SAMARA, RUSSIA

:''This article is about the city in Russia. For the city in Iraq, see Samarra.''

Coat of Arms

'Samara' () (from 1935 to 1991—'Kuybyshev' (Ку́йбышев)) is the sixth-largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia, the Volga Federal District, the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Its geographical location is . Population: 1,157,880 (2002 Census); 1,254,460 (1989 Census).
It was founded in 1586 as a defense outpost, a fortress, and later grew into a major grain-trading center for the Volga region. It was renamed after the Soviet politician Valerian Kuybyshev under Soviet rule, but returned to its historical name after the fall of Communism.
Now it is a large social, economic, industrial and cultural center of European Russia. The metropolitan area of Samara-Togliatti-Syzran within Samara Region with a population of more than 3.0 million people is known for its automobile (AvtoVAZ), aluminium (Alcoa), railroad equipment, chemicals, oil and gas, machinery, and confectionery (Nestlé) industries. The city also has an aerospace industry, namely TsSKB-Progress, producing the ''Soyuz'' and Molniya launch vehicles. Due to this industry the city was a closed city during the Cold War.

Contents

History

Education, culture and transport

Sport

Honours

See also

External links

History

The city was the secondary capital of the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1943 when German troops threatened Moscow.
During this period the city was nicknamed 'The Second Baku' because of the crisis, in which the Soviet State Defense Committee decided to transfer the main forces of oil-workers and oil enterprises of Baku to the regions of Volga, Ural Mountains, Kazakhstan and Central Asia for the enforcement of the oil extraction there. Meanwhile all the nine drilling offices, oil-expedition and oil-construction trusts and various other enterprises with their staffs were transferred to the Samara area. Highly qualified specialists and masters in oil industry were sent there along with more than 5,000 workers with half of their equipment.
The Kuybyshev Square is the largest city square in Europe and the third largest in the world, largely for the accommodation of Soviet-era military parades. An enormous opera house is located on the square.

Education, culture and transport

Along with its many universities (including Samara State University and Samara State Aerospace University), theaters, and museums, the city is also a major intellectual and academic center in Russia. The city is served by highways and railways. Its airport is Samara Kurumoch Airport, with a number of international airlines, among them Lufthansa flying to and from Frankfurt, or Czech Airlines flying to and from Prague with convenient connections worldwide, which makes it an attractive tourist destination. Samara is served by Aeroflot Russian Airlines, Samara Airlines, and a number of regional carriers. The "Kurumoch" code for Samara International Airport is KUF. It also has a rapid transit system, the Samara Metro. However, this system has only 8 stations at present.
One popular tourist location in Samara is Stalin's bunker, a World War II bunker built to house military operations in the event of Moscow falling to the invading German forces. This monument is located south west of ''Kuybyshev Square'', behind a series of apartment complexes. Vladimir Lenin's body was also evacuated to Samara when the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, and Moscow seemed to be on the verge of falling into German hands.
Samara boasts of a vibrant nightlife. There are several clubs that play house music, including Zvezda, Birzha, Aura, Postel, and MTL. However, due to the federal anti-drug agency's ("Gosnarkokontrol") increased activities in the city, there appears to have been a decline in the quality and vibrancy of the nightlife (citation required here).
Samara is also the name of a model of a Lada car made by the VAZ auto company in Togliatti, in Samara Oblast.

Sport

Samara is the home to the FC Krylya Sovetov Samara, a football club in the Russian Premier League. Samara is also the home to the best world women basketball club VBM-SGAU with many famous international players.

Honours

The asteroid 26922 Samara was named in honour of the city and river on 1 June 2007.

See also

★ Samara flag

External links

★ Samara at Panoramio.

★ Radio Megapolis Samara

★ Life of night Samara

★ Weather Samara

★ Radio Samara Maximum

★ City Administration

★ Judicial department of Samara

★ Photo by the tourists

★ Old postcards & photos of Samara

★ Samara State Technical University

★ Samara Region Goverment

★ e63.ru City Portal

★ Samara.ru Portal

★ Economic & Politic newspaper of Samara

★ Samara State University

★ Samara International Airport

★ Samara Youth Movement

★ Samara Club Guide

★ I Samara Top Sites

★ Samara-Photo.ru Photos Of Samara

★ Samara Pictures from StayInSamara.com

★ Samara City Map

★ Weblog of a Swiss volunteer in Samara with photos

★ Photographs of Samara

★ Samara site

★ Nature of the Samara region