At the regional museum, pick up the darling Stary Blagoveshchensk (Old Blagoveshchensk) map (R10, in Russian) to plot your own walking tour of the dozens of glorious tsarist-era buildings on shady backstreets around the centre. The most impressive buildings are on ul Lenina within a few blocks of the museum and on and around nearby pl Pobedy. Anton Chekhov came through Blagoveshchensk during his epic trip through the Far East in 1890 (and headed straight to a Japanese prostitute, as recounted luridly in his later-published letters). A bust commemorating Chekhov’s visit is on the facade of the lovely Institute of Geology and Wildlife Management building on pl Pobedy.
