Lipki: Notes from a Small Town

Tula Region, 2019

CONTEXT

Lipki is a small town in the Kireevsky District of the Tula Region, about 38 miles southeast of Tula.

For decades, its history was shaped by coal mining. During the Soviet era, the town grew around the mines, and memories of that industrial past still influence how many residents talk about Lipki today. Now, it is a quiet town with green streets, white sculptures, and remnants of an earlier period.

Many young people leave for work in Tula or Moscow. Older residents talk about the lack of doctors and the slow decline of housing. Along Oktyabrskaya Street, the town’s main road, abandoned buildings line both sides, gradually hidden by thick shrubs and tall grass.

Lipki gained city status in 1955. Brown coal mining started there in the 1940s. Most mines closed in the 1960s, but coal extraction continued until the 1990s. The railway station no longer functions — the tracks were removed and sold for scrap metal. Today, Lipki is still a place where the memory of its industrial past is visible in the landscape.