Uralsk

Uralsk, Oral in Kazakh, was founded in 1613 by Yaik Cossacks at the confluence of the Ural and Chagan and grew as a frontier and trading town, which left it with something few Kazakh cities have: a coherent nineteenth-century centre of merchant houses, churches and public buildings in brick and stucco, much of it intact along the old Nikolskaya street. Pushkin came here in 1833 gathering material on the Pugachev rising and the house he stayed in is a museum; Tolstoy and Zhukovsky also passed through. The Golden Church, the old cathedral and the Cossack cathedral stand in the centre. The Ural riverbank and the surrounding steppe fill out a stay.

History

Oral was founded in 1613 by Cossacks as Yaitsk, after the Yaik, as the Ural was then called. Its Cossacks joined Yemelyan Pugachev's rising of 1773, and on 15 January 1775 Empress Catherine II renamed the river the Ural and the town Uralsk (Wikipedia, Oral, Kazakhstan).

What to look for

• The merchant quarter - the nineteenth-century street of brick townhouses.
• The Pushkin house - the museum in the building where he stayed.
• The cathedrals - the Golden Church and the older Cossack cathedral.
• The Ural river - the waterfront and the crossing to the Asian bank.

When to go

May to June and September to October; summers are hot and winters severe on this part of the steppe. The town is quiet year round and museums keep short winter hours.

Things to know

Much of the historic quarter is in poor repair and some buildings are derelict. Museums are small with Russian and Kazakh labelling only. The city is remote from the rest of the country and flights are limited. Little English is spoken.

Nearby

The Russian border lies north; Atyrau is south down the Ural.

Key facts