early autumn the forests and marshes attract many people for hiking, camping and gathering berries and mushrooms. In winter, there is a cross-country ski-club to the immediate west of the residential districts. Winter also normally has an "Ice Palace" constructed for some weeks in the town center's park, beside the city administrative offices. There is a park with a Ferris wheel in the center of the town. There is a Great Patriotic War memorial in the town, with the traditional eternal flame. The Museum Resource Center of Noyabrsk comprises three departments: arts museum, town history museum, and the museum of children art. It boasts a rich ethnographical collection and provides place for diverse thematical expositions. In 2007 the center was awarded Grand Prix at the annual Yamal Museum Projects festival. Two religious landmarks of the town are the Russian Orthodox Archangel Michael Church, which stands on a hill surrounded by trees, and a mosque. Crime Noyabrsk was a very young and partially closed town during the Soviet era, with a predominantly professional working population, which provided some protection from external criminal influence. With its opening in the early 1990s and with oil and gas industry maintaining relatively high living standards in the economic turmoil of Post-Soviet Russia, illicit drug business became highly profitable, drawing criminal elements from other regions. The situation was compounded by the police and officials being corrupted and ill-equipped to tackle the problem and by the general lack of occupations for the teenagers. The drug abuse situation in Noyabrsk was covered on national TV and in other media and finally official and citizen organisations arose to fight the problem. On March 17, 2009, a criminal case against the mayor Nikolay Korobkov was sent to court. According to the prosecution, he transferred some municipal property to a private company when he didn't have the power to do so. Twin towns and sister cities Noyabrsk is twinned with: Korosten, Ukraine (1999) References Notes Sources External links Official website of Noyabrsk Official website of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Information about Noyabrsk Cities and towns built in the Soviet Union Populated places established in 1977 Socialist planned cities