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 figures prominently in the labour camp literature of Varlam Shalamov and in the eponymous song by Mikhail Krug, and was a focal point of the Long Way Round motorcycle journey made by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman and their team in 2004.