Petrozavodsk, a capital of the Republic of Karelia, is a large industrial and cultural center of the Russian North-West. Petrozavodsk is situated on the shores of Onega lake, one of the biggest inner lakes in Europe. Onega lake has an access to the Baltic, Barents, White, Caspian and Black seas via the canals system.

   Population – 266600 City area - 121,8 sq. kilometers. Sometimes it is called Theater Square

         In 1703 it was the center of Petrovskaya sloboda. That time it was called Cathedral Square.

        The wooden St. Peter and Paul Cathedral was the main building, erected in the area of this Square but it’s a pity that the cathedral hasn’t preserved up to the present time. The cathedral had two functions: 1. it was a place of warship 2. Beside, the cross there was a lantern, so it served as a lighthouse. When Peter I came to Petrozavodsk  he used the lantern for his studies in astronomy. A monument to S.M Kirov is in the centre of the Square. It was unveiled in 1936. It’s the work of Matvei Manizer and Lev Ilyin. S.M.Kirov headed the Leningrad Committee of the Communist party from 1926 – 1934. On S.M Kirov’s initiative new industrial structures were begun. He believed the North would prosper in future.

     As European cities go, Petrozavodsk is young city. It was founded in 1703. Peter’s new capital – St-Petersburg was in isolation. Peter needed not only a naval base on the Gulf of Finland, but also a satellite town.

                 In August 1703 Peter I ordered a cannon factory built at the mouth of the Lososinka. The Northern War was on. Russia was fighting to win back the Russian lands and to get an exit to the Baltic Sea. It needed weapon and equipment. Although the local bogs contained relatively little ore and its extraction was very labour consuming, it had one advantage: the foundry was situated close to the theatre of war operation. It was convenient “to ship goods through Lake Onego in both direction. In  the spring of 1704 the first lot of cannons was shipped to St.Petersburg.

     The name of the town stands for “Peter’s foundry”. Petrovskaya sloboda – a settlement – appeared alongside the foundry.

         The manager of Peter’s foundry was Vilimm Genin from Holland, because Peter I tried to base everything on Dutch model.

        The builders and artisans settled on the right bank of the Lososinka while the houses of the plant manager were built on the more convenient left bank of the river. 

       The first street  Nagornaya line (Mariinskaya street, now Max Prospect) connected the foundry and Lake Onego Embankment.

           In 1703 The wooden St.Peter and Paul Cathedral was the main building, erected not far from the guay in the area of present-day Kirov Square.

        In 1714 a wooden fortress was erected in the area of Kirov Square. The fortress housed the foundry offices, the stone building of the archive, the arsenal, a jail.

            In 1716 the first technical school was opened in Petrovskaya sloboda for children of workers and peasants. They studied arithmetic, reading, writing, geometry, drawing and engineering.

           Peter the Great personally assisted in some works at the factory and dictated every aspects of life down to the smallest detail.

           The majority of the buildings were made of wood. There were some reasons for it: when the stone masons began to run short of the building material Peter I banned the use of stone in the rest of the Empire. During the Great Northern War the  new settlement on shores of Onega lake was flourishing.

          In the early part of the 18 century there were more than 100 governmental houses, 300 private houses, an inn, 16 stores, several pubs, two bakeries, two churches, a prison and 2 palaces (the Peter’s and the Governor’s palaces).

         Thanks to the cannon factory Petrozavodsk turned into the largest settlement in the Northern part of Russia with the population of 3000.

       In 1721 the Northern War was ended. The cannon foundry lost its significance.

               In 1734 the foundry was closed by the order of  the government. In 1768 – 1774 the Russian – Turkish war was on. Russia needed weapon. In 1772 Catherine the Great ordered to build a new cast-iron works. In 1773 a new foundry known as the Alexsandrovsky works was established under the supervision of mining master Anikita Yarstov. In 1774 the erection of stone buildings on Vyezzhaya Square, later called Round Square, was a significant event for Petrovsky settlement. A remarkable ensemble of the old city that has been preserved up to the present time was erected.

               In 1777 Catherine the Great granted a town charter to Petrozavodsk settlement.

        The First governor of Olonets province Gavriil Derzhavin stayed in Petrozavodsk from September 1784 to the end of October 1785. He came to Petrozavodsk bringing 3000 books with him. It was the beginning of the first city library in Petrozavodsk. On the suggestion of the Governor the first city hospital was built in Petrozavodsk. During the long official joinery through Olonets province in the summer of 1785 Derzhavin wrote Daily Notes. They are of significant interest for the study of the economy, history and ethnography of Karelia.

         In Petrozavodsk G.R Derzhavin is remembered and honored. On the façade of the house in K. Marx Prospect near Lenin Square there is a memorial plaque.

       The inscription on it informs that this is where the house of the first Governor of Olonets, the famous Russian poet G.R Derzhavin, stood on the former Nagornaya Line. During the second World War the house was destroyed.

         Our lyceum was named after the great poet. Annually Derzhavinsky Readings are held in the lyceum.

There is a street named after G.R Derzhavin in Petrozavodsk.

         By the 300th anniversary of Petrozavodsk the monument to G.R Derzhavin had been unveiled in the Governor’s Garden. It was designed by Valter Soini.

Petrozavodsk coat-of-arms designed by Chumak was adopted in 1991. It represents a combination of two heraldic symbols confirmed in 1781 and 1802.

      Present-day coat-of-arms is in the form of a shield. In the golden field of the upper part there is a warrior’s arm holding a blue shield. Under the blue shield there are four cannon balls joined by the crossed anchor chains. The shield and the balls symbolize Petrozavodsk geographical position, the state boundaries of the region and the fact that in the past the state needed constant protection fro the foreign enemies in this part of the country.

       In the lower part divided by three green stripes there are three iron hammers to symbolize  the abundance of ore and numerous metal works in this region in the times of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.

      The flag of Petrozavodsk is a rectangle of white fabric with the Petrozavodsk coat-of-arms in its left corner. Two blue wavy stripes decorate the bottom of the flag.

       The flag height to length ratio is 2:3 while the stripes width   makes one fifths of the flag width.

       The flag was designed by Nicolay Trishkov, the Chief Town Artist and was adopted on May 1, 2001 by the Town council. On April 27, 2002 the flag was hoisted on the Town Hall building.

      A new theatre building was built in 1955. Savva  Brodsky who was a famous architect designed it. Originally it was a five-storied building with high columns and a number of sculptures by the famous sculptor S.Konenkov on the frieze.  The theatre was opened on the 5th of November with the premiere of the operetta by Dunaevsky “Free wind”.

             The professional ballet was born on the initiative of the ballet troupe of the theatre itself. In 1956 the first Karelian ballet appeared at the theatre. It was “Competitors” by Gergel. The ballet troupe consisted of 45 people who were mostly graduates of Moskow, Leningrad and Perm choreographic schools.

             In 1959 the theatre staged the first national ballet Sampo to the music of Karelian composer Helmer Sinisalo. This performance was an important event in the history of the soviet music and choreography.

       Now our theatre staged new performances, they are musicals for children («Зайка-почтальон», «Сокровища капитана Флинта»), music comedies («Вам нужна другая»), operas («Любимый напиток»), ballets («Лебединое озеро», «Анна Каренина») and others. Boldyreva, Korolev, Usichenko are famous actors of the theatre.

         The National Theatre is located opposite the Russian Drama and Music theatre. The building used to be a club for nobility in 1912. In 1965 the building was reconstructed according to the plan of architect Savva Brodsky. In 1918 the building housed the first Petrozavodsk Drama Theatre. In 1932 the State Finnish Drama Theatre began its activity and from 1955 to 2000 it was housed in this building. The façade of the building had a bas-relief depicting the hero of the folk epic “Kalevala”, the blacksmith Ilmarinen.

         By the 300th anniversary of Petrozavodsk the theatre had been reconstracted.

        The repertoire includes such performances as "Tartyf" by Jean-Baptist Moliere, "The Returning“ under Andrei Platonov film script "The Ivanov Family“, "The Old-world Landowners "  by Nikolai Gogol and others.

        The most famous actors are Vieno Kettunen , Petr Mikshiev, Lydia Sjukijajnen,  Eila Njarja, Elena Kornilova.

Petrozavodsk State Puppet Theater is one of the oldest puppet theaters of Russia. The Government founded it on The 15th of December in 1935. Since 1964 it has occupied a separate location. During this period the theatre celebrated more than 300 premieres, its performances were watched by more than 5 mln. of young spectators, who live not only in Karelia, but also far away; children of Finland, Germany, Sweden.
         The theater preserves with care and develop traditions of puppet art (performances behind the screen, cane-puppets). The current repertoire of the theater lists more than 30 performances of different genres and themes: Russian and Karelian folk fairy tales, concert show-programs for the audience of any age.

                The last performances are: “Umka” under the fairy-tale by J. Yakovlev - beautiful, magical tale with lots of interesting tricks (shadow theatre, "Northern lights", light and noise effects), “Happy Prinz” by Oskar Wild - have become a favorite shows for children and adults. . There are some long-living performances: “Princess the Frog" has been on stage for more than 20 years. Among the favorite children performances there are "Cinderella", "As the Pike Said", "Mermaid" which have been living on the stage for a long time. Not long ago "The Cat in Boots“ joined them. The most famous actors are L.Terentyeva, T.Agureeva, S.Belkin, S.Efremov, N.Borovkov and M.Efimova.

               Nowadays the theatre building is being reconstructed and the plays are on the National theatre small stage. 

       The Karelian song and dance ensemble Kantele is one of the oldest performing groups in Russia. It represent Karelian and Finnish ancient culture. It has developed from a group of amateur musicians into an outstanding  professional ensemble.

              The ensemble derives its name from one of the oldest instruments, the kantele, which the Finns and Karelians have played for hundreds of years and to the accompaniment of which they have sung runes and danced.

              The Kantele ensemble was initiated by composer, poet and folklorist Viktor Gudkov, who was a gifted artist and showed an extraordinary interest in the work. Many generations of talented artists and musicians have gained the fame and popularity to the ensemble. 

              Today “Kantele” is known both in Karelia and all over the world. With the concerts it has traveled to the Baltic countries, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden.

       The Museum of Fine Arts is located in the historic center of Petrozavodsk in the former Cathedral square (now Kirov square).  The building was erected in 1789 and is one of the oldest in the city. Initially it was the main public school and from 1808 to the October Revolution it served as the Olonets Provincial Gymnasium. Prominent representatives of Russian culture studied at the Gymnasium: Academician Fillip Fortunatov, a famous linguist, Vasily Polenov, a well-known Russian artist, Nikolai Khodotov, a talented actor of the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theatre, Professor Vladimir Timofeyev, a geologist and petrologist.

       The Museum of Fine Arts of Karelia was opened on the 20 October 1960. Paintings by Ivan Kromskoi, Vasily Polenov, Ivan Aivazovsky, Apollinary Vasnetsov and others are on display here. The works of Karelian artists George Stronk, Sulo Juntunen, Boris Pomortsev, Folke Neiminen are represented in the museum.

       The pride of the museum is a large collection of works of decorative and applied folk art including carved and painted wooden articles, birch-bark wicker-works, embroideries, woven fabrics and copper casting.  Exhibit of embroidery is very interesting: valances, women’s clothing, towels, knitting, decorative embroidery, women’s headdresses make an impression on visitors. Embroiled headpieces, clothing and articles for daily use played an important role in Karelian celebrations and ceremonies. For example, embroiled articles formed part of the dowry and hang on the walls of the peasant houses during the wedding party so the quests could admire her skill.