From the top to the left: Kama River and Art Gallery (former Transfiguration Cathedral), Perm Embankment near the Motovilikha plant, A view over the city of Perm, Krasavinsky bridge
In 1723, a copper-smelting works was founded at the village of Yagoshikha. In 1781 the settlement of Yagoshikha became the town of Perm. Perm's position on the navigable Kama River, leading to the Volga, and on the Siberian Route across the Ural Mountains, helped it become an important trade and manufacturing centre. It also lay along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Perm grew considerably as industrialization proceeded in the Urals during the Soviet period, and in 1940 was named Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov. In 1957 the city returned to its historical name.
Modern Perm is still a major railway hub and one of the chief industrial centers of the Urals region. The city's diversified metallurgical and engineering industries produce equipment and machine tools for the petroleum and coal industries, as well as agricultural machinery. A major petroleum refinery uses oil transported by pipeline from the West Siberian oilfields, and the city's large chemical industry makes fertilizers and dyes. The city's institutions of higher education include the Perm A.M. Gorky State University, founded in 1916.
Etymology
The name Perm is of Uralic etymology (Komi-Permyak: Перем, Perem; Komi: Перым, Perym). Komi is a member of the Permic branch of the Uralic languages, which is also named for Perm. In Finnish and Vepsianperämaa means "far-away land"; similarly, in Hungarianperem means "edge" or "verge". The geologic period of the Permian takes its name from the toponym.
Perm is located in the old Permiak area. Perm was first mentioned as the village of Yagoshikha (Ягошиха) in 1647; however, the history of the modern city of Perm starts with the development of the Ural region by TsarPeter the Great. Vasily Tatishchev, appointed by the Tsar as a chief manager of Ural factories, founded Perm together with another major centre of the Ural region, Yekaterinburg.
In the 19th century, Perm became a major trade and industrial centre with a population of more than 20,000 people in the 1860s, with several metallurgy, paper, and steamboat producing factories, including one owned by a British entrepreneur. In 1870, an opera theatre was opened in the city, and in 1871 the first phosphoric factory in Russia was built. In 1916, Perm State University—a major educational institution in modern Russia—was opened.
After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Perm became a prime target for both sides because of its military munitions factories. It was heavily rumored from July–September 1918 that the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her four daughters were imprisoned at the perception and Berezine buildings. According to the File on the Tsar, the Grand Duchess Anastasia would have attempted to flee. On December 25, 1918, the Siberian White Army under Anatoly Pepelyayev (who acknowledged the authority of the Omsk Government of Aleksandr Kolchak), took Perm. On July 1, 1919, the city was retaken by the Red Army.
The city is a major administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural[15] centre. The leading industries include machinery, defence, oil production (about 3% of Russian output), oil refining, chemical and petrochemical, timber and wood processing and the food industry.
The city is located on the bank of the Kama River upon hilly terrain. The Kama is the main tributary of the Volga River and is one of the deepest and most picturesque rivers of Russia. This river is the waterway which grants the Ural Mountains access to the White Sea, Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. The Kama divides the city into two parts: the central part and the right bank part. The city stretches for 70 kilometers (43 mi) along the Kama and 40 kilometers (25 mi) across it. The city street grid parallels the Kama River, travelling generally east–west, while other main streets run perpendicularly to those following the river. The grid pattern accommodates the hills of the city where it crosses them.
Another distinguishing feature of the city's relief is the large number of small rivers and brooks. The largest of them are the Mulyanka, the Yegoshikha, the Motovilikha (all are on the left bank of Kama River), and the Gayva (on the right bank).
Climate
Perm has a warm summer continental climate (Köppen: Dfb).[19] Winters are long, snowy and quite cold. Summers are moderately warm with cool nights, although summers are shorter than winters. Due to its far inland location, there is a distinct lack of seasonal lag resulting in rapid cooling down of the warm weather as days get shorter. This results in September, October, and November being colder than May, April, and March, respectively.
Climate data for Perm (1991–2020, extremes 1882–present)
Perm has the largest industrial output among cities in the Urals, ahead of Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Ufa, although Perm has a smaller population than these. Thirty-five per cent of Perm Oblast's industry is located in Perm.[22] The largest industries in the city are electric power engineering, oil and gas refining, machine building, chemicals and petrochemicals, forestry processing, printing and food industry.[23]
Several major industrial companies are located in Perm: Perm Motors and Aviadvigatel, major suppliers of engines to the Russian aircraft industry; rocket engine company Proton-PM, which will mass-produce the RD-191 engine for the upcoming Angara rocket family; electric engineering firms Morion JSC, Perm Scientific and Industrial Group, and Perm Electrical Engineering Plant; Russia's largest exporter of cables and wires, JSC KAMKABEL; and oil and natural gas companies such as LUKoil-Perm Ltd. and LUKoilPernefteprodukt Ltd.[22]
The Perm Metro is a planned[when?] construction of a metro system which has been considered. The first plans date back to the 1970s. A feasibility study was compiled in 1990, but economic difficulties during the decade prevented its final planning and construction. The plans were revitalised in the early 2000s, but a lack of funding hampered the project and plans were once again put on hold. Light rail has also been considered.[26]
Among the cities museums and galleries, the Perm State Art Gallery is recognised for its outstanding collections of art, including paintings from 15th- to 18th-century art movements, and wooden sculptures from the region. It is housed in a notable early 19th-century structure, once an orthodox cathedral. The spire of the museum towers over the rest of Perm, as it is situated on the Komsomolsky Prospect.[28] Perm is receiving attention from the development of the new Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm Museum of Contemporary Art (PERMM) which officially opened in March 2009.[29][30][31]
The RAV Vast steel tongue drum was invented in Perm by Andrey Remyannikov. This instrument is unique in the tongue drum and handpan world because each note has multiple harmonic overtones that resonate with other notes in the drum. The sound consequently has long sustain and reverberation.[32][33]
The Legend of Perm Bear or The Walking Bear is a sculpture depicting a walking bear, which is also shown on the city's coat of arms. It is situated in the central part of the city on Lenin Street, in front of the Organ Concert Hall and close to the building of Legislative Assembly of Perm Krai. The author of the sculpture is Vladimir Pavlenko, a monumentalist sculptor from Nizhny Tagil, member of the Artists' Union of Russia and UNESCO International Association of Arts.[34][35]
The Permyak Salty Ears is a sculpture and one of the most visited tourist attractions in Perm.[36]
Education
Perm is a scientific centre. Some of the scientific institutes are combined in the Perm Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Perm is a home to several major universities including Perm State University,[37] Perm State Technical University,[38] Perm branch of state university Higher school of economics,[39] Perm State Teachers' Training University, Perm State Medical Academy,[40] Perm State Pharmaceutical Academy,[41] Perm State Agricultural Academy,[42] The Institute of Art and Culture, Perm State Choreographic School,[43] and others. There are also three military schools in Perm.
Demographics
Religion in Perm (2024)
Orthodox Christianity (70%)
Islam (10%)
Atheists / Non-Religious (15%)
other christians (4%)
difficult to say (1%)
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1897
45,205
—
1926
82,249
+81.9%
1939
255,236
+210.3%
1959
629,118
+146.5%
1970
850,324
+35.2%
1979
999,157
+17.5%
1989
1,090,944
+9.2%
2002
1,001,653
−8.2%
2010
991,162
−1.0%
2021
1,034,002
+4.3%
Census data
At the time of the official 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the city's population whose ethnicity was known (907,955) was:[44]
The Nobel-prize-winning writer Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) lived in Perm for a time, and it figures in his novel Doctor Zhivago under the fictional name "Yuriatin" where Yuri sees Lara again in the public library.[46]
Oxford City Council bowed to public pressure to end twinning with Perm in 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and "Russia's breaches of international law".[50] The name "Perm" has been removed from welcome signs on roads into Oxford.[51]
Законодательное собрание Пермской области. Закон №416-67 от 28 февраля 1996 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Пермского края», в ред. Закона №504-ПК от 9 июля 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Пермской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Пермского края"». Вступил в силу с момента опубликования. Опубликован: "Звезда", №38, 12 марта 1996 г. (Legislative Assembly of Perm Oblast. Law #416-67 of February 28, 1996 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Perm Krai, as amended by the Law #504-PK of July 9, 2015 On Amending the Law of Perm Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Perm Krai". Effective as of the moment of publication.).
Законодательное собрание Пермской области. Закон №2038-446 от 11 февраля 2005 г. «Об утверждении границ и о наделении статусом муниципального образования "Город Пермь" Пермского края», в ред. Закона №499-ПК от 16 октября 2009 г «О внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Пермской области и Коми-Пермяцкого автономного округа». Вступил в силу через десять дней со дня официального опубликования (12 марта 2005 г.), за исключением отдельных положений, вступивших в силу в иные сроки. Опубликован: "Российская газета", №41, 2 марта 2005 г. (Legislative Assembly of Perm Oblast. Law #2038-446 of February 11, 2005 On Establishing the Borders and on Granting the Status to the Municipal Formation of the "City of Perm" of Perm Krai, as amended by the Law #499-PK of October 16, 2009 On Amending Various Legislative Acts of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. Effective as of the day which is ten days following the day of the official publication (March 12, 2005), with the exception of certain clauses, which took effect on different dates.).
Законодательное собрание Пермской области. Закон №1868-402 от 1 декабря 2004 г. «Об утверждении границ и о наделении статусом муниципальных образований Пермского района Пермского края», в ред. Закона №273-ПК от 14 декабря 2013 г. «О внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Пермской области, Коми-Пермяцкого автономного округа, Пермского края». Вступил в силу через десять дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Бюллетень Законодательного Собрания и администрации Пермской области", №1, II часть, 27 января 2005 г. (Legislative Assembly of Perm Oblast. Law #1868-402 of December 1, 2004 On Establishing the Borders and on Granting the Status to the Municipal Formations of Permsky District of Perm Krai, as amended by the Law #273-PK of December 14, 2013 On Amending Various Laws of Perm Oblast, Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, Perm Krai. Effective as of the day which is ten days following the day of the official publication.).