Yakutsk[a] is the capital and largest city ofSakha, Russia, located about 450 km (280 mi) south of theArctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the2021 census.[9]
Yakutsk has an average annual temperature of −8.0 °C (17.6 °F),[10] winter high temperatures consistently well below −20 °C (−4 °F), and a record low of −64.4 °C (−83.9 °F) has been recorded.[11]
The city was founded in 1632 by theCossacks and was originally called either the Lensky fortress or the Yakutsk fortress. The first version of the toponym came from thehydronym "Lena"; the second, from "Yakutia", a synonym forSakha, eventually became the main one in use. In 1708 it received city status as Yakutsk.[14]
TheYakuts, also known as the Sakha people, migrated to the area during the 13th and 14th centuries from other parts of Siberia. When they arrived they mixed with other indigenous Siberians.[citation needed] The Russian settlement of Yakutsk was founded in 1632 as anostrog (fortress) byPyotr Beketov.
With an intensely continentalsubarctic climate (Köppen climate classificationDfd,TrewarthaEcbd), Yakutsk has the coldest winter temperatures for any city its size or larger on Earth. Average monthly temperatures in Yakutsk range from −39.0 °C (−38.2 °F) in January to +19.9 °C (67.8 °F) in July. Yakutsk is the largest city built on continuouspermafrost,[15] and many houses there are built on concretepiles.
The lowest temperatures ever recorded on Earth outsideAntarctica andGreenland have occurred in the basin of theYana River to the northeast of Yakutsk. Winters are extremely cold and long: Yakutsk has never recorded a temperature above freezing between November 10 and March 14. Summers are sunny, warm and occasionally hot (though short), with daily maximum temperatures exceeding +30 °C (86 °F), making the seasonal temperature differences for the region the greatest in the world at 102 °C (184 °F).[16] The lowest temperature recorded in Yakutsk was −64.4 °C (−83.9 °F) on February 5, 1891, and the highest temperatures +38.4 °C (101.1 °F) onJuly 17, 2011, and +38.3 °C (100.9 °F) onJuly 15, 1942. The hottest month in records going back to 1834 has been July 1894, with a mean of +23.2 °C (73.8 °F),[11] and the coldest, January 1900, which averaged −51.4 °C (−60.5 °F).[17] Yakutsk is the largest city in the world with an average winter temperature of below −30 °C (−22 °F).[citation needed]
Yakutsk is an inland location, being almost 1,000 km (620 mi) from the Pacific Ocean, which coupled with the high latitude, means exposure to severe winters and lack of temperature moderation. July temperatures soar to an above-normal average for this latitude, with the average being several degrees hotter than more southerly Far East cities such asVladivostok orYuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The July daytime temperatures are even hotter than some maritime subtropical areas. The warm summers ensure that Yakutsk, despite its freezing winters, is far south of thetree line.
The climate is quite dry, with most of the annual precipitation occurring in the summer months, due to the intenseSiberian High forming around the very cold continental air during the winter. However, summer precipitation is not heavy since the moist southeasterly winds from the Pacific Ocean lose their moisture over the coastal mountains well before reaching the Lena Valley.
Climate data for Yakutsk/Jakutskweather station (WMO identifier: 24959), 98.3mamsl, 1991−2020, extremes 1829–present
The primary economic activity stems from mining activities in the region, particularly coal, gold, and diamonds, with multiple mining companies having set up their headquarters in the city.[21] Precious stones and metals, particularly diamonds, as well as coal, are Yakutsk's major exports.[21] The export volume was $5.55 billion in 2021, making it the 16th largest out of eighty-five of Russia's federal subjects, although it contracted sharply (under $1 billion) in 2022.[22]
Yakutsk Airport is the main airport,[21] andYakutia Airlines has its head office in the city, operating flights between Yakutsk and other main Russian cities.[23]
Tourism as an economic sector plays a small but growing role, thanks to the city's unique cultural heritage and natural attractions such as theLena Pillars Nature Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and thePermafrost Kingdom, which is a tourist complex dedicated to showcasing the unique features of the region's permafrost.[24] With the Lena River navigable in the summer, there are boat cruises offered, including upriver to the Lena Pillars, and downriver tours which visit spectacular scenery in the lower reaches and theLena Delta.[25]
In recent years, housing construction, with an emphasis on providing affordable housing, has been a focus, which was accompanied by the growth in the construction materials manufacturing.[21]
A sizeable portion of the republic's agricultural sector is in Yakutsk, which accounts for 89% of the republic's meat and 34% of the republic's dairy production.[21]
There are several theaters in Yakutsk: the State Russian Drama Theater, named afterA. S. Pushkin; the Sakha Theater, named afterP. A. Oiyunsky; the Suorun Omoloon Young Spectator's Theater; and the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, named after D. K. Sivtsev.
Museums include the National Fine Arts Museum of Sakha; the Museum of Local Lore and History, named afterE. Yaroslavsky; and the only museums in the world dedicated to thekhomus andpermafrost. In September 2020, the Gagarin Center for Culture and Contemporary Art was opened in the Gagarin District of Yakutsk.[26]
In 2021, the construction of the "State Philharmonic of Yakutia. The Arctic Center of Epos and Arts" began.[27]
The annualYsyakh summer festival takes place the last weekend in June. The traditional Yakut summer solstice festivities include a celebration of the revival and renewal of the nature, fertility and beginning of a new year. It is accompanied by national Yakut rituals and ceremonies, folk dancing, horse racing, Yakut ethnic music and singing, national cuisine, and competitions in traditional Yakut sports.[28]
There is a local punk scene[29] in Yakutsk, with many bands.
The city has an increasingly vibrant film industry that has been gaining international recognition over recent years for its unique style and the way its filmmakers portray the region and its people.[30] The regional film industry has come to be nicknamed "Sakhawood".[31]
People in Yakutsk wear very fluffy and fuzzy clothing, and in extremely cold weather they cope by sheltering indoors in warm housing, which is believed to lower Yakutsk's increase in winter mortality rates compared to the seasonal rise in mortality seen in milder regions of the world.[32]
According toRosstat estimates for 2025, the population of Yakutsk is 372,801 in the city proper and 390,236 in the city's urban area, which is more than one third of the total population ofSakha.[33]
In the2021 Census, the following ethnic groups were listed:[34]
Orthodox Christianity is the most widely professed faith in Yakutsk, with significant populations of the adherents ofShamanism andRodnovery. A sizeable share of the city's residents isnon-religious. The city's two main ethnic groups, theTurkic speakingYakuts and theSlavic speakingRussians, are primarily Christian. The world largest temple of theAiyy Faith is also located in Yakutsk. There is also a mosque in Yakutsk.
Yakutsk is the capital of the Sakha Republic.[2] As aninhabited locality, Yakutsk is classified as a city under republic jurisdiction.[1] Within theframework of administrative divisions, it is, together with thesettlement ofZhatay and eleven rural localities, incorporated as thecity of republic significance of Yakutsk—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of thedistricts.[1] As amunicipal division, Yakutsk and the eleven rural localities are incorporated asYakutsk Urban Okrug.[5] The settlement of Zhatay is not a part of Yakutsk Urban Okrug and is independently incorporated as Zhatay Urban Okrug.[5]
Yakutsk is a destination of theLena Highway. The city's connection to that highway is only usable by ferry in the summer, or in the dead of winter, by driving directly over the frozenLena River, since Yakutsk lies entirely on its western bank, and there is no bridge anywhere in the Sakha Republic that crosses the Lena. In the dead of winter, the frozen Lena River makes for a passable highway for ice truckers using its channel to deliver provisions to far-flung outposts. The river is impassable for long periods of the year when it contains loose ice, when the ice cover is not thick enough to support traffic, or when the water level is too high and the river is turbulent with spring flooding. The highway ends on the eastern bank of Lena inNizhny Bestyakh (Нижний Бестях), anurban-type settlement of some four thousand people. Nizhny Bestyakh is connected withMagadan by theKolyma Highway.
Construction of ahighway bridge over theRiver Lena to Yakutsk was approved by presidentVladimir Putin on November 9, 2019. Based upon a design submitted in 2008, it will be over 3 km (1.9 mi) long and constructed 40 km (25 mi) upriver atStaraya Tabaga, where the river narrows and does not create a wide flooded area in spring. The cost of the bridge and its 10.9 km (6.8 mi) of approaches was estimated at 63.7 billion Rubles (83 billion rubles including VAT [НДС]), of which a grant of 54.2 billion Rubles was to be provided, with the remainder to be sourced from investors. The bridge will be toll-free for cars, with a toll for trucks.[36] Work commenced in 2024, with an estimated cost of 130 billion Rubles and a proposed completion date of 2028.[37]
The bridge had originally been planned to be a dual-use railroad and highway bridge so theAmur–Yakutsk Mainline, the North–South railroad being extended from the south, could connect the city with the East–WestBaikal–Amur Mainline. The railroad reached the settlement ofNizhny Bestyakh, on the opposite bank of the Lena from Yakutsk, in November 2011.[38]
The 2019 completion of a new rail line to the eastern bank of the Lena permitted the start of passenger rail services between Yakutsk and the rest of Russia.
Yakutsk is also connected to other parts of Russia byYakutsk Airport.
M.K.Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University is in the city. There is also a branch of theRussian Academy of Sciences, which contains, among other things, theInstitute of Cosmophysical Research, which runs the Yakutsk Extensive Air Shower installation (one of the largestcosmic-ray detector arrays in the world), and theMelnikov Permafrost Institute, founded in 1960 with the aim of solving the serious and costly problems associated with construction of buildings on frozen soil. In 2020, withglobal heating thawing the ground, the institute has the only[the only?]permafrost tunnel in Russia, and is measuring the rate at which the permafrost is thawing, which affects the city as well as the climate.[39]
^"Город Якутск: жители сквозь призму статистики" [City of Yakutsk: residents through the prism of statistics].District administration of the city of Yakutsk (in Russian). April 7, 2023. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. RetrievedAugust 1, 2023.
Верховный Совет Республики Саха (Якутия). 4 апреля 1992 г. «Конституция (основной закон) Республики Саха (Якутия)», в ред. Конституционного закона №1077-З №1035-IV от 8 июня 2012 г. «О внесении изменений и дополнений в Конституцию (основной закон) Республики Саха (Якутия)». Опубликован: "Якутские ведомости", №7, 26 апреля 1992 г. (Supreme Council of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. April 4, 1992Constitution (Basic Law) of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, as amended by the Constitutional Law #1077-Z No. 1035-IV of June 8, 2012On Amending and Supplementing the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. ).
Государственное Собрание (Ил Тумэн) Республики Саха (Якутия). Закон №174-З №355-III от 30 ноября 2004 г. «Об установлении границ территорий и о наделении статусом городского округа муниципальных образований Республики Саха (Якутия)», в ред. Закона №641-З №177-IV от 29 декабря 2008 г «О внесении изменений в Закон Республики Саха (Якутия) "Об установлении границ территорий и о наделении статусом городского округа муниципальных образований Республики Саха (Якутия)"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Якутия", №243, 29 декабря 2004 г. (State Assembly (Il Tumen) of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. Law #174-Z No. 355-III of November 30, 2004On Establishing the Borders of the Territories and on Granting the Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formations of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, as amended by the Law #641-Z No. 177-IV of December 29, 2008On Amending the Law of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic "On Establishing the Borders of the Territories and on Granting the Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formations of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
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