Kirishi town stands on the right bank of the Volkhov River, 115 km to the south-east of St.Petersburg.

It is a railroad station on the Saint Petersburg – Moscow line.

Kirishi with the area of 63 sq. km. has the population of 52 657 people (as of 2012). The town is the center of the petrochemical industry.

It was first recorded in 1693 as Kirishi village. It was named after River Kiresha (now Kirisha), the right tributary of Volkhov. The origin of the name is unknown, though it probably has Finno-Ugric roots.

Architecture and Sights

The area harbors the Chisty Mokh nature reserve.

In the first half of the 19th century near Kirishi town there was Soltsy Village owned by the family of the Decembrists Bestuzhevs: in the 1810s and early 1820s the writer Alexander Bestuzhev was living there.