Kyzyl (
TuvanTuvan , also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan or Tuvin, is a Turkic language spoken by around 200,000 people in the Republic of Tuva in south-central Siberia in Russia. The language borrows a great number of roots from the Mongolian language and more recently from the Russian language...
and ) is a city, and is the capital of the
Tuva RepublicTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The name of the city means "red" in Tuvan (as well as in many other
Turkic languagesThe Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken by some...
). Population: 105,931 (2004 est.); 104,105 (
2002 CensusRussian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
). Kyzyl is served by
Kyzyl AirportKyzyl Airport serves Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tuva in the Russian Federation. The airport is located 6 km southwest of the city center....
.
Kyzyl claims to be located exactly in the geographical center of
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
(coordinates ). Whether these coordinates are in fact the center of Asia is disputed. However, there is a monument labelled "Centre of Asia" in English, Russian, and Tuvan which asserts this claim.
Kyzyl (
TuvanTuvan , also known as Tuvinian, Tyvan or Tuvin, is a Turkic language spoken by around 200,000 people in the Republic of Tuva in south-central Siberia in Russia. The language borrows a great number of roots from the Mongolian language and more recently from the Russian language...
and ) is a city, and is the capital of the
Tuva RepublicTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The name of the city means "red" in Tuvan (as well as in many other
Turkic languagesThe Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken by some...
). Population: 105,931 (2004 est.); 104,105 (
2002 CensusRussian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
). Kyzyl is served by
Kyzyl AirportKyzyl Airport serves Kyzyl, the capital of the Republic of Tuva in the Russian Federation. The airport is located 6 km southwest of the city center....
.
Geography
Kyzyl claims to be located exactly in the geographical center of
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
(coordinates ). Whether these coordinates are in fact the center of Asia is disputed. However, there is a monument labelled "Centre of Asia" in English, Russian, and Tuvan which asserts this claim.
Tos-BulakTos-Bulak is the name of an area of open fields and a mineral spring situated at , some 9 km south of Kyzyl, Tuva. It is the location of the Naadym festival , the Tuvan Republic Day, where various competitions such as horseriding and khuresh are held....
is the area of open fields and mineral springs which lies immediately south of Kyzyl.
Kyzyl is located where the
Yenisei RiverYenisei is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at 5,539 km is the fifth longest river in the world. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the...
meets the Little Yenisey River to form the Upper Yenisey. Most development is south of the river and follow the curves of the river, with the highest development centered where the two headstreams of the Yenisei, the Bolshoi Yenisei and the Malyy Yenisei, meet. A monument was built in 1964 on the river bank to mark this.
Buildings of cultural and political importance in Kyzyl include the Tuvan Parliament building, the National Theater, and a Khoomei center (officially, the International Scientific Center "Khoomei") dedicated to studying and teaching
khoomeiKhoomei , also spelled Xoomii, Xöömei, Xöömej, Khöömei, or Höömey, refers to...
, Tuvan throatsinging.
History
Kyzyl was founded in 1914 as
Belotsarsk . In 1918, the town was renamed
Khem-Beldyr , and in 1926—Kyzyl.
In the late 1980s, Kyzyl was visited by
Ralph LeightonRalph Leighton is a biographer, film producer, and friend of the late physicist Richard Feynman. He recorded Feynman relating stories of his life. Leighton has released some of the recordings as The Feynman Tapes. These interviews became the basis for the books Surely You're Joking, Mr...
, who had made it a quest to reach Tuva with his friend, the
Nobel prizeThe Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
-winning physicist
Richard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as work in particle physics...
. Though Feynman died before they reached Tuva, the journey is chronicled in the book
Tuva or BustTuva or Bust! is a book by Ralph Leighton about the author and his friend Richard Feynman's attempt to travel to Tuva.The introduction explains how Feynman challenged Leighton, at the time a high school math teacher, 'Whatever happened to Tannu Tuva?' Since Feynman had a reputation as a prankster...
!.
The film
Genghis BluesGenghis Blues is a documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Asian nation of Tuva due to his interest in Tuvan throat singing....
chronicles the pilgrimage of a blind blues performer,
Paul PenaPaul Pena was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist of Cape Verdean descent.His music from the first half of his career touched on Delta blues, jazz, morna, flamenco, folk and rock and roll...
, who learned Tuvan
throat singingThroat singing may refer to* Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing** Tuvan throat singing, a form of overtone singing* duet styles:** Inuit throat singing, a kind of duet as an entertaining contest...
by listening to his
shortwaveShortwave radio operates in the frequency range of 3,000 kHz to 30,000 kHz . Short wavelength corresponds to high frequency given the inverse relationship between frequency and wavelength, thus, “shortwave radio” is denominated so because its wavelengths are shorter than the long wave-lengths...
radio, to compete in the Tuvan throat singing competition.
In September 2004 Kyzyl celebrated its 90th anniversary as a city and the 60th anniversary of Tuva joining the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
.
Industry
The city primarily provides motor transport services. Manufacturing plants include brickyards, sawmills, furniture manufacturing, and food-processing plants.
External links