The city begins its history to 1795, when the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne founded a metal factory there. Lugansk achieved the status of city in 1882. It grew with the development of the Donets Coal Basin in the 1890s.
Best places to visit in Lugansk are the Memorial “Sharp Grave” dedicated to the victims of Civil War in 1919 and victory in World War II, St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, park-museum of stone figures.
In 2006 archaeologists claimed an ancient pyramidal structure, which they allege outdates those in Egypt by at least 300 years was discovered near Lugansk. The stone foundations of the structure are said to resemble Mayan and Aztec ziggurats in South America.