Kyzyl is the capitalcity of the Tuva Republic, Russia. The name of the city means "red" or "crimson" in Tuvan. Population: It was previously known as Belotsarsk , Khem-Beldyr .
History
It was founded in 1914 as Belotsarsk. In 1918, it was renamed Khem-Beldir, and in 1926 it was given its present name. In September 2014, Kyzyl celebrated its 100th anniversary as a city.
Geography
Kyzyl claims to be located exactly in the geographical center of Asia. Whether these coordinates are in fact the center of Asia is disputed. However, there is a monument labelled "Center of Asia" in English, Russian, and Tuvan which asserts this claim. Tos-Bulak is the area of open fields and mineral springs which lies immediately south of Kyzyl. Kyzyl stands at the point where the Yenisei River meets the Maly Yenisey River to form the . Most development takes place south of the river and follows the curves of the river, with the highest development centered where the two headstreams of the Yenisei, the Bii-Khem, and the Kaa-Khem, meet. A monument was built in 1964 on the river bank to mark this.
Buildings of cultural and political importance in Kyzyl include the Tuvan Parliament building, the National Theater, and a Khoomei center dedicated to studying and teaching khoomei, Tuvan throatsinging.
The climate of Kyzyl is an extreme continentalsemi-arid variety, with average highs around in the summer and in the winter and only of precipitation annually. Located far from any moderating bodies of water and at a relatively high latitude, temperatures can be extreme, though less so than the Sakha Republic. Nevertheless, the temperature has never risen above freezing from 22 November to 3 March, inclusive. Temperature swings can be rapid. The transitional seasons of spring and autumn are short: only April and October average close to the annual mean of.
In the late 1980s, Kyzyl was visited by Ralph Leighton, who had made it a quest to reach Tuva with his friend, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Though Feynman died before they reached Tuva, the journey is chronicled in the book Tuva or Bust! The film Genghis Blues chronicles the pilgrimage of a blind blues performer, Paul Pena, who learned Tuvan throat singing by listening to his shortwave radio, to compete in the Tuvan throat singing competition. Kyzyl is featured as a cultural city-state in the strategy game Civilization V.
