About Samara
Samara (called Kuybyshev from 1935 to 1990) is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia, the Volga Federal District, at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is also the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: 1,164,900. The metropolitan area of Samara-Togliatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast constitutes the population of more than 3.0 million people. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial and cultural center of European Russia, which in May 2007 played host to the European Union—Russia Summit.
Samara is located on the east bank of the Volga river, which acts as its western boundary; across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains. Samara has a continental climate characterized 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 river-front is one of the favorite recreation places for local citizens and tourists.
Samara is a leading industrial center in the Volga Area, and is among the top ten Russian cities in terms of national income and industrial volume. Samara is known for the production of aerospace launch vehicles, satellites and various space services, engines and cables, aircraft 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; truck-mounted cranes; construction materials; chocolates made by the Russia Chocolate Factory; Rodnik vodka; Zhiguli beer; food processing and light industrial products.[7]
History
Legend has it that Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow, later Patron Saint 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 port of Samara appears on Italian maps of the 14th century. Before 1586 the Samara Bend was a pirate nest. Lookouts would spot an oncoming boat and quickly cross to the other side of the peninsula where the pirates would organize an attack. Officially the town started with a fortress 1586 at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers.
The quick growth of Samara's economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was determined by the scope of the bread trade and flour milling business.
Samara was renamed Kuybyshev in the honour of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev in 1935.
During the Second World War, Kuybyshev was chosen to be the capital of the USSR should Moscow fall to the invading Germans. In October 1941, the Communist Party and governmental organizations, diplomatic missions of foreign countries, leading cultural establishments and their staff were evacuated to the city.[8] A dug-out for Joseph Stalin known as "Stalin's Bunker" was constructed but never used.
As a leading industrial center, Kuybyshev played a major role in arming the USSR. From the very first months of World War II the town supplied the front with aircraft, firearms and ammunition. The famous military parade of 7 November 1941 was held on the central square of the town. On 5 March 1942, Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was first performed in the town's Opera and Ballet House by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra conducted by S.A. Samosud. The symphony was broadcast all over the world.
Kuybyshev remained the alternative capital of the Soviet Union until the summer of 1943, when everything was moved back to Moscow.
After the war the defense 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 center for the country. The launch vehicle Vostok, which delivered the first manned spaceship to orbit, was built at the Samara Progress Plant. Yury Gagarin, the first man into space on 12 April 1961, took a rest in Kuybyshev after the landing. He first spoke to an improvised meeting of Progress workers. Kuybyshev enterprises played a leading hand in the development of domestic aviation and the implementation of the Soviet space programs.
In January 1991 the historical name of Samara was given back to the city. At the dawn of the 21st century Samara has become one of the major industrial cities of Russia with a powerful cultural heritage, multi-ethnic population and esteemed history. Nowadays Samara is not a closed city any longer. Tourists from all over the world visit the place, attracted by the beautiful scenery and the mighty Volga. Foreign businessmen live and work in Samara due to the great number of international companies and plants.
Education
Samara has 188 schools of general education, lyceums, high schools and the college of continuous education (from elementary up to higher education) known as Nayanova University existing under the aegis of International Parliament for Security and Peace attached to UNO. Samara is a major educational and scientific center of the Volga area. Twelve public and 13 commercial institutions of higher education as well as 26 colleges train future physicists and mathematicians, pedagogues and medical doctors, musicians and actors, directors and artists, aircraft- and missile-producers, journalists and lawyers, economists and architects, oil industry workers and mechanical engineers, archaeologists and electronic engineers, metallurgists and railroaders, telecommunication workers and interpreters and a lot of others. 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, a prestigious 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 1800 faculty members. On campus, there are four dormitory and ten study buildings.
Sports
Samara is the home to the FC Krylia Sovetov Samara, a football club in the Russian Premier League. Samara was also the home to the world women's basketball club VBM-SGAU. Before the 2007 season, the VBM-SGAU was sold to CSKA which moved the team to Moscow, where it became the CSKA.[10] The men's basketball club BC Krasnye Krylya Samara plays in the Russian Basketball Super League. The bandy team "ЦСК ВВС" plays in the 2nd highest division.[11] Samara is also home to Semyon Varlamov of the NHL's Washington Capitals, as well as young up and coming tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Transport
Samara is a major transport hub.
Kurumoch International Airport handles flights throughout Russia, Central Asia and to Frankfurt, Prague and Dubai.
Samara railway station
Samara is a major river port.
Samara is located on the M5 Highway, a major road between Moscow and the Ural region.
City transport includes the Samara Metro, trams, municipal and private bus lines, and trolleybuses. Local trains serve the suburbs.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Samara, Russia is twinned with:
• Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
• St. Louis, United States
• Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
• Stuttgart, Germany
• Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
• Denizli, Turkey
• Koper, Slovenia
• Palermo - Italy (2008)
About Samara Oblast
Samara Oblast is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Samara. In 1936–1990, it was known as Kuybyshev Oblast, after the Soviet name of Samara (Kuybyshev).
The Samara Oblast population is 3239.8 thou (corresponding to 2,3% of the country’s citizens number); of them 80,4% live in cities. The territory of the Oblast gives home to people of about 100 nationalities; Russians account for 83,4% of the total population.
The Region covers the territory of 53,6 thou square km, which corresponds to 0,31% of Russian territory.
Administratively-and-territorially the Samara Oblast is broken down into 11 cities, 24 urban-type communities and 27 rural rayons - districts (324 rural administrations and volosts).
The regional capital – the city of Samara (in the years 1935-1991 it was called Kuibyshev) with the population of 1,3 million is located at a distance of 1049 km from the Russian capital. The biggest cities (alongside with Samara) are: Togliatti, Syzran, and Novokuibyshevsk.
In terms of its economic potential the Samara Oblast occupies one of the leading places among the Russian Federation regions. As regards stability of the region, by assessment of the international rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, the Samara Oblast holds the highest rating equally with Moscow and St.-Petersburg.
The Region takes the sixth place among Russian provinces in terms of absolute volume of industrial output and the second place among the regions of the Privolzhsky Federal District.
The gross regional product per head goes beyond the average indicator by 30-40%, and the industrial output per capita - by 50%. As per many parameters of social-and-economic development, the Oblast is among top five regions of Russia.
The Samara Oblast economics sectors are represented virtually by all key branches: mining operations and processing of semi-products, production of electric power, chemistry and petroleum chemistry, metallurgy, mechanical engineering (including motor-car construction), manufacturing of bearings for machines, aircraft building and production of space ships and vehicles, light and food industries.
The Samara Oblast accounts for 1/5 of all production of synthetic rubber in Russia, for 10% of petrochemical products, for about 23% of synthetic ammonia, for 10% of pesticides, for 5% of synthetic resins and plastic materials, and 4.6% for mineral fertilizers. Samara is the only region where yellow phosphorus is produced. The Volzhsky Automobile Plant, which manufactures “Lada” cars enjoying high demand with the public, accounts for over 75% of all cars made in Russia. Share of the foreign trade turnover in the gross regional product is 35%, while export exceeds import. In the course of 10 years the number of enterprises with foreign capital participation increased 10-fold; and foreign investments grew more than 25-fold.
The agro-industrial complex of the Samara Oblast is a developed sector, which unites 500 agricultural enterprises of different ownership formats, 3,500 private farms, and over 1,000 enterprises of food and processing industries, as well as technical maintenance stations servicing agricultural machinery. The total area of agricultural land makes up 3,9 mln ha.
According to international expert opinion, the Samara Oblast takes the 5th place among 89 regions of the Russian Federation as for human potential. The amount of consumer expenditures the Samara Oblast yield only to the Moscow Oblast.
Over 30 state-run and non-governmental universities, 1,368 state-run elementary and secondary schools and Lyceums, 22 non-governmental schools of general education – all these educational institutions operate in the Oblast. The research-and-technical and technological potential is significant; over 60 organizations are involved in exact sciences and applied sciences, in R&D. The Oblast hosts over 100 theatres – state-run, municipal, private, folk and amateur. The Samara Oblast is a cultural center representing works of Russian and Oriental art, pieces of art executed by avant-gardism artists, sculptors, etc.
