Published in: Europe

20 Interesting Facts About Yakutsk

Author Isolated Traveller

Published on: 13/02/2020

Facts About Yakutsk:

1. The Yakuts, also known as the Sakha people, migrated to the area during the 13th and 14th centuries from other parts of Siberia.

2. Yakutia Airlines has its head office in the city.

3. The annual Ysyakh summer festival takes place the last weekend in June. The traditional Yakut summer solstice festivities include a celebration of the revival and renewal of nature, fertility, and the beginning of a new year.

4. Yakutsk is the capital of the Sakha Republic.

5. The population of Yakutsk is 311,760, as of 2018.

6. Yakutsk is twinned with: Changwon, South Korea; Fairbanks, Alaska, United States; Harbin, Heilongjiang, China; Murayama, Japan; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada & Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.

7. The main indigenous people of Yakutia – Yakuts – prefer to be called “Sakha”.

8. Winter in Yakutsk lasts from October to May.

9. The climate is extreme continental. In the winter it is the coldest city in the world and in summer it is very hot.

10. The Lena River in terms of its water track is second only to the Amazon River.

11. Lena Pillars Nature Park in Yakutsk is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

12. Yakutsk is also the largest city located in continuous permafrost and one of the largest that cannot be reached by road.

13. The lowest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast of Yakutsk.

14. Yakutsk is the largest city in Russia, which has no railway communication with the rest of the country. 

15. Yakutsk is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about 450 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle.

16. The Russian settlement of Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as a fortress by Pyotr Beketov.

17. A highway bridge over the Lena in the Okrug had been scheduled to be built by the year 2020.

18. Yakutia is one of the richest regions in the world in terms of natural resources.

19. The people of Yakutsk don’t go outdoors in winter unless it was absolutely necessary due to the harsh winter they experience.

20. The world’s only Mammoth Museum can be found in Yakutsk.