BARNAUL, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the government of Tomsk, and capital of a circle to which it gives its name. It is situated in a wide plain which is bounded by offshoots of the Altai Mountains, and is built on both sides of the Barnaulka River at its confluence with the Ob, in lat. 53° 20 N., and long. 83° 26' E. It is the capital of an extensive mining district, and the seat of a board of administration. Besides its numerous smelting-furnaces, it possesses glassworks, a bell-foundry, and a mint; and it has also a library, an observatory, established in 1841, a mining school, a museum with a rich collection of mineral and zoological specimens, and a theatre, in addition to the governor’s residence, the barracks, and other buildings belonging to its civic organization. Barnaul was founded in 1730 by Akynthies Demidoff (to whose memory a monument has been erected), was raised to the rank of a town in 1771, and became capital of the circle in 1822. Population, 12,927.