‘Discovery of the Century’ in Tyumen

In August 1944 the Tyumen region was officially formed that became the largest in this country. Its territory amounted to 1435 square kilometers. England, France, Finland, Italy, and Denmark could be easily situated within this territory. The distance from the uttermost southern point up to the extreme northern point is equal to 2100 km (the distance between Tyumen and Moscow), and the distance from east to west is 1400 km.

In the first half of the XXth century a lot of researches frequently put forward the assumptions as to substantial amounts of resources in the northern territories of the region. In 1948 a Tyumen oil survey expedition was launched that paved a way to comprehensive development of the Tyumen natural treasures. The first bore-hole was drilled near Tyumen. In 1953, in Berezovo settlement, the firs large gas deposit in Siberia was discovered. After this, over a short period a number of substantial oil fields had been discovered near Shaim, Ust-Balyk, Megion, Surgut, Yamburg, Urengoi and some other territories, which were called the Tyumen North. Discovery of the largest Samotlor oil field in 1965 was considered an important event. In no time Tyumen had developed into a large administrative centre with operating management over the largest oil sector in this country. In Tyumen big managing and operating companies were organized, i.e. GlavTyumenneftegas and Glavtyumenneftegasstroi. In 1964 an industrial institution was initiated for providing oil and gas sector with high-skilled experts. Later the institution developed into the Oil & Gas University, one the leading higher educational institution in the region.

Industrial enterprises in Tyumen were involved in the process of development and operation of northern deposits. In 1969 the first buoyant power station ‘Northern Lights’ was built at the Tyumen shipbuilding plant. A Great speed of northern development contributed a lot to an increase in population of Tyumen. Over the years 1960-1980 a new administrative center of the Tyumen city was built to the east of the historically existing parts. The impact of great industrial changes over the cultural life of the city was not uniform. Unlike some other Siberian and Ural cities, and despite large-scale construction scales, Tyumen had in many respects preserved its historical outlay until the beginning of 1960. To a major extent, Tyumen contained wooden houses, of which many presented unique patterns of local carving traditions. The characteristic feature of Tyumen’s appearance in the second half of the XXth century was the neighbourhood of rapidly appearing administrative blocks with dilapidated old quarters.