DISTRICT / AIMAG
Kalman District
REGION
Altai Krai
Kalmanka
A historical photograph, village view, landscape, or related heritage object will be displayed here at a later date.
ZH 
RU 
EN Historical background
The selo of Kalmanka is the administrative centre of Kalman District, Altai Krai; its first documentary mention dates to 1745, while the official page of Altai Krai gives 1734 as the foundation date. According to some data, the selo was founded by five families who arrived on 40 carts; their descendants still live in the selo. At the end of the 18th century there were 192 male souls, and by 1882 there were 450; in the 19th century residents grew grain for sale, and an oil mill, a confectionery workshop, a windmill, and a tannery operated, while in the early 20th century one of the first steam mills in Altai operated. In the late 19th and early 20th century the selo was part of Shadrinsk Volost, Barnaul Uyezd, Tomsk Governorate; in 1889 the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael was built, and in 1902 the attached Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. By the Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of 18 January 1935, Kalman District was formed through the division of Topchikha District, and Kalmanka became its centre; in 1937 the district entered Altai Krai, in 1963 it was merged with Topchikha District, and in 1965 it was restored. During the Civil War the selo was a scene of fierce fighting; during the Great Patriotic War 4,200 soldiers were conscripted, and more than two thousand did not return. As of 1 March 2026, the population was 4,014.
Place, memory, heritage
Historical and cultural legacy
The selo has the Kalmansky District House of Culture at 7 Lenin Street, the MBUK “Kalmansky Cultural Information Centre,” and a school museum at the G.A. Udartsev Kalmanskaya Secondary School, opened in 2009 at 22 Lenin Street. Victory Park contains a memorial to soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War, created in 1968 and designated a cultural heritage site of regional significance; in 2022 a memorial plaque in honor of Hero of the Soviet Union Grigory Udartsev was unveiled before the main entrance of the school. The selo also has a monument to Lenin and an architectural monument, the former shop of the merchant Sukhov; the Church of Michael the Archangel operates at 2 Budyonny Street.
Natural surroundings
The selo lies in the forest-steppe zone; within the district flow the Ob, Alei, and Bolshaya Kalmanka rivers, and lakes Kurya, Khomutina, Gryaznoe, Burkino, Chayachye, Anisimovo, and Mokhovoe are located there, while the ribbon pine forest runs in the northwest. The selo has Victory Park; among natural features a poplar grove and an outcrop of a stone-granite massif are mentioned.
Historical and cultural legacy
The selo has the Kalmansky District House of Culture at 7 Lenin Street, the MBUK “Kalmansky Cultural Information Centre,” and a school museum at the G.A. Udartsev Kalmanskaya Secondary School, opened in 2009 at 22 Lenin Street. Victory Park contains a memorial to soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War, created in 1968 and designated a cultural heritage site of regional significance; in 2022 a memorial plaque in honor of Hero of the Soviet Union Grigory Udartsev was unveiled before the main entrance of the school. The selo also has a monument to Lenin and an architectural monument, the former shop of the merchant Sukhov; the Church of Michael the Archangel operates at 2 Budyonny Street.
Living culture and memory
Orthodoxy is widespread in the selo; the Orthodox parish of the Church of the Archangel Michael of the Rubtsovsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church operates. The founding of the selo is associated with a legend about five families who arrived on 40 carts. In 2024 the district festival “Rodniki rossiyskikh dereven” (Springs of Russian Villages) took place, including a presentation of an embroidered map of Kalman District, the national cuisine contest “Mosaic of Taste,” a chastushka contest, sports competitions, a photo exhibition, and the “Family Halt” program; in 2025 the festival of national cultures “Russia Unites Everyone” and the district festival “Ivan Kupala” on the Marushka River were held. Since 2023 the administration has held Friday clean-up days, during which in 2023 oaks, lindens, Manchurian walnuts, rowans, and perennial flowers were planted; in 2014 the selo celebrated its 280th anniversary. Active groups include a folk choir of Russian song, the ensembles Kalmanskie Zori and Gorenka, the theatre studio Tema, the choreographic studio Marmelad, the children’s Russian song ensemble Zvonnitsa, the pop vocal studio Ritm, and the guitar ensemble Vesyolaya Struna. Russian cuisine is represented in the food culture.
