Uryupinsk: Goat Down, Culture and Lakes

Uryupinsk’s distinctive character is reflected above all in a craft tradition: a monument, a sculptural group and a museum exhibit all feature goats and the processing of goat down. A named route also leads to lakes within the city limits. This gives you two specific themes to consider when planning your trip: local crafts and an outdoor excursion.

One craft, depicted in several ways

The “Koza” monument, featuring a kid, was unveiled on 16 September 2000—the 382nd anniversary of the city. The “Rukodelnitsy” sculptural group depicts three women at different stages of the process: one combs goat down, another spins it, and a third knits a shawl. The piece brings the process to life, from combing and spinning through to knitting.

The “Muzey kozy,” an ethnographic exhibit opened in 2003 at the Art and Local History Museum, explores goat breeding and the local craft of making down products from goat down. The techniques covered include combing and spinning. The “Muzey kozy” also displays tools: combs and mechanical and electric spinning wheels for making yarn. A 2014 library account also describes an annual regional competition for artisans who knit down products, held during the Pokrovskaya Fair.

Crafts and lakes as travel highlights

The route “Ozera starichnogo proishozhdeniya v cherte goroda Uryupinska” leads to the lakes Samodurovskoye (Lebyazhye), Shkolnoye and Podpesochnoe. It runs within the city limits and is suitable for excursions from spring through autumn. This makes it possible to set the craft theme alongside an experience in nature, without combining the two into a single activity.

When looking for a holiday apartment, you can first consider which focus you would like to shape your trip more: the vivid depictions of local crafts or the route to the three lakes. This choice brings into focus the themes that make Uryupinsk a distinctive destination.

More highlights of Volgograd Oblast

The wider destination of Volgograd Oblast offers its own cultural and landscape highlights. In Pyatimorsk, the Park of the History of the Russian State was established in 2012, the year of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Volga–Don Canal. It lies on the banks of the navigable canal and includes an avenue dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, with busts of generals, marshals and Generalissimo I. V. Stalin. In Volgograd, the Old Sarepta Museum-Reserve offers a different perspective: its architectural ensemble in the Saxon Baroque style comprises 26 buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The “Battle of Stalingrad” Panorama Museum has eight halls with exhibits from the Great Patriotic War and four painted dioramas depicting episodes of the Battle of Stalingrad.

The landscapes of Volgograd Oblast also offer a range of impressions. Lake Elton, in the east of the oblast, is Europe’s largest salt lake, covering 152 km². Since 2001, the lake and surrounding areas have been designated a specially protected natural area; Elton Nature Park was also established. In Shcherbakovsky Nature Park, the areas known as “Volga Switzerland” lie on a plateau along the banks of the Volga. The broad Shcherbakovskaya Gorge is characterized by forests, flowers and grasses. Another type of landscape is represented by Tsimlyansk Sands Nature Park in Chernyshkovsky District, a sandy expanse. Activities offered in Donskoy Nature Park include walks along tourist routes and ecological trails, as well as kayaking on the Don and Ilovlya rivers.

Discover more destinations: Novoanninsky, Kalach-na-Donu, Pallasovka, Elton, Parizhskaya Kommuna, Troitskoye, Olkhovka, Serafimovich.

Return to the main travel overview: Volgograd Oblast.