Perm

The Kama is one of the greatest rivers in Russia and in the Eurasian continent, a symbol of Perm Krai, the blue road of the Kama area, the water highway of Perm. One of the meanings of the name Kama is "long". In Russian chronicles, the Kama was first mentioned in the year 1220.

At the beginning of the 20th century, annually in the spring there was great excitement in the city. The entire population of the city would go to watch the ice drift. The opening of navigation on the Kama has always been a holiday. In summer, the appearance of the Kama riverbank changed completely. Places for doing laundry were opened, and then facilities for bathing. There was a market place on the bank where they sold fish, and later vegetables and fruit. On the bank of the Kama there is the Naberezhny Garden (the Reshetnikov Garden). It offers a beautiful view of the entire Kama.

The river played an important role in the foundation of the city. The Kama is a source of drinking and industrial water for the population. On the Kama River within the boundaries of the Perm region, two large reservoirs were built: the Votkinskiy and the Kamskiy. For a long time the Kama has been the largest navigable water artery. The creation of the two reservoirs has improved the river’s navigability. In the 1930s, with the development of industry, the banks of the Kama began to be actively built up with factories. By 1956, about thirty enterprises had been located next to the river.

The Kama can rightfully be called Perm’s “business card”, a thing of beauty and a great industrious worker. It is with the river that the development of the city as a large commercial and industrial centre of the Urals is bound.