Syktyvkar was granted city status by Catherine the Great in 1780. The first name of the city was Ust-Sysolsk. It was renamed as Syktyvkar, which is Komi for “a town on the Sysola” in 1930.

Syktyvkar is located on the Sysola River, which is the origin of its former name Ust-Sysolsk. The city is located near to the point where the Sysola joins the larger Vychegda River, which is itself a branch of the Northern Dvina.

Its population: 235 006 including more than 70 nationalities. Syktyvkar is one of the largest scientific centers at the European North-East Russia. Here, are more than 30 research institutions ant the largest of them is Federal Research Centre «Komi Scientific Centre» that consists of Institute of Biology, Institute of Geology, Institute of Literature and History, Institute of Agriculture, Institute of Physiology, Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Institute of Chemistry and Institute of Social and economical problems of the North. Also, Syktyvkar State University, Syktyvkar Forest Institute, Academy of State Service of the Komi Republic and several branches of Universities from Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Izhevsk and Kirov are located in Syktyvkar.

Syktyvkar is the center of the cultural life in the republic. The oldest museum of the Republic of Komi, the National Museum, was founded in 1911. Nowadays, the National Museum is the Literature Memorial Museum of Ivan Kuratov and the museum of Viktor Savin. The National Gallery was founded in Syktyvkar in 1943. It welcomes exhibitions from different museums of the country. In 1930 Victor Savin, a poet, playwright, stage manager and actor, founded the Drama theater of the Republic of Komi and the theater still carries his name. Nowadays this theater is one of centers of spiritual and artistic culture of all people who live in the republic. Plays by Nicolai Diakonov, Vasili Lecanov, Alexandre Larev and others are familiar to everybody who knows the history of Komi culture. In 1966 the Drama Theater was given the status of Academic Theater. The Theater of Opera and Ballet began its history in 1958. The National Library numbers 2.5 million volumes, including books in the Russian language, foreign languages and in the Komi language. http://сыктывкар.рф/o-syktyvkare.