Abakan

Coal-mining city in the Russian Federation, capital of the Republic of Khakasia in the Krasnoyarsk territory of the Russian Federation, in southwestern Siberia, and cultural centre of the Minusinsk Basin; population (1996 est) 163,000. Lying at the confluence of the Yenisey and Abakan rivers 275 km/171 mi southwest of Krasnoyarsk, and the starting point of the Abakan-Taishet railway, a branch of the Trans-Siberian railway line, Abakan is a transportation centre. It also has textile, metalworking, timber, and food-production industries. Marble is quarried in the region.

Abakan as a modern town was founded in 1929, but had previously been the village of Ust-Abakanskoye. It is an important archaeological centre in Russia, with evidence of burial mounds and caves with ancient drawings which date from previous centuries. The Abakan Museum of Regional Studies tells the history and prehistory of Khakasia, and contains burial totems as old as 3,000 years. Spassky cathedral in Abakan dates from the early 19th century and is in the Siberian baroque style. To the north, the Yenisey has been dammed to create the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir.