Lipki, Tula Region, Russia, is a small town that grew around coal mines. These photographs are notes on what remained after the industrial era came to an end.
Lipki is a small town in the Kireevsky District of the Tula Region, about 24 miles (38 kilometers) from Tula.
For decades, the town’s life was shaped by coal mining. During the Soviet era, Lipki developed around the mines, creating a working-class rhythm that still survives in the town’s memory. Today, it is a quiet place of green streets, aging houses, white Soviet sculptures, and traces of an industrial world that has largely disappeared.
Many younger residents leave for work in Tula or Moscow. Some older residents I spoke with complained about a doctor shortage and deteriorating housing. Along Oktyabrskaya Street, the town’s main thoroughfare, abandoned houses stand among shrubs and tall grass.
Lipki received city status in 1955. Brown-coal mining began here in the 1940s. Most of the mines closed during the 1960s, although coal extraction continued until the 1990s. The railway station no longer operates; its tracks were eventually dismantled and sold for scrap. The industrial economy has largely disappeared, but its physical and social traces remain visible throughout the town.
The photographs in this series document Lipki in Russia’s Tula Region at a moment when its industrial past was still deeply visible in everyday life.
This photo essay grew out of my 2019 reporting from Lipki, originally published by MK in Tula as “The Many Faces of Lipki” (in Russian).
The entrance to Lipki. The town received city status in 1955, about a decade after brown-coal mining began here. Behind the sign, apartment buildings and industrial structures remain part of the landscape. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.Two miner statues greet visitors entering Lipki, a reminder of the industry around which the town was built. Local residents told me that the stone miners once held mining lamps, but over time the lamps “disappeared.” Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.Sovetskaya Street, a green central avenue lined with the low-rise housing typical of Soviet mining towns. Soviet-era monuments and sculptures still remain part of the streetscape. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.One of the white Soviet-era sculptures near the dormitory of the Bolokhovo Technical College. Figures like this still occupy Lipki’s public spaces, reminders of the period when the town developed around mines and industrial labor. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.A monument to Vladimir Lenin on Sovetskaya Street. In my original 2019 report, I noted that Lenin still stood here “looking toward the local administration building.” Soviet symbols remain a visible part of Lipki’s urban landscape. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.Lipki’s Palace of Culture, one of the Soviet-era public buildings that still serves its original civic purpose. Its monumental columns and fading façade preserve the architectural language of the industrial town that grew around the mines. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.Oktyabrskaya Street, Lipki’s main thoroughfare leading toward the bus station and town market. In 2019, abandoned houses still stood along the road. Residents told me that some had remained empty for years and that several had caught fire before being demolished. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.A residential yard just off Oktyabrskaya Street. Chickens wander among wooden additions, garages, garden plots, and laundry drying beneath the trees — an everyday scene only steps from the town’s main road. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.Lipki’s central market is more than a place to shop. During my reporting trip, it was one of the places where residents gathered and spoke most openly about work, healthcare, housing, and how life had changed after the mines closed. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.A local vendor selling produce at the town market. Residents brought honey, mushrooms, cucumbers, and other goods from their gardens and small plots. While I was reporting there, conversations around one vendor quickly drew a small crowd, with people eager to tell me about their town and its problems. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.The Lipki brick factory, one of the town’s remaining industrial employers after the end of the coal-mining era. Residents I interviewed in 2019 described it as one of the few significant local employers, while many others traveled to Tula or Moscow for work. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.A view toward Lipki’s wastewater treatment facilities. Residents told me that the system was failing and that untreated sewage was reaching waterways downstream. I returned to the story, contacted local and regional authorities, prosecutors, and environmental officials, and learned that the treatment facilities, built in 1981, were severely deteriorated and parts of the sewer system were in emergency condition. What began as an observation during this reporting trip became a separate investigation. Lipki, 2019. Photo: Angelika Minaeva.
