Perm is a city in the depth of Russia.

It is 280 years old. Many towns and

cities in the world are much more ancient,

famous and lovely. But we live in Perm, on the banks

of the Kama, the mighty Ural river, amidst the vast

continent of Euro-Asia, and this is a story of our dear city

we are telling you. We admire and get proud of some things,

and we grieve and sorrow over others. Let sorrows be cast

aside - this is a day of celebration. Stepping into the

twenty first century and third millennium of the mankind,

we are in luck of getting a chance to stop for a moment

and look round. Let us remember those who made their

mark in the history of Perm and left the aura of noble

thoughts, remarkable ideas, generous labour and courageous

devotion in the space over city, it is noosphere.

Just look closely at the best features of the present -

nowadays the citizens of  Perm still do their best in the

preferred walks of life, in the field of education, in battle,

in search of the truth, in spiritual work. Look into the future

- it is the present it  arises  from. Have a look at the land

populated by several generations of Perm citizens -

at our city. You will see its busy avenues and still side streets,

the embankment of the Kama River at 'white' nights when

sunset merges sunrise, New Year trees in snowy squares and

golden alleys in autumn, red clusters of rowan berries and

snow-white blossom of apple-trees. You will see the glimmer

of camp-fires on the Red Mountain slopes by the Yegoshikha

River, the fire of open-hearth furnaces in Motovilikha, testing

grounds of big plants... and folk feasts under the bright blue

sky, footlights in the theatre, sleepless windows at night, salutes

on red-letter days. Just look at the faces of the city and

citizens carefully. In the sky over Perm the North Star, the

lodestar shines opposite the constellation of the Great Bear.

The bear, a strong, hardy and clever beast, one of the oldest

inhabitans of the Ural forests, in taken into the Arms

of the Perm not for nothing.

However, Perm is far from a God-forsaken hole good for

bears only. This is proved by its history,

relations with the world and its gold stock of nature

and people.