Myths and Facts about Novosibirsk

1. There are mountains in Novosibirsk - false. In Novosibirsk there are no mountains at all, though the creators of the movie “Independence Day” are of another opinion.

   Scene from the Independence day.

2. Sometimes in winter the temperature falls as low as to - 40C or even lower – true, unfortunately. However, such frosts do not occur each year and, besides, their duration rarely exceeds two or three days. Siberian people have acquired a philosophical approach of dealing with this problem – they do some work at home they would never have time to do under different circumstances and order sushi from the Japanese restaurants with delivery lines.
3. Novosibirsk is situated in Siberia, where (everybody knows it!) bears walk down the streets back and forth – false. There are no bears here at all with an only exception of those from the circus, wearing muzzles and leads, and used to attract the attention of tourists.
4. The driving in Novosibirsk is right, but the majority of cars are right-hand drive ones – true. It is so, indeed, and it can be explained by a relative proximity of Japan and its car auctions, where economic citizens of Novosibirsk buy used cars.
5.  The Chapel of Nikolai the Miracle Maker is located in the geographical center of Russia – false. What was probably true back in Czar times now is wrong due to the change of the country’s border outline.
6. Novosibirsk was the first Russian city to introduce compulsory primary education – true. It happened in 1912, when the city was still called Novonikolaevsk.
7. A record in the Guinness Book has commemorated Novosibirsk as the fastest growing city in the world for reaching the population of 1,000,000 people quicker than any other – false. Perhaps, it could be true, but nowadays you will not find Novosibirsk in the Guinness Book. However, it took only 70 years for Novosibirsk to become a city with the population of one million people – and it was even faster than Chicago's growth rate during those times.
8. There is a city area in Novosibirsk designed in the shape of Olympic Games’ symbol – true. There was a plan to build an area in the form of five Olympic rings – not surprisingly, this idea came to the minds of authorities just before the Olympic Games of 1980s in Moscow. However, only one and a half ring were built while others remained only a dream. You can actually see these rings from the space.

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