity lovers restored the
Serafimo-Alexeevskaya Chapel which even now is surrounded by numerous
legends. One of them tells that the Chapel was built in 1908 to
memorize the birth of the Cesarevitch Alexei. Another tells that it
was built to memorize the soldiers killed in Russian
war with Japan.
The chapel was torn down in the 1920-s and was rebuilt brick by brick
by the project and sup
er-vision
of artist V.Desyatov.
You can meet
the history of Omsk
not only on the streets of the city. It lives in the museums,
in the inspirational works of Omsk
artists, actors and history scientists.
Omsk
museum of local lore, history and economy
is the oldest in Siberia. It was founded in 1878 by the famous
Siberian scientists, explorers and public figures: M.Pevtsov,
G.Potanin, N.Yadrintsev, I.SIovtsov.
The city has great scientific potential. The names of academician the Honorary citizen of Omsk V.Bisyarina, academician N.Milachshenko, corresponding member of Medical Academy L.Poluektov, Honorable Science and Technics Workers K.Artemiev, T.AIexeyeva, D.Krinitsin, V.Mezentsev, K.Tolmachev, social anthropologist I.Tomilov are well known in Russia and abroad. Omsk is theatrical city. It has 5 state and 3 municipal theatres for 1200 thousand city dwellers. It's hard to buy tickets for many plays and today in the developing market relations when many theatres in different cities close, here in Omsk in the beginning of the nineties there opened 4 more theatres.