The first Russians came to Eastern Siberia in the 17th century attracted by its riches (furs, timber, minerals). In 1631 a detachment of Cossacks headed by M. Perfilyev reached the famous Padun rapids where they founded the first Russian fort. It was a small wooden fort named Bratsk after the nomadic Buryat tribes, aborigines of this area. (The Russians mispronounced the word "Buryat" they called them "Brats").
It was a traditional Russian settlement surrounded by a wooden stockade with four watch-towers in the corners and the central tower with the main gates. All the houses and other facilities were within the fort. 2 of the watch-towers have remained up to now. With the formation of the man-made lake one of them was moved to Kolomenskoye in Moscow where they collect the relics of ancient Russian wooden architecture and the other to the safe place on the shore of the lake as the only memorial of the ancient wooden architecture in Bratsk. More and more people were coming to Bratsk and by the end of the 17th it was quite a village. The main occupation of its inhabitants was agriculture, fur-trapping, hunting. There were neither industry nor communication means. Each family had to make ploughs, house-hold articles, footwear, clothing, hunting and fishing tackle using natural materials: wood, fur, birch bark, antlers. Siberian peasants used to till their land mostly with very primitive implements.
The Russians carefully preserved their traditions and habits respecting those of the Buryats they made friends with. Being skilled farmers the Russians succeeded in growing grain, potato, vegetables and taught the aborigines to till the land. In their turn the natives shared their know-how in hunting, reindeer-breeding.
The only Russian settlement on the Angara, Bratsk was an important point in movement of the Russians to the North and East. It promoted a lot for the rise of Irkutsk in 1661. With the discovery of the ways of communication via Baikal, Irkutsk turned out to lie at the crossing of the main trade routes to the Far East, Mongolia, China, Middle East and rapidly developed into a big commercial city. Being out of the way Bratsk lost its importance and continued to exist as a small village because of no ways of communication. The only way was the Angara. The navigation on it was extremely dangerous due to numerous rapids.
Old Bratsk as well as the whole of Siberia was a place of exile for progressive people. One of those was P.Mukhanov - the Decembrist, a military officer. For the participation in the revolt of 1825 Peter Mukhanov was exiled to Siberia and spent 10 hard years in Bratsk. He was a gifted writer, composed the history of Decembrism, studied local dialects, compiled the dictionary. He helped the local people with agriculture and as he had experience in medicine he also administered medical aid to peasants. He was the first to grow tomatoes and water-melons in this area. Among the political exiles there were also Polish rebels of 1863.
One of those was a prominent scientist Chekanovsky who studied the climate, river regime and soil, composed geological map of the Bratsk region and made a collection of minerals. In 1905 when the first Russian revolution was defeated many social-democrats were banished to Bratsk. They made a great contribution to public education. The first schools and libraries in Bratsk appeared with their help. All important events that took place in the center of Russia reflected in the life of Siberian peasantry: the revolution, the civil war, etc. But the great changes took place in the area in the fifties of the 20th century when they started the construction of the dam.

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ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM

Ethnographic museum was opened in June 1982. It consists of 2 sections: a Russian village with some typical farmsteads of Siberian peasants and a model of ancient fort of the 17th century. Next is a camp of Evenk nomads, it's ethnographic collection depicting the Evenks' way of life and habits before the turn of the 17th century.
The Evenks were the most numerous people among the Siberian natives. In the remote past they were known under the name of tungus. Evenks were nomadic tribes. Every tribe bore the name of a bird or an animal: a clan of a hawk, a family of a crane, etc. The tribe was headed by 2 chiefs: military and civil. Both executive and legislative power were exercised by the tribe council - the general meeting of all the adult members of the clan. The council elected military and civil chiefs and a shaman, their religious priest rendered judgement, passed the resolution on declaration of war or conclusion of peace and so on.
The Evenks had 2 camps: winter and summer. In winter they could stay deep in the forest since they could use melted snow instead of water while in summer they had to move close to the rivers or other source of water.
Now we are on the territory of their winter camp. The main dwelling on the Evenks was a cone-shaped tent. Three poles fastened together on the top made up the frame of the tent and supported the rest of the structure. The frame was covered with the reindeer pelts. The upper opening served as a flue and a window. The floor was carpeted with the coniferous branches. During freezing nights the Evenks sought shelter in the sleeping -bags made of reindeer pelts; soft pelt pack-bags served them as pillows. The center of the tent was occupied by a fire place. It gave out warmth and provided hot food. The seats around the fire-place were distributed among the members of the family as follows: the best seat in the center behind the fire was the master's. The guests, if any, and the rest of the family sat on his left and right but wife. The mistress of the house stayed at the entrance where she placed kitchen and house-hold utensils.
The Evenks second type of winter tent differed from the one described with the larch bark covering and it was edged with turf to make it habitable.
By the tent the Evenks usually built small ware houses on piles to keep their pack-bags and mundane objects. In a distance there was another barn on the ground where they preserved meat. Thick logs used for its construction protected food stuff from dogs and wild animals. Larger families lived in quadrangular-shaped booths with the fire-place in the center again and plank-beds along the walls. Evenks' economy was natural. The main occupations were hunting, fishing and reindeer-herding. In summer they picked up mushrooms, wild berries, eatable roots. The Evenks were skillful hunters, they could rival the American Indians in hunting know-how. Before the acquaintance with the Russians, the Evenks' hunting implements were represented by a bow with arrows, a spear, a lance. A kind of a knapsack, or a rucksack was also in the list of the articles of hunter's everyday use. Lined with the reindeer pelts their skies were light and noiseless.
The Evenks were familiar with the wildlife in details and they chose the right time of the year for hunting one kind of the animal or another. For instance: hunting season for a bear was autumn. A group of hunters blocked the entrance of the den with 2 crossed poles. The animal was waked and killed with a lance as soon as its head appeared out of the lair. A carcass was shared out equally among the hunters, the most dainty part- the head- was usually given to the one who killed.
A sledge drawn by reindeer was the main means of transport. In front of you there is a reindeer harness and a lasso. There is also an appliance or a gadget for the deer to hinder its movement, not to let it far away. The Evenks never pampered their children. At the age of 5, boys wielded knives and lassos, girls helped their mothers make clothes.
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Farm buildings were not characteristic for the Evenks but different kinds of store-houses and larders. In front of you there is a model of a typical barn on piles, where the Evenks preserved meat, kept bags, hunting tackle and mundane objects.
It was also a hide-out for the family when the men went hunting. Women and children entered it through the hatch in the floor climbing up a log with the notches.
The second main engagement was reindeer-herding. The reindeer was a source of livelihood to the natives: it was the only means of transport. It gave milk and meat. It's pelts and fur were the only material for clothes, footwear, skin-tents. Even tendons were used as thread.
These displays represent some articles of the Evenks' garments and footwear. Winter costume of a hunter embraced a fur coat, a fur hat, a kind of a bib made of fur, fur stockings, fur mittens. Even footwear of the natives was made of shorthaired reindeer pelts.
Mittens were rather important item of their uniform. Made of wolverine fur they did not become hoary with frost and had an additional cut for a prompt release of a hand.
Ornaments on women's footwear were not a decoration only but a distinctive token of a tribe. Children's clothes differed from the adults with one detail: their coat sleeves were sewn up and they did not need mittens. Children's hat made of reindeer fur flayed from a head of young animal was decorated with natural ears and antlers to keep the evil spirits off. Reindeer skin served an appropriate material for summer shoes. Both clothes and footwear were decorated with glass beads. Unconversant with the textile the Evenks used dust of rotten wood in summer and reindeer pelts in winter for swaddling their babies. A piece of jerked meat suited a baby as a dainty dummy.
Fishing was the Evenks by-work in summer. Their fishing-tackle comprised nets, harpoons, hooks. Harpoon fishing was the most original one, carried out dark at night. Fire made on the head of the boat lit a salmon sleeping deep in the water like an enchanting beauty. The Evenks had to vary their summer menu and never hesitated to kill the sleeping fish with the harpoon.
The natives used 2 types of boats. Some hollowed out a tree for the boat, the others preferred a birch bark canoe. The manufacture of the latter was rather complicated and labour consuming work. Birch-bark sheets were cooked in special tubs or vats for 2 or 3 days, then sewed together in the form of a boat covering and pulled onto the canoe lath frame. Joints tarred with larch-tree pitch made it strong and durable. The Evenks rowed their canoes with a paddle.
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The Evenks were good at fur-trapping too. They used the traps of their own design of different size and shape. Common was the principle of operation: a bait attached to one of the walls of the trap attracted the animal and as soon as it got inside the cage a special gate fell down and closed the exit.
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In spring the Evenks dismantled their winter tents and moved to a summer camp. The main dwelling there was also a cone-shaped tent but covered with the birch-bark, a perfect sun- ray reflector.
Taiga- forest teemed with all sorts of insects and the Evenks had to make smoke fires on the territory of the camp to keep the insects off.
The Evenks never pastured deer, the latter returned to the camp themselves to escape from the insects or to find shelter from the sun under the shelters built especially for that purpose.
And only new born calves were raised in pens. During summer the natives laid in provision for long winter. You can see the equipment for jerking of meat. Reindeer meat cut into small slices was placed onto the lattice frame over the fire. Then it was hanged up for drying. Some jerked meat on the spits arranged round the fire. Meat-jerking was women's duty. Women were also involved in fur-dressing. The pelt was stretched and dried for several days, then dubbed with fish liver and left for 2 days more. In 2 days it was scraped, dried and smoked to make it water-proof. The longer was the smoking process the better quality was achieved. Then dressing itself. Currying instruments were kept in special fur-bags. Women were also responsible for making clothes and birch-bark kitchen utensils while the manufacture of wooden house-hold objects was male's prerogative.
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Ancient Evenks were good at smiting. Every family had its own portable forge with all necessary instruments like hammers, bellows, tongs. Two people worked there. Smiting craft was Evenks' summer business. In winter the male population of the natives went hunting.
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National culture of the Evenks was developed under the great influence of shamanism - a kind of paganism, the religion they professed the Evenks spiritualized all the natural phenomena. Shaman's doctrine presented the world as 3 major ones: the upper world in the East at the source of the main shaman river, next was the river itself and the third lay in the North near the river mouth. According to shamanism the people's fortune depended on the deeds of good and evil spirits. Their priest - shaman was elected at the general meeting of the adult members of the clan and since that he performed all the religious rites as he was the only person who could raise a good spirit and keep the evil off. The rites were performed in a special shaman's tent built a new for every occasion. Young larch tree gallery ajoint to the tent faced East and symbolized a bridge over the main river. Wooden statuettes round the tent depicted birds, animals and human beings.
A statue of a bull beyond the bridge symbolized the most powerful spirit. The tree gallery started and ended with platform decorated with the figures of pikes whose gills were supposed to hold the souls of the participants in the performance. 2-headed salmon at the entrance of the tent guarded the tent entry and the border between the Middle and the Upper Worlds. In front of the tree gallery purgatorial gates were arranged. Next to it there was a place of sacrifice with a reindeer tied to it and a ladder for the shaman to travel through all 3 worlds.
Here is the description of one of the performances devoted to the healing of the sick person. When the whole scenery was ready shaman gave a signal to the rest of the rest of the participants and they knelt and crept into the tent through the purgatorial gates one after another. When everyone got inside the exit was blocked up with 2 sticks. A long lasso passing through the hole in the body of the 2-headed salmon figure connected the tent with the place of sacrifice, to be precise, with the antlers of the deer. The other end of the rope was given to the sick person. Then the ritual of banishing the evil spirit from the ill man took place.
Shaman, wearing the ceremonial costume, beat the tambourine, screamed and yelled, imitating birds and animals, leaped and hopped, raged and raved, fascinating everybody, the sick one was not the exception greatly excited he (or she) involuntarily pulled on the roap. It was the sign of the success and a signal for a ritual slaughter of the deer at the place of sacrifice. The meat was cooked and eaten, the skin was left hanged upon the shaman ladder. Shaman's ladder.
Shaman's dancing gear with all sorts of bells and cymbals weighed up to 40 kg. If for some reason or the other the ceremonial paraphernalia was not available, shaman's face had to be veiled. The Evenks' custom to pile the animals bones in special larders in the forest was supposed to maintain an abundance of the animals. Fear for the evil spirit made the hunters wear amulets - wooden figures of human beings. The charm was regularly fumigated to bring more luck.
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The Evenks' funeral was particular ceremony. They explained death as separation of the soul from the body. The deceased was washed and dressed. Hunting implements surrounded the body of a man. Women were provided with house-hold articles, currying instruments, personal belongings. The relatives gathered around the deceased and had a kind of a funeral repast. From time to time they tossed up pieces into the air to cajole the spirits.
The next day they made a coffin from boards or plants, or hollowed out a tree for it and built a special platform on piles which was sprinkled with the blood of the slaughtered deer. The coffin with the body (a head forward) was carried out through the hole in the tent wall made specially for that purpose opposite the seat occupied by the deceased before his death. The coffin was placed onto the platform and fumigatory fire was made under it. Then the participants in the funeral slaughtered a deer, cooked, its meat, had a final repast and returned home moving backward. With the arrival of the Russians burying was introduced.
The Evenks did not have written language. They worked out a sign system, for instance:
an arrow placed horizontally showed the direction to the camp
a blanch with the cuts indicated the way to the camp and a number of notches corresponded to a number of days it would take to get to the camp
a wooden arrow obliquely signified that a hunter went far away
an arrow sticked behind a bough almost vertically warned of the crossbows or traps
a lump of moss put onto the bough near the trunk and a small tree rested against the very bough stood for animal's carcass hidden nearby and showed the direction to the cache
footprints covered with the tree branches advised of epidemics
a top-downwards branch of a tree was a sign of a camp nearby
a stick put on the bough horizontally and a clad of moss on the ground informed of the carcass hidden near the tree
a chock at the door of the tent warned of the sick person inside.
At present the Evenks number about 25000 and live a modern way of life.

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MODERN BRATSK

Bratsk is a modern Siberian city. Though only 50 years old it is highly developed industrial center with all necessary public amenities and the population of about 300 thousand.
The main industries of Bratsk are following:
Bratsk hydroelectric station is one of the world largest - its capacity is 4,5 mln kW and the annual output - up to 28 bln kWh. The major consumers of cheap electricity generated by the dam is Bratsk aluminum plant manufacturing high quality aluminum slabs and ingots of various shapes and size and wire rod, which are in great demand on the international market. The world largest factory of the kind produces more aluminum than the whole of France.
Next in line there is a large-scale wood processing complex comprising 10 big plants for chemical and mechanical wood conversion. Pulp and paper saw-timber and plywood , fiberboard and rosin , turpentine and fat acids - all in all about 30 kinds of wood products are made there. Processing the raw material leaves almost no refuse: the waste of the main technological lines is further processed at a number of by-product plants or recycled.
We should also mention a heating equipment factory of Bratsk, the only enterprise of the kind in Eastern Siberia and thus very important to supply this vast area with all sorts of boilers, radiators, pipes, etc. Need for building materials in the rapidly developing city determined the construction of the prefab concrete mills panels, piles, beams and other concrete units produced there were used not only in Bratsk, but also in the newly developing neighboring cities like Ust-Ilimsk and others.
Bratsk designing and construction can serve a good example of neither population nor industrial base nearby.
Bratsk is a city of unusual planning. It consists of 4 separate districts scattered in the taiga in the diameter of about 90 km. Such planning was historically justified. In a very short period of time we had to provide thousands of newcomers with dwelling space close to construction sites of industrial enterprises, while at that time there were neither motor-roads nor any other communication. Each industrial enterprise was built in the most economically suitable place near the raw-material base, the source of energy, transportation base, the source of energy, transportation ways, etc.
Nowdays this planning turned out very reasonable. The combination of residential blocks with virgin nature makes favorable living conditions for citizens. None of the industrial enterprises is located in the city, they are at least 4 km away from the residential blocks a special sanitary zone is left in-between.
Construction of the city was carried out in 3 stages: from the first tents to wooden houses and further on to prefabricated housing construction. In winter 1954 the "green" tent settlement was founded on the left bank of the Angara by the first group of builders. It got that romantic name because of tents' colour.
But they had to hurry up with the construction of permanent communities due to severe climatic conditions. Wood being the only building material, Padun settlement with two-story wooden houses sprung up in the beginning of 1956.
Since 1964 brick and prefabricated panel apartment houses are being built.
Bratsk is a city of a comparatively young population. The middle age is 30. No wonder there are more than 70 thousand children in Bratsk. At their disposal there are kindergartens and nurseries, schools and out-of-school activity centers , young technicians and naturalists clubs, sport schools, gifted children attend 5 music schools, institutions of fine arts. After school they continue their education at specialised colleges and institutes. There are medical college, cellulose technical school, pedagogical college, several vocational schools and an Industrial Institute. Much attention is paid to out-of-school activities. Clubs and circles, studios and amateur art groups are organised at schools and cultural centers. Numerous summer camps provide summer recreation for school-children.
To provide all necessary living conditions for the citizens, much attention is paid to construction of public amenities. In a short period 10 Cultural Centers for more than 5 thousand seats have been built in Bratsk, each having the cinema hall, numerous studios, libraries, amateur art groups. Very often these centers host professional actors' and philharmonic society groups.
At the service of Bratsk citizens there are 5 cinema-theatres for over 2 th seats, a Puppet Theatre for 250 seats, 105 libraries (both public and specialised) with2 mln copies.
Bratsk is one of the tourist centers of Siberia. 3 large hotels can accommodate more than800 guests a day.
5 stadiums for 25 th seats, 5 indoor swimming pools, slalom and bobsleigh runs and other installations represent sport facilities in Bratsk. Up to a 100 th citizens go in for sports. Children get their specialised physical training at 9 sport schools, adults - at sport clubs and societies. They are trained by experienced coaches and teachers. 34 kinds of sport are taken up in Bratsk: basketball, football, tennis, wrestling and others.
For living in severe climatic conditions we enjoy the following privileges:
monthly salary is increased by 40 % of the so-called "Northern bonuses", 10% more are added annually within the first 5 years for severe climate.
every year paid holiday is 12 days longer, a free of charge transportation to any part of the country being allowed every year
retirement age is 5 years earlier (50-for women, 55-for men).

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