Surgut is a Russian city, the administrative center of the Surgut District of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. It is the largest city of the Area, one of the few Russian regional cities that surpass the administrative center of the subject of federation both in population and industrial potential.

In 2009 the city’s population was 298.5 thousand inhabitants. Surgut occupies the area of 21 009 hectares. It is located on the right bank of River Ob and is the largest port on this river. It is an important railway and highway junction, the largest one in the north of Western Siberia. Surgut is also an international airport. As the industrial center of the largest oil region, Surgut is an informal “oil-producing capital” of Russia.

Surgut is one of the first Russian cities in Siberia. It gained the status of a city in 1782. Surgut was founded in 1594 as a stockade town at the place of a fortress and was named after one of the distributaries of River Ob closest to it. In Surgut, just like in entire Siberia there was never serfdom. However, from olden days the city was an exile place, where lots of Decembrists were banished to.

Sightseeing in Surgut

The major placed of interest in Surgut include the Museum of Local Lore, the Art Museum, the Surgut Art Gallery “Sterkh”, the Gazprom Oil and Gas Museum, the Museum Complex “Merchant Manor”, the Museum of Bridge over River Ob, etc. The Historical and Cultural Center “Old Surgut” is the only historical and ethnographic centre in Surgut that reproduces the Surgut wooden architecture of the 19th-20th centuries. Among the modern constructions visitors wonder at the Surgut version of Big-Ben - an almost exact replica of the well-known English tower with chimes, as well as the 2110 meter-long Surgut hanging cable bridge - one of the longest bridges in Siberia.

The well-known archaeological monument Barsova Mountain with 60 sites of ancient settlements, 3000 dwellings, burial grounds, and sanctuaries, most ancient of which date back to the Stone Age, is located 20 km away from Surgut. There is also the ski resort Kamenny Mys (Stone Cape), a favourite recreation place for Surgut dwellers and visitors.