Kalinino: Village History and Merchants’ Houses

Kalinino’s history begins with a copper smelting works: the village was founded in 1732 with the establishment of the works on the Yuk River. The Yuk is a left tributary of the Turka, which flows into the Iren. Together with the surviving merchants’ houses, these features offer a tangible picture of different stages in the village’s history.

Village History Among Merchants’ Houses and the Museum

Numerous pre-revolutionary merchants’ houses have been preserved in Kalinino. One specifically dated example is the mansion of the merchant Afanasy Nikolayevich Kurochkin: it was built in 1889 on Karl Marx Street. The wider collection of houses and this one building, identified by its construction year and location, offer different perspectives on the village’s history.

The Museum and Education Center opened in December 2018 in a former building of the children’s school of fine arts. The children’s school had previously moved to the building of the general education school. The art installation “Mountain of Stories” in front of the center opened on November 4, 2018. A description from 2019 mentions works on gabions by students of Rustam Ismagilov’s workshop in Perm: they depict important events in Kalinino’s history and include explanatory texts.

Tours and Hands-On Experiences

A tour of the Museum and Education Center is advertised for the period from November 12, 2025, to December 29, 2029. Visitors learn more about the history of the village and its surroundings, as well as objects from peasant daily life. They can try smoothing fabric with a pressing roller and a pressing board. The tour thus combines local history with a practical activity related to the everyday objects being discussed.

Groups must consist of at least eight people. After buying a ticket, you must register by phone at 89028327493. If you are looking for a holiday rental in Kalinino, the merchants’ houses and the advertised tour may factor into your choice of destination. When planning, check the group requirement and tour registration details, as well as the timetable for your journey.

Getting to Kalinino and Finding Your Way Around

Buses operate on the Perm–Kalinino and Kungur–Kalinino routes; check the timetables before your trip. The Museum and Education Center is 400 meters from the railway station. This distance provides a specific point of reference for planning around the center, without specifying a walking time.

Nature and Culture in the Wider Perm Region

In the wider destination of Perm Region, the Basegi Nature Reserve has two excursion routes: “To the Summit of Northern Basegi” and “To Southern Basegi.” The “To the Summit of Northern Basegi” route is 11 kilometers long, including the return journey; the visit takes five to eight hours, including the guided tour and time to rest. It starts at the checkpoint by the “Schastlivy” ranger station and runs for 3,700 meters through taiga forest, followed by about 300 meters across mountain meadows. The excursion season runs from June to October. Check current arrangements with the nature reserve before planning.

The visitor center at the Basegi Nature Reserve regularly offers environmental education discussions, lectures, quizzes, and games featuring films or multimedia presentations. Topics range from animals and plants to protected areas; the information center also includes a small museum exhibition about the flora and fauna of Perm Region.

Another cultural highlight in the wider Perm Region is the Khokhlovka Open-Air Museum, the Urals’ first open-air architectural and ethnographic museum of wooden architecture. It opened to visitors in September 1980. Its features include Komi-Permyak and Russian farmsteads from the late 19th to the early 20th century, wooden churches and a bell tower more than 300 years old, as well as an architectural complex of a saltworks and a tent-shaped windmill. Khokhlovka’s focus on wooden architecture therefore stands as a distinct cultural theme alongside Kalinino’s history of merchants.

Discover more destinations: Barda, Berezniki, Klyuchi, Vereshchagino, Oleni, Kudymkar, Sokol, Krasnokamsk.

To the wider travel overview: Perm Region.