Sights of Cheboksary

Around Krasnaya Ploschad

Beer Museum

  • 9A Bulvar Kuptsa Yefremova
  • http://www.museum-beer.ru/
  • 10:00 - 20:00 (restaurant until 23:00).

Chuvashia and the surrounding areas are rather well known for the production of beer.  This small museum is dedicated to beer and has a small exhibition dedicated to the history of the alcoholic beverage. In addition to the exhibition the museum also has a bar and a restaurant where you can have a taste of Chuvash beer. Read more »

Chuvash National Museum

  • 5/2 Krasnaya Ploschad
  • http://www.chnmuseum.ru/
  • 10:00-18:00. Closed on Mondays.

The Chuvash National Museum was founded in 1921 and is the largest museum in the Republic of Chuvashia.  It details the history and culture of the Chuvash people and the Republic of Chuvashia.  The museum has sections dedicated to archaeology, ethnography, geology and nature, and includes displays of old books, coins and traditional Chuvash dress, embroidery and decorations. Read more »

Chuvash State Art Museum

  • 60 Ulitsa Kalinina
  • 09:00 - 17:00. Closed on Mondays.

The Chuvash State Art Museum was founded in 1939 as the Chuvash State Art Gallery after being separated from the city's regional museum.  The museum has over 20,000 examples of works of art, including Russian, Soviet and international pieces.  It also has a large collection of Chuvash national art, especially examples of Chuvash decorative-applied art. The building on Ulitsa Kalinina, which runs south of Krasnaya Ploschad, is the main building of the museum and there are also… Read more »

Chuvash State Art Museum: Centre of Modern Art

  • 1/15 Prezidentsky Bulvar
  • http://www.artmuseum.ru/
  • 10:00 - 18:00 (Weekends: 10:00 - 17:00). Closed on Mondays.

The Centre of Modern Art was originally just an exhibition centre of the Chuvash Union of Artists.  It was transferred to the Chuvash State Art Museum in 1996 and in 2004 became the museum's modern art department.  It halls display both permanent and temporary exhibitions of modern art, including work by young students of art.  In addition, the centre includes the museum-gallery of Chuvash artist Elli Mikhailovich Yuriev, who was the artist responsible for designing the Republic of… Read more »

Konstantin Ivanov Monument

  • Krasnaya Ploschad

Konstantin Ivanov is one of the most celebrated Chuvash poets and writers.  This statue of him was unveiled in 1995 to mark the 80th anniversary of his death.  It stands outside the grand building of the Chuvash Drama Theatre. Read more »

Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov Monument

  • Bulvar Kuptsa Yefremova

Cheboksary's equivalent of Moscow's Old Arbat pedestrian street is Bulvar Kuptsa Yefremova (Merchant Yefremov Boulevard) which is located between Ulitsa Karla Marksa and Krasnaya Ploschad.  Situated here is a monument to the characters of Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov from Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov's popular book 12 Chairs.  Between Ostap and Kisa is one of the chairs which people sit on to have their photo taken.  The reason behind the statue being here is that Cheboksary… Read more »

Resurrection Church

  • 1 Ulitsa Kalinina

At the eastern end of Krasnaya Ploschad is the Resurrection Church which is thought to date from 1758.  The main part of the church consists of a cube structure with a single golden dome on top.  Built onto this is a bell tower, attached via a closed vestibule.  In 1941 the church was closed and only reopened in 1990. Read more »

Victory Memorial Park

  • Ulitsa Zoi Yakovlevoy

Cheboksary's Victory Park is situated on top of a hill on the bank of the River Volga.  The dominant feature of the park is the Military Glory Monument which is visible from much of the city.  It was unveiled in 1980 and depicts a mother and a young soldier. The soldier is bowing before a banner while the mother is pointing in the direction from where Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. The monument also incorporates an eternal flame. Other monuments in the park include monuments to… Read more »

Around Ulitsa Karla Marksa and Ulitsa Lenina

Feliks Dzerzhinsky Monument

  • 43 Ulitsa Karla Marksa

Where many cities have since removed their statue of Feliks Dzezhinsky, Cheboksary still has its statue to the founder of the feared Cheka secret police.  Appropriately it sounds outside the headquarters of the Chuvash department of the FSB - a successor of the Cheka. Across the road there is another simple monument dedicated to police officers who have lost their lives while fulfilling their duties. Read more »

Ivan Yakovlev Monument

  • 15 Prospekt Lenina

Ivan Yakovlev was a Chuvash educator and writer who established the Simbirsk Chuvash School, with the aid of Lenin's father Ilya Ulyanov.  Yakovlev was also responsible for creating an alphabet for the Chuvash language and for translating many classic works of Russian authors into Chuvash.  This monument of him was appropriately unveiled outside the Ivan Yakovlev National Library. Read more »

Vasili Chapaev Museum and Monument

  • Chapaev Gardens (46А Prospekt Lenina)
  • 10:00 - 17:00. Closed on Mondays

Vasili Chapaev - the celebrated Soviet commander during the Russian Civil War - was born in 1887 in the village of Budaika which has since been incorporated into the city of Cheboksary.  After his death by drowning in the River Ural in 1919 he gained legendary status and was further immortalised in Soviet propaganda.  This museum detailing his life and feats was opened in 1974 in the gardens bearing his name and contains many documents, photos and items connected with Chapaev and… Read more »

Vladimir Lenin Monument

  • Ploschad Respubliki

Cheboksary's main Lenin statue is located on Ploschad Respubliki (Republic Square) so named as the impressive Soviet-style Parliament Building of the Republic of Chuvashia is also located here behind Lenin.  The statue was unveiled in 1960 and is a typical Lenin statue with a platform built onto the pedestal.  Lenin faces the Agricultural Academy and the small modern Nativity of Christ Church. Read more »

Yuri Gagarin Monument

  • intersection of Prospekt Lenina and Ulitsa Gagarina

Standing at the crossroads of Prospekt Lenina and Ulitsa Gagarina is a statue of Yuri Gagarin.  The statue depicts the cosmonaut in a space suit.  Slightly further down Prospekt Lenina is a bust of the Soviet Union’s third cosmonaut - Andriyan Nikolaev, who was an ethnic Chuvash. Read more »

In the Historical Centre

Archangel Michael's Church

  • 12 Ulitsa Bondareva

Archangel Michael's Church is a cubic, two-pillared church was dates from the beginning of the 18th century.  It is topped with five green domes.  During the Soviet period the church was closed and later used as a storeroom for books.  In 1993 the building was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and reopened for worship.  Read more »

Chuvash State Art Museum: Russian and Foreign Art Department

  • 4 Ulitsa Konstantina Ivanova
  • http://www.artmuseum.ru/
  • 09:00 - 17:00. Closed on Mondays.

The Russian and Foreign Art Department of the Chuvash State Art Gallery is located in an early 20th-century estate house which was once owned by the merchant Yefremov.  The museum displays work by various Russian masters and some western artists.  It also has a hall displaying Russian icons, some of which used to be held in Chebosary's churches.  The estate house itself has several attractions worthy of an art museum, including a cast iron staircase, a painting ceiling and… Read more »

Dormition Church

  • 1B Ulitsa Konstantina Ivanova

Standing on the north end of the dam between the Volga and the Cheboksary Bay is the pretty Dormition Church.  The two-story church was built in 1763 and features a blue dome on a octagon-on-cube structure.  The church previously also had a bell tower but this was destroyed in the 1930s after the church was closed.  During the Soviet era the building was used to house a museum, but it has since been reopened for worship and restored.  Read more »

Mikhail Sespel Museum

  • 8 Ulitsa Sespelya
  • http://www.chnmuseum.ru/
  • 10:00 - 18:00. Closed on Mondays and Sundays.

The Mikhail Sespel Museum was opened in 2003 in a building where the Chuvash poet worked as a translator in 1921.  Mikhail Sespel, who is also known as Mishshi Sespel, was born in 1899 in Kazakkasy which has been renamed Sespel in his honour and is now part of the Republic of Chuvashia.  Today Sespel is considered one of the leading figures in Chuvash-language poetry and this small museum has two halls detailing his life, work, death and legacy.  Sespel hanged himself in 1922 when… Read more »

Mother-Protectress Monument

  • Istoricheskaya Naberezhnaya

The main landmark of Chebosary is the 46-metre tall Mother-Protectress Monument which stands overlooking the Cheboksary Bay.  The monument was unveiled in 2003 and is dedicated to all mothers.  It depicts an open-armed mother in traditional Chuvash national dress.  The pedestal bears the inscription "My blessed children living in peace and love" in both Russian and Chuvash. Read more »

Presentation of Virgin Mary Eparchial Cathedral

  • 21 Ulitsa Konstantina Ivanova
  • http://www.sobor-vvedenie.ru/

The Presentation of Virgin Mary Eparchial Cathedral was built between 1651 and 1657 making it the oldest building in Cheboksary and the whole of the Republic of Chuvashia. Before the current stone version there was a wooden church here which was first erected in 1555 on the orders of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.  The large cubic structure has five small domes and a separate bell tower.  During the Soviet era the cathedral was closed, but reopened in 1943.   Today the cathedral serves as… Read more »

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Convent

  • 32 Ulitsa Kommunalnaya Sloboda

The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Convent is located on a hill known as Vladimirskaya Hill at the very end of the Cheboksary Bay.  The hill was named Vladimirskaya as St Gurius (Guri) of Kazan is said to have been met there when bringing the Our Lady of Vladimir Icon to the city.  After this the Srentensky Monastery (The Monastery of the Meeting) was founded here.  The monastery's main church was the Our Lady of Vladimir Church and the version which survives today dates from 1716.     … Read more »

Svyato-Troitsky Monastery

  • 1A Ulitsa Konstantina Ivanova

Cheboksary’s Svyato-Troitsky Monastery (Holy Trinity Monastery) was founded on the banks of the River Volga on the orders of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1566 to spread Orthodoxy among the Chuvash people.  The monastery's surviving buildings all date from the 18th century.  The main cathedral is the Holy Trinity Cathedral and was built in 1748, however the oldest surviving building is the small Our Lady of Tolga Church which was built in 1713.  These were joined by St Theodore… Read more »