About 600 buildings are included in the register of cultural monuments in the Altai Krai. 250 of them are objects of wooden architecture. About a quarter were built in Barnaul.
Siberia is covered with forests, and most of the houses here were built from wood. This distinguishes Siberian cities from, for example, the south of Russia.
When in the second half of the 19th century the city-forming enterprise – the Barnaul silver smelter – fell into decay, trade and manufacturing began to rapidly develop in the city. The rich merchants built up the historical center with solid, beautifully decorated brick and wooden mansions. It was at that time, as well as at the beginning of the 20th century, that construction teams from the Vladimir, Kostroma and Vyatka provinces worked in Barnaul, leaving behind houses decorated with rich carvings.
Wooden houses in Siberia have always been decorated with original carvings. So that the building is not a simple log house, but becomes a work of art. According to experts, the influence of stone architecture: classicism, baroque and modernism is reflected in the Barnaul style. Looking at them, you can learn a lot about the history of the city.
Unfortunately, many wooden buildings were lost at the beginning of the 20th century, during the great fire of 1917, which destroyed almost 60 blocks in the central part of the city. But the fire still did not break through beyond Cathedral (Socialist) Avenue. Thanks to this circumstance, a unique corner of ancient wooden Barnaul has been preserved here. Ancient houses decorated with carved patterns reach their maximum concentration on Anatoly and Internatsionalnaya streets, in the interval between two avenues – Socialist and Krasnoarmeysky. Although, they can also be found behind Krasnoarmeysky Avenue, as well as on Nikitin and Korolenko streets.
