city and administrative centre, Altay kray (region), south-central Russia, on the left bank of the Ob River at its confluence with the Barnaulka. In 1738 a silver-refining works was established and the settlement became the hub of the Altay mining region. It was a major trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. Barnaul has good communications by the navigable Ob, by the South Siberian, Turk-Sib, and Omsk-Barnaul railways, and by roads to the Kolyvan-Rubtsovsk mining area and Novosibirsk. As a consequence, its industrial importance has increased and its range of products grown wider. Today its engineering industries produce boilers, presses, diesel motors, and radios; other industries make cotton textiles, chemical fibres, cellophane, tires, and lumber and forest products. There is also a range of consumer-goods industries. Barnaul has a research institute of agriculture and livestock husbandry and institutes for engineering, teacher training, and medicine. Pop. (2002 est.) 603,500.