Tyumen was founded as an outpost for exploring Siberia and the Far East. It became the first established Russian town beyond the Urals.
In Russian chronicles of the 16th century the Tyumen khanate was named Great Tyumen. Tumen (Tyumyan) in Turkic languages means «lower reaches», «lowland». The same word was used to describe a military unit of 10 thousand people of the settlement.
During the war the body of Vladimir Lenin was kept in Tyumen. The highest bronze monument in Russia was made in his honour.
In the Tyumen region were born scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, confidant of the royal family Grigori Rasputin, author of The Humpbacked Horse, Pyotr Yershov, soviet revolutionary poet-satiric Vasily Knyazev, composer Alexander Alyabyev, painter Vasily Perov, soviet singer Yuri Gulyaev, children`s writer Vladislav Krapivin and many other people who went down in history. According to one of the versions, author of the unofficial hymn of the USA God Bless America, Irving Berlin, was also born in Tyumen.
The city is proud to house Russian biggest drama theatre (36 thousand square meters)
Average yearly sunshine duration in Tyumen is 2066 hours. To compare, in Moscow there are only 1582 hours. Tyumen has more sunny days than Krasnodar.
In the city there is a square dedicated to Siberian cats. It was opened as a memorial to Great Patriotic War. To control the number of rats in blockaded Leningrad, a whole carriage of cats was transferred there from Tyumen. The total number of cats transported from Siberia to Leningrad was more than 5000.
The first four-storey embankment in Russia is being built in Tyumen.
Trade routes between China and Siberia were put through Tyumen to the centre of Russia.
Tyumen was a large staging post for migrants and exiles, where they were registered and resettled all over Siberia.
At the beginning of the 20th century a contemporary wrote: `We will not see such diverse industry in any other region in Siberia`. At that time, there were 117 factories and plants in Tyumen, including three shipping yards, two steam mills, 70 leather processing factories and many other businesses.
In the suburbs of the city you can find hot springs, where people from different regions of the country and foreigners come to improve their health.
Despite its being the oil and gas capital, there is no oil in Tymen.
Tyumen is the most attractive region of Russia for investors.