HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the
Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...
and the Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 million residents, up to 1.22 million residents in the urban agglomeration, not including
Novokuybyshevsk Novokuybyshevsk (russian: Новоку́йбышевск) is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern bank of the Volga River, away from it. Population: History During the Russian Civil War, the area where the city now stands wa ...
, which is not conurbated. The city covers an area of , and is the eighth-largest city in Russia and tenth agglomeration, the third-most populous city on the Volga, as well as the
Volga Federal District Volga (Privolzhsky) Federal District (russian: Приво́лжский федера́льный о́круг, ''Privolzhsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It forms the southeastern part of European Russia. ...
. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural centre in Russia and hosted the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
—Russia Summit in May 2007. It has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. The life of Samara's citizens has always been intrinsically linked to the Volga River, which has not only served as the main commercial thoroughfare of Russia throughout several centuries, but also has great visual appeal. Samara's riverfront is one of the main recreation sites for both local citizens and tourists.


Etymology

Samara is named after the Samara River, which probably means "summer water" (signifying that it froze in winter) in the
Indo-Iranian language The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subre ...
which was spoken there around the third millennium BC. The Samara city gives its name to the Samara culture, a neolithic culture of the fifth millennium BC, and the
Kurgan hypothesis The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory, Kurgan model, or steppe theory) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and pa ...
associates the region with the original homeland (urheimat) of the
Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
.


History


Early history

Samara, together with its northern neighbour
Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzan is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and t ...
, is at the centre of the
Idel-Ural Idel-Ural ( tt-Cyrl, Идел-Урал, translit=Idel-Üral, russian: Идель-Урал), literally Volga-Ural, is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means '' Volga- Urals'' in the Tatar languag ...
historical region.
Ahmad ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...
visited the area that is now Samara around 921 while on his journey to the
Volga Bulgars Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state ...
who then controlled the region from their capital
Bolghar Bolghar ( tt-Cyrl, Болгар, cv, Пăлхар) was intermittently the capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 8th to the 15th centuries, along with Bilyar and Nur-Suvar. It was situated on the bank of the Volga River, about 30 km downstrea ...
. Legend has it that Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow, later
Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of Samara, visited the site of the city in 1357 and predicted that a great town would be erected there, and that the town would never be ravaged. The
Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...
port of Samara appears on Italian maps of the 14th century. Before 1586, the
Samara Bend The Samara Bend (''Samarskaya Luka''; ) is a large hairpin bend of the middle Volga River to the east where it meets the Samara River. It is situated in the Samara region of Russia. As the Volga enters its middle course it reaches the Zhiguli ...
was a pirate nest. Lookouts would spot an oncoming boat and quickly cross to the other side of the peninsula whenever the pirates organized an attack. Officially, Samara started with a fortress built in 1586 at the
confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the Volga and Samara Rivers. This fortress was a frontier post protecting the then easternmost boundaries of Russia from forays of
nomads A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
. A local customs office was established in 1600. As more and more ships pulled into Samara's port, the town turned into a centre for diplomatic and economic links between Russia and the East. Samara also opened its gates to peasant war rebels headed by Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachyov, welcoming them with traditional
bread and salt Bread and salt is a welcome greeting ceremony in some Slavic, Nordic, Baltic, Balkan and other European cultures as well as in Middle Eastern cultures. It is also shared with some non-Slavic nations—Lithuanians, Latvians (both Baltic), Rom ...
. The town was visited by
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
and later
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
s. In 1780, Samara was turned into an uyezd town of Simbirsk Governorate overseen by the local Governor-General, and Uyezd and Zemstvo Courts of Justice and a Board of Treasury were established. On January 1, 1851, Samara became the centre of Samara Governorate with an estimated population of 20,000. This gave a stimulus to the development of the economic, political and cultural life of the community. Samara was outside of the Pale of Settlement and as such did not have any significant Jewish population until the late 19th century. In 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a mission from the Samara city government
Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were f ...
led by Petr Alabin, as a symbol of spiritual solidarity, brought a banner tailored in Samara pierced with bullets and saturated with the blood of both Russians and Bulgarians, to Bulgaria, which has become a symbol of Russian-Bulgarian friendship.


Soviet period

In 1935, Samara was renamed Kuybyshev in honour of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev. During World War II, Kuybyshev was chosen to be the alternative capital of the Soviet Union should
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
fall to the invading Germans, until the summer of 1943, when everything was moved back to Moscow. In October 1941, the Communist Party and governmental organisations, diplomatic missions of foreign countries, leading cultural establishments and their staff were evacuated to the city. A dugout for
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
known as " Stalin's Bunker" was constructed but never used. To mark its role as wartime national capital a special Revolution Day parade was held at the city's Kuybyshev Square on November 7, 1941, and since 2011 has been remembered in an annual military parade organised by the city government. As a leading industrial centre, Kuybyshev played a major role in arming the country. From the very first months of World War II the city supplied the front with aircraft, firearms, and ammunition. Health centres and most of the city's hospital facilities were turned into base hospitals. Polish and Czechoslovakian military units were formed on the territory of the Volga Military District. Samara's citizens also fought at the front, many of them volunteers. After the war the defence industry developed rapidly in Kuybyshev; existing facilities changed their profile and new factories were built, leading to Kuybyshev becoming a closed city. In 1960, Kuybyshev became the missile shield centre for the country. The launch vehicle Vostok, which delivered the first manned spaceship to orbit, was built at the Samara Progress Plant. Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel in space on April 12, 1961, took a rest in Kuybyshev after returning to Earth. While there, he spoke to an improvised meeting of Progress workers. Kuybyshev enterprises played a leading role in the development of Soviet domestic aviation and the implementation of the Soviet space program. There is also an unusual monument situated in Samara commemorating an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft assembled by Kuybyshev workers in late 1942. This particular plane was shot down in 1943 over Karelia, but the heavily wounded pilot, K. Kotlyarovsky, managed to crash-land the plane near Lake Oriyarvi. The aircraft was returned to Kuybyshev in 1975, and was placed on display at the intersection of two major roads as a symbol of the deeds of home front servicemen and air-force pilots during the
Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), an ...
.


Post-Soviet period

In January 1991, the historical name of Samara was given back to the city. Samara is one of the major industrial cities of Russia and has a multiethnic population.


Geography


Urban layout

The development of the territory of modern Samara began in the 16th century with the foundation of the Samara fortress. Prior to the founding of the fortress, this area was home to piers for Volga ships. The official date of foundation of the settlement was the decree of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich of 1586. The location of the town was predetermined by several factors: strategic placement in order to ensure security from the raids of nomadic tribes; expansion of the Russian state in the Middle and Lower Volga regions; convenient location in the steppe landscape, at the intersection of the Volga and Samarka rivers.Громилина Э. А., Самогоров В. А., Филиппов В. Д. Эволюция архитектурно-планировочной структуры Самары с конца XVIII по начало XXI веков // Innovative Project. — 2017. — Т. 2, № 3. — pp. 6—13. The fortress was wooden with 11 towers, surrounded by a rampart and a moat, and occupied 5.2 hectares. Gradually, the population of the fortress increased, and the surrounding territories were developed. Simultaneously with the fortress in 1586, Boldyrskaya Sloboda arose on the Volga slope, and around 1645, upstream the Volga, Voznesenskaya Sloboda. During the 17th century, the settlements merged into a single whole.Веретенников Д. Б. Генезис компонентов планировочной структуры Самары с 1586 до 90-х годов XX века // Вестник СГАСУ, Градостроительство и Архитектура. — 2015. — № 3 (20), pp. 13—21. In 1688, the settlement received the status of a city, which required the development of the first boundary plan. It is known that by the beginning of the 18th century the city stretched in a narrow strip along the Volga slope. From 1703 to 1706, a new earthen, diamond-shaped form was built to the east of the old fortress. The layout was unsystematic, with small blocks of bizarre shapes. Almost the entire territory was occupied by residential buildings and administrative, commercial and military buildings were concentrated only in the fortress. The territories along the banks of the Volga and Samarka were occupied by marinas and barns. By 1717, there were 210 philistine houses and 17 houses of yasak peasants in Samara. The settlement grew slowly due to its border position and by the end of the 18th century it occupied 61.2 hectares of territory, compactly stretching along the banks of the Volga. 200px, Samara city plan in 1886 In 1763, Empress Catherine II signed an order "On the making of all cities, their buildings and streets of special plans for each province especially." In the 70s, extensive activities were launched by the “Commission on the Stone Buildings of St. Petersburg and Moscow” to rebuild provincial cities. At the same time, the development of the first master plan for Samara began. In 1764, the settlement changed its administrative status, becoming a settlement. In 1780 it again received the status of a county town. In 1765 and 1772 it was badly damaged by fires. Despite these obstacles, in 1782 Samara received the first master plan with a rectangular grid of streets. According to the plan, the territory of the city was subject to a complete redevelopment: all buildings were liquidated, with the exception of several churches, houses and a fortress. In 1796, a second reconstruction plan was drawn up, identical to the first. As a result of its implementation, by 1804 the territory of Samara had increased to 70.4 hectares. The basis for the planning of the northern part of the city was a rectangular quarter measuring 130 × 260 m. The southern part of the settlement retained its irregular character. The main type of building of this period is a low-rise estate. The directions of the streets were determined by the direction of the channel, the so-called Samara break. The city was divided into functional zones: residential areas with trade facilities, administrative and religious buildings. Community centers were located around churches and at the ship's pier. Forges were located on the outskirts of the city. The fortress occupied 3.6 hectares, divided into a residential zone, an administrative zone (offices, a prison, a storehouse), a public one (a court, a thought), a commercial, an industrial one (warehouses, piers, forges, barns). In 1804, a new plan for the reconstruction and expansion of Samara was drawn up, following the model of the previous ones. The old buildings in the south of the city were demolished, and a regular layout appeared in its place. In 1839, the plan was almost completely implemented. The territory of Samara has increased by 3.5 times (246.4 ha). The city occupied the entire territory along the watershed of the Volga and Samara rivers, the banks of which were built up with marinas, grain barns, warehouses, and small-scale industries. The Samara fortress was still preserved, but had already lost its significance. In 1840, a new development plan was approved, according to which the territory of the city expanded further along the watershed, while maintaining the planning structure. The new plan reflected the nature of the prevailing wooden buildings (stone houses accounted for only 10% of the total). The size of the quarters remained the same, the city grew at the expense of adjacent agricultural land. As a major trading center, with a railroad, Samara in 1851 received the status of a provincial city. The general plan of 1853 regulated only building within the city limits, however, the settlement began to grow chaotically, numerous industrial facilities appeared: tanneries, oil mills, brick factories and mills. The development of navigation along the Volga led to the fact that piers, warehouses, sawmills and other factories occupied the entire Volga coast of the city. From 1875 to 1877, a private railway to Orenburg was built through Samara, laid along the banks of the Samara River. The residential part of the city was cut off from the banks of the industrial rivers, with the exception of a small section of the Strukovsky Garden, overlooking the Volga. By the end of the 19th century, Samara was a single planning space with a regular plan (with the exception of the Zasamarskaya settlement, which arose no later than the end of the 18th century).


1937 General plan - Greater Kuybyshev

The rapid growth of Kuybyshev required the development of a new master plan "Big Kuibyshev" in 1937, which was designed for the future, until 1956. It provided for a significant expansion of the city, turning it into a major industrial center. The main compositional axes arose along the watershed of the Volga and Samara rivers, and the second axis - Novo-Sadovaya Street. The structure highlights the main urban centers - Samara Square and the area of the Botanical Garden. The existing historical buildings were renovated and redeveloped, old cemeteries and churches were demolished to accommodate new public and cultural facilities. The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War prevented the full implementation of the plan. In the 1940s, large defense factories were evacuated to Kuibyshev, in connection with which the area of the city during the war and the first post-war years increased by 50%, amounting to 6651.3 hectares by the end of the 40s. Factories and factories were located along the railway, east of the old city, in empty areas. Between them and the old city, new residential areas arose. New construction also unfolded in other immediate outskirts and further in the periphery. In 1949, a new general plan of Samara was adopted, according to which the transport system developed (the emergence of new highways), a new industrial and residential area of Bezymyanka was built, new territories were developed, new planning units appeared - microdistricts. The development of the city proceeded at an intensive pace: the Kirovsky district, the village of Kryazh, the mouth of the Dry Samarka were built up. Landscaping work was underway, the reconstruction of squares (Kuibyshev and Chapaev squares), the laying of the TsPKiO. A new urban framework was formed by community centers and main highways connecting remote areas with the historical center. However, until the end of the 1950s, the city was a conglomeration of scattered workers' settlements, located around the largest industrial enterprises. In such a system, two centers were key: the Old City (historical merchant) and the new Bezymyanka industrial district (social city). Bezymyanka was connected with the Old Town by a railway line and bus routes. This two-part structure of the city lasted until the end of the 20th century.Самогоров В. А. От рабочих посёлков к социалистическому городу: развитие архитектурно-планировочной структуры Самары-Куйбышева в 1930—1950-е годы // Фундаментальные, поисковые и прикладные исследования Российской Академии архитектуры и строительных наук по научному обеспечению развития архитектуры, градостроительства и строительной отрасли Российской Федерации. — 2019, pp. 397—414. In the 1950s, during the construction process, the local architectural school was able to form outstanding architectural ensembles that connected the workers' settlements into a single urban system - these are the buildings of Revolution Square, Kuibyshev, Samarskaya, Chapaev, Agriculture, Kirov, Pobeda Street, Kirov, Metallurgists, Yunykh Pioneers, Kuibyshev, Novo-Sadovaya, Maslennikov, the Soviet Army and the Volga embankment.


Climate

Samara experiences a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Dfb'', borders on ''Dfa''). Samara's humidity levels are higher in the summer than many Russian cities thanks to the
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
levels and the close proximity to the Volga. The humidity levels usually range from 29% to 98% humidity over the period of a year. There was a record high of during a severe heat wave. Being far inland, summers are very warm and winters very cold for its latitude among European cities.


Governance


Administrative and municipal status

Samara is the
administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...
of the
oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...
Charter of Samara Oblast and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of
Volzhsky District Volzhsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. The districts are generally named after the Volga River, a major river in Russia. Districts of the federal subjects * Volzhsky District, Mari El Republi ...
, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is, together with two rural localities, incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Samara—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Samara is incorporated as Samara Urban Okrug.Law #23-GD In April 2015, Samara's nine city districts were granted municipal status.


Demographics


Religion

Samara is a multi-confessional city with various religious groups, including an Orthodox Christian majority and minorities of Armenian Apostolic Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews. However, since 2009, a Russian "anti-extremism" law has led to an increase in repression of religious minorities. Local authorities and courts in Samara have targeted
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
by liquidating the group's legal entity ("Local Religious Organization" or "LRO") and designating it as an "extremist" organization. In November 2016, "the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the decision of the Samara Regional Court to recognize the Samara branch of Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization and to ban its activities."


Economy

Samara is a leading industrial center in the Volga region and is among the top ten Russian cities in terms of national income and industrial production volume. Samara is known for the production of aerospace launch vehicles, satellites and various space services (
Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center The Progress Rocket Space Centre (russian: Ракетно-космический центр «Прогресс»), formerly known as TsSKB-Progress (russian: ЦСКБ-Прогресс), is a Russian joint-stock company under the jurisdiction ...
), engines ( Kuznetsov Design Bureau) and cables ( Volgacable, Samara Cable Company), aircraft (
Aviakor OJSC Aviakor (russian: Авиако́р) is an aviation plant located in Samara, Russia. It is part of the Russian Machines holding under control of the financial industrial group Basic Element owned by Oleg Deripaska. Aviakor constructs, rep ...
) and rolled aluminum, block-module power stations; refining, chemical and cryogenic products; gas-pumping units; bearings of different sizes, drilling bits; automated electrical equipment; airfield equipment (Start plant); truck-mounted cranes; construction materials; chocolates made by the Russia Chocolate Factory; Rodnik vodka; Vektor vodka; Zhiguli beer; food processing and light industrial products.Home page , Home page , Samara City Administration


Culture

Samara has an opera and ballet theater, a philharmonic orchestra hall, and five drama theaters. There is a museum of natural history and local history studies, a city art museum, and a number of movie theaters. As a dedication to the city's contribution to the development of aerospace industry there is a museum Cosmic Samara and an exhibition of aerospace history in Samara State Aerospace University. In the 2000s there has also occurred a large number of art galleries, dedicated to contemporary art. There is a zoo and a circus in the city. Samara Regional Museum of Local History named after Pyotr Vladimirovich Alabin is one of the oldest museums of the Volga region, founded on November 13, 1886. At present museum offers 2,500 square meters of exposition and exhibition areas, a 270-seat cinema/lecture hall, and a library with a reading hall. Museum's funds contain around 230,000 items, including abundant archaeological and scientific collections (paleontological, mineralogical, zoological, botanical), and impressive folklore and ethnographical collections. Visitors are offered a wide choice of interesting expositions: paleoecological – "Natural communities of Samara region", archaeological – "Priceless heritage of the times gone by", ethnographic – "Circle of life, reflected in traditions and rituals of the Volga region indigenous peoples", historical – "The Crossroads of Samara history", and other exhibition projects. The Alabin Museum has three branches: House-Museum of Vladimir Lenin in Samara is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance. Museum is located on the site of a former city merchant's mansion, dating to the last quarter of the 19th century. The Ulyanov family rented a second floor apartment of the house of Samara merchant Ilya Rytikov from May 1890 to August 1893. During this time Vladimir Ulyanov graduated from St. Petersburg University law school as a non-resident student, and started employment at Samara Regional Court. House-Museum of Vladimir Lenin in Samara opened on January 3, 1940. At present the museum's second floor houses a permanent memorial/household exhibition "Ulyanov family’s apartment in Samara, 1890–1893", recreating the living conditions and household atmosphere of Ulyanov family. The ground floor contains a specialised display area, including a fragment of historical/artistic reconstruction of Ilya Rytikov's merchant shop. Exposition of Russia's first Museum of Art Nouveau is dedicated to art and culture of late 19th – early 20th centuries. Museum of Art Nouveau opened at the end of 2012 and in just a few years became a local tourist brand. Mansion of Alexandra Kurlina, a merchant's wife and philanthropist, where the museum is located, is considered to be an architectural gem of Samara's Art Nouveau. Original façade and interior survive to this day, representing the works of outstanding European and Russian art nouveau masters. The museum is an exhibition space, which hosts major Russian museums’ projects (The Pushkin Museum, Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, etc.), and organises exhibitions of its own collections. Museum of Art Nouveau is one of Samara's most popular social and cultural entities. Weekly events take place here, giving visitors a taste of late 19th – early 20th centuries’ culture, as well as current cultural trends. Every year the museum hosts the "Night at the Museum" and "Night of the Arts" events, attended by more than a thousand visitors. House-Museum of Mikhail Frunze in Samara opened on February 23, 1934. The building was constructed in 1891 and is classed as a monument of residential architecture. On February 23, 2004, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the museum, a new, third exposition was opened, in which new materials, previously classified as top secret, were exhibited. The exposition tells visitors about lesser known chapters of the 1918-1920 Civil War, the confrontation on the Eastern Front between the armies of Mikhail Frunze and Alexander Kolchak, about "The Reds", "The Whites" and "The Greens", about anti-Soviet uprising behind the lines of the Eastern Front – "Chapan war" ("chapan" means rustic sheepskin coat), the defection in the Red and White armies, and many other chapters of the Russian history. Website: http://alabin.ru


Public events

International festivals, scientific congresses and other social events are held on the territory of Samara. Among them are the most famous: * Grushinsky festival (russian: Грушинский фестиваль) — is an annual Russian bard song festival that was established in 1968. It takes place near the city of Samara, on the Mastryukovo lakes. The festival takes its name from Valeri Grushin, a singer-songwriter who died during a backcountry camping trip trying to save his drowning friends. * Rock over Volga (russian: Рок над Волгой) — international rock festival, held annually from 2009 to 2013 and timed to the Russia Day in Samara. The line-up included bands such as the Ken Hensley,
Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, Skunk Anansie and Rammstein. * Metafest (russian: Метафест) — the annual multi-format music festival in the open air, held on the territory of Mastryukovo lakes since 2007. The line-up included bands such as the Ivan Smirnov, Olga Arefieva, Z-Star and Theodor Bastard.


Architecture

Architecture of Samara dates back to 15th and 16th centuries, the city had numerous wooden buildings with elaborate decor and more than 2000 cultural heritage objects. However, after the 1990s many unique ensembles were destroyed by a "concrete tsunami" of modern office and apartment blocks.


Sports

Several sports clubs are active in the city: Samara is also a popular venue for National and International
Ice speedway Ice speedway is a developed form of motorcycle speedway racing, featuring racing on frozen surfaces. The sport uses bikes enhanced for the terrain. Participants can compete at international level. Outline The bikes race counterclockwise arou ...
, and the City won the Russian Ice Speedway Premier League in 2012/13 season, meaning they will now compete in the Super League in the 2013/14 season. Samara is one of eleven cities hosting the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
with 6 matches (4 Group Stage matches, 1 Round of 16 match, 1 Quarter-Final) which will take place in the newly built Cosmos Arena stadium. The stadium's seating capacity is 45,000. During the World Cup, the city hosted the FIFA Fan Fest on the Kuibysheva Square. Up to 20,000 fans were able to participate in the event at a time. Three new training fields have been built in the city for the FIFA World Cup. Two major roads have been repaired before the championship: the airport road and Moskovskoye Highway.


Infrastructure


Transportation

Samara is a major transport hub.


Highways

Samara is located on the M5 highway, a major road between Moscow and the Ural region.


Rail

There are rail links to Moscow and other major Russian cities. The new, unusual-looking railway station building was completed in 2001.


River transport

Samara is a major
river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers ...
, due to its location at the confluence of the
Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...
and Samara rivers.


Air

The
Kurumoch International Airport Kurumoch International Airport (russian: Международный аэропорт "Курумоч") is the international airport of Samara, Russia, located 35 km (22 mi) north of the city. Besides Samara, the airport serves Tolyatt ...
handles flights throughout Russia and
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
and to
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
,
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
and
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...
. A
Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
base once existed east of the city at Bobrovka air base.


Public transport

Public transportation includes the Samara Metro,
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
s, municipal and private bus lines, and
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es. Local trains serve the suburbs.


Tram

is an extensive light rail system covering most of Samara. First opened in 1915 it currently has 25 lines extending served by 423 tram cars. Most of all Samara trams are Tatra T3SU, modified Tatra T3E and 1 unique Tatra T3RF.


Metro

Samara Metro is a single-line underground rapid transit system. Opened in 1987, its only line has been expanded through 2015 and currently has 10 stations.


Gallery

Samara bus GOLAZ (15343224502).jpg, Golaz-AKA-6226 bus Samara Mosque 3.jpg, Scania OmniLink bus Samara trolleybus 3210 (15156761079).jpg, ZiU-682 trolleybus Samara trolleybus BKM-321 new in depot tb 20090502 706 (15156928798).jpg, AKSM-321 low-floor trolleybus File:Tatrat3rf.jpg , Tatra T3 tram Tatra T3 tram under 1123 number on 20 route in Samara.jpg, Tatra T3 trams Rossiyskaya (Российская) (7056155089).jpg, Samara Metro SamaraVokzal.JPG,
Samara railway station Samara-Passazhirskaya (russian: Самара-Пассажирская) is a major railway station of the Kuybyshev Railway The Kuybyshevskaya Railway (Ку́йбышевская желе́зная доро́га) is a subsidiary of the Russian ...
Kurumoch_International_Airport_New_Terminal_1.jpg,
Kurumoch International Airport Kurumoch International Airport (russian: Международный аэропорт "Курумоч") is the international airport of Samara, Russia, located 35 km (22 mi) north of the city. Besides Samara, the airport serves Tolyatt ...


Education

Samara has 188 schools of general education, lyceums, high schools, and the college of continuous education (from primary up to higher education). Samara is a major educational and scientific centre of the Volga area. Twelve public and 13 commercial institutions of higher education as well as 26 colleges. Samara is the home of Samara State Aerospace University (SSAU), one of Russia's leading engineering and technical institutions. SSAU faculty and graduates have played a significant role in Russia's space program since its conception. Samara is also the hometown of
Samara State University Samara State University (russian: Самарский государственный университет) was a classical multi-faculty university and a leading educational institution of higher education in Samara Oblast, Russia. It consists ...
, a very respected higher-education institution in European Russia with competitive programs in Law, Sociology, and English Philology. Scientific research is also carried out in Samara. The Samara Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences incorporates the Samara branch of the Physical Institute, Theoretical Engineering Institute and Image Processing Systems Institute. Major research institutions operate in the city. Samara State Technical University (SamGTU) was founded in 1914. There are 11 faculties with over 20,000 students (2009) and 1,800 faculty members. On campus, there are four dormitory and ten study buildings. Samara State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities was founded in 1911 as Samara Teachers Institute. Currently, the academy offers 42 various specialisations in its 12 faculties.


Honours

The asteroid
26922 Samara 69 may refer to: * 69 (number) * A year, primarily 69 BC, AD 69, 1969, or 2069 *69 (sex position) Arts and media Music * ''69'', a 1988 album by A.R. Kane * "'69", a song by Deep Purple from ''Abandon'' * Major 6 add 9, a jazz chord * "Summe ...
was named in honour of the city and the river on 1 June 2007.


Notable people

* Mimi Kagan (1918–1999), modern dancer, choreographer; born in Samara. * Boris Kuftin (1892-1953), archaeologist and ethnographer * Maria Kuncewiczowa (1895-1989), Polish writer and novelist * Dmitry Muratov (born 1961), Russian journalist,
2021 Nobel Peace Prize The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on 8 October 2021. Maria Ressa (b. 1963) and Dmitry Muratov (b. 1961) received the prize "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondit ...
winner *
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
(born 1991), professional tennis player and multiple junior Grand Slam champion * Pavel Romanov (1964–2014), Russian sociologist and ethnographer * Sergei Alexander Schelkunoff (1897–1992), a mathematician and electromagnetism theorist, contributed to antenna theory * Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975), composer and pianist, lived in Samara during WWII where he finished his Symphony No. 7 * Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1882–1945), a Russian writer of science fiction and historical novels. * Dmitry Ustinov (1908-1984), Soviet Defence Minister, Marshal of the Soviet Union


International relations

Samara is twinned with: * Hefei, Anhui, China (2015) * Heihe, Heilongjiang, China (2012) * Krimml, Salzburg, Austria (2010) * Palermo, Sicily, Italy (2008) * Stara Zagora, Stara Zagora Province,
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
(1992) * Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (1992) * St. Louis, Missouri, United States (1994) * Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea (2016) * Zhengzhou, Henan, China (2002) * Denizli, Aegean Region, Turkey (2008)


See also

*
Sacred Heart Church, Samara The Sacred Heart Church (russian: Храм Пресвятого Сердца Иисуса) is a Catholic church, of neogothic style located in the historic center of the city of Samara, Russia. In 1902 it was decided to expand and build a church ...
* Samara flag * Samara culture * Samara Police


References


Notes


Sources

* * *


Further reading


External links

* * * * {{Use mdy dates, date=March 2012 Populated places established in 1586 Populated places on the Volga Samarsky Uyezd