Magadan, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia

🇷🇺 Magadan is a port town and the administrative centre of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayev Bay (within Taui Bay) and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. The Port of Magadan is second largest seaport in the North-East of the Russia after Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky located on Nagaev Bay and Sea of Okhotsk.it operates all year round with the help of icebreakers. There is currently no operating railway in Magadan, however In 1940-50, the Magadan-Palatka line operated.Russian Railways are considering the possibility of building a railway from the Nizhny Bestyakh of the Amur-Yakutsk railway to Magadan by 2035, which will contribute to the development of an area with huge mineral deposits. Magadan is the final destination of the federal highway R504 Kolyma Highway, which connects the region with Yakutia and other part of Russia. Anadyr Highway currently under construction will provide a access to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Sokol Airport and Magadan-13 airport provide access to air transport for numerous destination in Russia, prior for big aircraft and the latter is mainly for small aircraft.

Transport The Port of Magadan is the second largest seaport in the North-East of Russia after Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky located on Nagaev Bay and Sea of Okhotsk. It operates all year round with the help of icebreakers. There is currently no operating railway in Magadan. However, the Magadan-Palatka line was operational between 1941 and 1956. Russian Railways are considering the possibility of building a railway from the Nizhny Bestyakh of the Amur-Yakutsk railway to Magadan by 2035, which will contribute to the development of an area with huge mineral deposits. Magadan is the final destination of the federal highway R504 Kolyma Highway, which connects the region with Yakutia and other parts of Russia. Anadyr Highway, currently under construction, will provide access to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Sokol Airport and Magadan-13 airport provide access to air transport for numerous destinations in Russia with the former being for big aircraft and the latter is mainly for small aircraft.

Magadan is also the home of the Magadan/Sokol Flight Information Region (FIR) and Magadan Oceanic FIR, which controls the Northeastern part of the Russia and its Arctic airspace. Most of the westbound transpacific flights from North America to Asia will use those FIRs.

Economy The principal sources of income for the local economy are gold mining and fisheries. Recently, gold production has declined. Fishing production, although improving from year to year, is still well below the allocated quotas, apparently as a result of an aging fleet. Other local industries include pasta and sausage plants, and a distillery. Although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises.

Other The Central Intelligence Agency wrote a report on Ship Repair Yard No. 2 near Magadan in June 1965. Magadan was repeatedly reported as a base for the Soviet Navy during the Cold War.

Culture It has a number of cultural institutions, including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library and a university. Magadanskaya Pravda is the main newspaper.

The town figures prominently in the gulag literature of Varlam Shalamov and in the eponymous song by Mikhail Krug. Actor of film and stage Georgiy Zhzhonov worked at Magadan Theatre for two years after being released from a gulag in May 1945.

Magadan was home to Eastern Syndrome  a Soviet and Russian rock group founded there in 1986.

The town was a focal point of the Long Way Round TV series of a motorcycle journey made by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team in 2004.

Religion The town features the recent Orthodox Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity (completed in 2008), and the Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity (completed in 2002), among others.

Memorials The Mask of Sorrow memorial, a large sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims, was designed by Ernst Neizvestny. The Church of the Nativity ministers to survivors of the labor camps. It is staffed by several priests and nuns.

Geography The Magadanka River, a 192 km long river flowing to the Sea of Okhotsk, passes the city. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the Nagaev Bay.

Ecologically situated in the Northeast Siberian taiga, the town's arboreal flora is made up of conifer trees, such as firs and larches, and silver birches. The city is surrounded by mountains to the west and northeast. Permafrost and tundra cover most of the region. The growing season is only one hundred days long.

The city of Magadan is on the same longitude as the suburbs of Greater Western Sydney, Australia, which lie on the eastern end of the 150th meridian east line, bordering the 151st meridian and is on the same latitude as Southern Scandinavia, and the far north of Scotland.