 Although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises.The town has a number of cultural institutions including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library and a university.The town has the new Orthodox Cathedral Church of the Trinity, a recently completed Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity and the Mask of Sorrow memorial, a large sculpture in memory of Stalin's victims, designed by Ernst Neizvestny.