Miass. The City in the Golden Valley (2024)

History, Industry and Wildlife

There are two Miasses in the Chelyabinsk Region: the Miass River, a tributary of the Iset River, and the city of Miass, known previously for its gold mines and currently for its Ural trucks and the Sineva ballistic missile. If you have never tried genuine Russian pelmeni (dumplings), you should go to the city of Miass.

We recommend that you start your tour of Miass from the historic section of the city. The Municipal Museum of Local Lore of Miass is placed within a lovely old mansion once owned by a gold mine owner called Simonov. Apart from the building itself, the museum offers a lot to see. It has a wealth of permanent exhibitions. Admission runs from RUB 30 to 100.

The narrow city streets help recreate the everyday life of 19th-century merchants.

Inside the merchant Smirnov's house, you'll find the only museum of pelmeni in Russia. Tourists will be taught how to shape dumplings (pelmeni). During the workshop, the chef will teach you how to fold a dumpling the Ural way, with a braid and a tail! The restaurant offers over 30 types of pelmeni, something for every taste (e.g., with radish, honey mushrooms or pike) and an exquisite dessert, lingonberry pierogi in rose champagne. Smirnov's mansion has its own workshops, a children's theatre and even a sports hall.

Next to the museum, there is an unconventional monument to Lenin—the Honoured Sawmill Worker. Vladimir Lenin was officially proclaimed an honorary employee of the Miass sawmill back in 1923. The salary of the leader of the world's proletariat was spent to procure literature. By the way, Lenin remained the honorary sawmill worker and full-time employee of the factory until 1991!

Miass is a centre of the Old Believers in the UralThe first owner of the Miass factory, Illarion Luginin, was a follower of Habakkuk. Miass also has an Old-Rite Orthodox Cemeteryin its historic section, northwest of the city pond.

In the northern part of the city, there is the Ural Automotive Plant. This is where legendary Zakhars were produced. These were small trucks with a wooden cargo area used extensively during World War II. The square next to the factory administration hosts a memorial to the Zakhar. Near it, is located.

You can learn how the Russian nuclear shield was forged at the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, where the sea-based ballistic missile Sineva was created.

Miass, located in the Ilmen Range, has a small ski resort named Raider. Not far away from it, there is a Park of giant works of art called Bureaucrat. It features the installation Paper Clip which was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest paper clip in the world.

We recommend that you apply for a tasting at the local tea and coffee factory ChaoKofe. The tour of the factory offers curious facts on coffee, tea and chocolate. Of course, during the tour, you will be given a chance to try the factory's products, as fresh as can be.

Where to stay

Where to eat

Near Miass, you'll find the beautiful Lake Turgoyak, the gem of the Chelyabinsk Region. On the lakeshore, there are many beaches and guesthouses. The house of the famous traveller Fyodor Konyukhovcan also be found here. The most impressive spot at Turgoyak is Vera Island, not far off the western shore. The island is known for its megaliths, mysterious stone structures built, according to researchers, about 6,000 years ago.

Another local tourist sight is the Ilmen Nature Reserve and the museum of the same name. One of the museum's key exhibits is the diorama representing most of the territory of the nature reserve: from the golden valley of the Miass River across the Ilmen Tau peak (747 metres above sea level) to the shores of Lake Bolshoye Miassovo.

A tour of Miass would be incomplete without a visit to the Solnechnaya Dolina ski resort, the largest in the Chelyabinsk Region. In winter, it hosts international competitions; in summer, it is a venue for the famous Ilmensky Festival of Bard Songs.

Do you know that...

In 1842, artisan Nikifor Syutkin discovered one of world's largest gold nuggets near the city of Miass. It was dubbed 'The Great Triangle'. Nowadays, the 36-kilogram nugget is exhibited in the Diamond Fund of the Moscow Kremlin.

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