Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of the Republic of Buryatia,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the

Uda River Uda or UDA may refer to: UDA * UD Almería, a Spanish football club * Unión Deportivo Ascensión, a Peruvian football club * Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland * Union des artistes, a Quebec act ...

at its confluence with the

Selenga The Selenga or Selenge ( ; bua, Сэлэнгэ гол / Сэлэнгэ мүрэн, translit=Selenge gol / Selenge müren; russian: Селенга́, ) is a major river in Mongolia and Buryatia, Russia. Originating from its headwater tributaries, ...

. According to the 2021 Census, 437,565 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 404,426 recorded in the 2010 Census, making the city the third-largest in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

by population.

Names

Ulan-Ude was first called Udinskoye (, ) for its location on the

. It was founded as a small fort in 1666. From around 1735, the settlement was called Udinsk (, ) and was granted town status under that name in 1775. It was renamed Verkhneudinsk (, ; "Upper Udinsk") in 1783, to differentiate it from Nizhneudinsk ("Lower Udinsk") lying on a different

near Irkutsk which was granted town status that year. The descriptors "upper" and "lower" refer to the positions of the two cities relative to each other, rather than the location of the cities on their respective Uda rivers. Verkhneudinsk lies at the mouth of its river, while Nizhneudinsk is along the middle stretch. The current name was given to the city on 27 July 1934 and means "

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

Uda" in Buryat, reflecting the

ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was Bolshevist Marxism–Leninism, an ideology of a centralised command economy with a vanguardist one-party state to realise the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Soviet Un ...

Geography

Ulan-Ude lies east of

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 millio ...

and southeast of Lake Baikal. It is above sea level at the foot of the

Khamar-Daban Hamar-Daban (russian: Хама́р-Даба́н; bua, Һамар дабаан, from - "nut", and , "pass" or "ridge"), is a mountain range in Southern Siberia, Russia. Geography The range is located in Buryatia, with a small section in Irkutsk ...

and

Ulan-Burgas Ulan-Burgas (; , from ''улаан'' - "red", and ''бургааһан'', "small birch" or "shrub"),confluence of the Selenga River and its

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

, the Uda, which divides the city.

Hydrography

Ulan-Ude is traversed by two rivers, the Selenga and Uda. The Selenga provides the greatest inflow to

Baikal Lake Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сиб� ...

, supplying 50% of all rivers in its basin. The Selenga brings about of water into the lake per year, exerting a major influence on the lakewater's renewal and its sanitary condition. Selenga is the habitat of the most valuable fish species such as

Omul The omul, ''Coregonus migratorius'', also known as Baikal omul (russian: байкальский омуль), is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object o ...

Siberian sturgeon The Siberian sturgeon (''Acipenser baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the ...

, Siberian

taimen Siberian taimen (''Hucho taimen''), also known as the common taimen (russian: Обыкнове́нный тайме́нь, Obyknovénnyĭ taĭménʹ), Siberian giant trout or Siberian salmon, is a species of salmon-like ray-finned fish from the ...

Thymallus ''Thymallus'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is '' Thymallus thymallus,'' the grayling. The species in the genus are generically called graylings, bu ...

and

Coregonus ''Coregonus'' is a diverse genus of fish in the salmon family ( Salmonidae). The ''Coregonus'' species are known as whitefishes. The genus contains at least 68 described extant taxa, but the true number of species is a matter of debate. The typ ...

. Uda is the right inflow of the Selenga river. The length of the watercourse is .

History

Coat of Arms of Ulan-Ude (Verkhneudinsk Buryatia) (1790)

The first occupants of the area where Ulan-Ude now stands were the

Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...

and, later, the Buryat Mongols. Ulan-Ude was settled in 1666 by the Russian Cossacks as the fortress of Udinskoye. Due to its favorable geographical position, it grew rapidly and became a large trade center which connected Russia with China and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and, from 1690, was the administrative center of the

Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...

region. By 1775, it was known as Udinsk, and in 1783 it was granted city status and renamed Verkhneudinsk. After a large fire in 1878, the city was almost completely rebuilt. The

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

reached the city in 1900 causing an explosion in growth. The population, which was 3,500 in 1880, reached 126,000 in 1939. From 6 April to October 1920, Verkhneudinsk was the capital of the Far Eastern Republic (Дальневосточная Республика), also known as the Chita Republic. It was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. On 27 July 1934, the city was renamed Ulan-Ude.

Administrative and municipal status

Ulan-Ude is the capital of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude — an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.Resolution #431 As a municipal division, the city of Ulan-Ude is incorporated as Ulan-Ude Urban Okrug.Law #985-III

Demographics

According to the 2010 Census, 404,426 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 359,391 recorded in the 2002 Census. In terms of population, it is the third-largest city in eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

Center of the Soviet district of Ulan-Ude from a bird's eye view

The ethnic makeup of the city's population in 2010: *

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

: 63.6% * Buryats: 32.7% *

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

: 0.6% *

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

: 0.5% *Others: 2.6% The city is the center of Tibetan

Buddhism in Russia Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century. Buddhism is considered to be one of Russia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions ...

and the important

Ivolginsky datsan Ivolginsky datsan (russian: Иволгинский Дацан) is the Center of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, Buddhist Temple located in Buryatia, Russia, 23 km from Ulan Ude, near Verkhnyaya Ivolga village. History The d ...

is located from the city.

Transportation

Ulan-Ude is located on the main line (Trans-Siberian line) of the

between Irkutsk and Chita at the junction of the Trans-Mongolian line (the

Trans-Mongolian Railway , map_name = , map_state = collapsed , embedded = The Trans-Mongolian Railway follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans–Baikal Railway, Trans–Baikal (Trans–Sib ...

) which begins at Ulan Ude and continues south through

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in China. The city also lies on the M55 section of the

Baikal Highway The Baikal Highway is a federal highway in Russia. Its official designation is federal highway R258 "Baikal" (russian: Федеральная автомобильная дорога Р258 «Байкал»). It part of the Trans-Siberian Highway a ...

(part of the

Trans-Siberian Highway The Trans-Siberian Highway is the unofficial name for a network of federal highways that span the width of Russia from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan. In the Asian Highway Network, the route is known as AH6. It stretche ...

), the main federal road to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. Air traffic is served by the

Ulan-Ude Airport Baikal International Airport (russian: link=no, Международный аэропорт "Байкал", ''Mezhdunarodnyy aeroport "Baykal"''), formerly Ulan-Ude Airport (russian: link=no, Аэропорт Улан-Удэ, ''Aeroport Ulan-U ...

(Baikal), as well as the smaller Ulan-Ude Vostochny Airport. Intracity transport includes

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 are ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

, and ''

marshrutka ''Marshrutka''share taxi Share may refer to: * Share, to make joint use of a resource (such as food, money, or space); see Sharing * Share (finance), a stock or other financial security (such as a mutual fund) * Share, Kwara, a town and LGA in Kwara State, Nigeria Share ...

) lines.

Culture

Until 1991, Ulan-Ude was closed to foreigners. There are old merchants' mansions richly decorated with wood and stone carving in the historical center of Ulan-Ude, along the river banks which are exceptional examples of Russian classicism. The city has a large ethnographic museum which recalls the history of the peoples of the region. There is a large and highly unusual statue of the head of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

in the central square: the largest in the world. Built in 1970 for the centennial of Lenin's birth and weighing 42 tons, it continued to tower over the main plaza at .

Sights

The ''

Ethnographic Museum Ethnographic museums conserve, display and contextualize items relevant to the field of ethnography, the systematic study of people and cultures. Such museums include: List by country/region Albania * Ethnographic Museum of Kavajë, * Gjirokast� ...

of the peoples of

'' is one of Russia's largest open-air museums. The museum contains historical finds from the era of the Slab Grave Culture and the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

until the mid 20th century, including a unique collection of samples of wooden architecture of

– more than forty architectural monuments.

Odigitrievsky Cathedral St. Odigitrievsky Cathedral is an Orthodox church, a monument of architecture of the Siberian Baroque of the middle of the XVIII century in Transbaikalia. It was built in 1741–1785 in the city of Verkhneudinsk (since 1934 – Ulan-Ude) The first ...

–

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

Diocese of the Buryat, was the first stone building in the city and is a Siberian baroque architectural monument. The cathedral is considered unique because it is built in a zone of high seismic activity in the heart of the city on the banks of the River Uda River where it flows into the Selenga. One of the attractions of Ulan-Ude is a monument in the town square — the square of the Soviets — in the form of the head of Lenin (sculptors G.V. Neroda, J.G. Neroda, architects Dushkin, P.G. Zilberman). The monument, weighing 42 tons and with a height of , was opened in 1971 in honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth. The Voice of Nomads international music and culture festival is held annually at various sites in the city.

Economy

The

Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (UUAZ, russian: Улан-Удэнский авиационный завод, ''Ulan-Udėnskij aviacionný zavod'') is a Russian joint-stock company specializing in aircraft manufacturing. It is based in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia. ...

is based in Ulan-Ude.

Mongol Rally

Ulan-Ude serves as the endpoint for the Mongol Rally.

Climate

Ulan-Ude can be described as possessing a humid steppe climate (

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, notabl ...

''BSk''), bordering on 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 freezing ...

(''Dwb'') and a subarctic climate (''Dwc''). The climate is characterised by long, dry, cold winters and short but very warm summers. Precipitation is low and heavily concentrated in the warmer months.

Notable people

* Dmitry Masleev, pianist *

Oksana Omelianchik Oksana Omelianchik (russian: Оксана Александровна Омельянчик; uk, Окса́на Oлекса́ндрiвна Омелья́нчик, Oksana Oleksandrivna Omelianchyk; alternative transliterations: Oksana Omel'yantchi ...

, artistic gymnast *

Irina Pantaeva Irina Pantaeva (russian: Ирина Владленовна Пантаева; born 31 October 1967) is a Russian model and actress. Pantaeva was born in Ulan-Ude, Buryat ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Biography Irina Pantaeva started working ...

, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' model *

Alexander Slastin Alexander Vladimirovich Slastin (; born 12 June 1942) is a Soviet and Russian actor. History Alexander Slastin was born on 12 June 1942 in Ulan-Ude in the USSR. After the war ended, his family moved to Ukraine, where he had to undergo an awful f ...

, actor *

Inna Stepanova Inna Yakovlevna Stepanova (russian: Инна Яковлевна Степанова; born 17 April 1990) is a Russian archer of Buryat ethnicity. Stepanova is a student of Physical Education at Buryat State University. Career At the 2012 Summ ...

, Olympic archer

Twin towns - sister cities

Ulan-Ude is twinned with: * Anyang, South Korea * Berkeley, USA * Changchun, China * Chita, Russia * Darkhan, Mongolia *

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...

, Ukraine *

Elista Elista (russian: Элиста́, (common during the Soviet era) or (most common pronunciation used after 1992 and in Kalmykia itself);"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. ...

, Russia *

Erdenet Erdenet ( mn, Эрдэнэт, literally "with treasure") is the third-largest city in Mongolia, with a 2018 population of 98,045, and the capital of the aimag (province) of Orkhon. Located in the northern part of the country, it lies in a valley ...

, Mongolia *

Erenhot Erenhot ( mn, ; , commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a county-level city of the Xilin Gol League, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located in the Gobi Desert along the Sino-Mongolian border, across from the Mongolian town of Za ...

, China *

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a po ...

, Russia *

Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th century ...

, North Korea * Hohhot, China * Hulunbuir, China * Lanzhou, China *

Manzhouli Manzhouli (; mn, Манжуур хот; ) is a sub-prefectural city located in Hulunbuir prefecture-level city, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Located on the border with Russia, it is a major land port of entry. It has an area of and ...

, China * Rumoi, Japan *

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, Taiwan *

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

, Mongolia *

Ulanqab Ulanqab or Ulan Chab (; mn, ''Ulaɣančab qota''; Mongolian cyrillic.Улаанцав хот) is a region administered as a prefecture-level city in south-central Inner Mongolia, China. Its administrative centre is in Jining District, which w ...

, China *

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

, Ukraine * Yamagata, Japan *

Yeongwol County Yeongwol County (''Yeongwol-gun'') is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. It is well known as the place where King Danjong, the sixth king of Joseon Dynasty, was exiled when he was forced to abdicate by his uncle, who became Sejo of Joseon ...

, South Korea

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Use mdy dates, date=October 2012 Transbaikal Oblast Populated places established in 1666 17th-century establishments in Russia 1666 establishments in Russia Russian Far East