Saransk
Encyclopedia
Saransk is a city in central European Russia
and the capital
of the Republic of Mordovia, as well as its financial and economic center. It is located in the Volga
basin at the confluence
of the Saranka and Insar River
s, about 630 kilometres (391.5 mi) east of Moscow
. Population:
, which took its name from a nearby Mordvin village; the fortress was, at the time, located on the southeastern frontier of Russia
. The current name "Saransk" refers to the city's situation on the Saranka river. Soon after its founding, the city became an important trade center for nearby Erzya
villagers. After 1708, Saransk was assigned to the Azov Province, and latter to the Kazan Governorate
. In 1780 the settlement was granted town status and was again transferred, this time to Penza Province. In 1928 Saransk become the administrative center of the newly established Mordvin National Area (Ogrug) which was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Region in 1930. Soviet planners reconstructed the old city center in the 1960s and 1970s, adding wide streets and planning the construction of massive residential areas.
power stations.
The most notable industrial enterprises include The Lisma Electrical Factory which employs nearly 12,000 people; the Biokhimik pharmaceutical facility; Rezinotekhnika, a rubber products manufacturer; The cable manufacturer Saranskkabel; and Elektrovypryamitel, which manufactures electronic components and, on a small scale, televisions.
). Ethnic Russians form the majority of the population (about 85%), and Russian, rather than any of two co-official Mordvinic languages
, is the common language of communication in the city. As with many provincial capitals in Russia, the population of Saransk has decreased since the dissolution of the USSR, primarily as a result of economic migration to larger cities, made especially attractive by the downsizing, or outright collapse, of many smaller, regional, industrial enterprises.
.
The city is also home to Mordovian State University
(founded in 1957) as well as several technical colleges.
Saransk have three Orthodox
Churches and also a small Lutheran Church provided by the Finnish Lutheran Church
and opened in 2005.
In Saransk there are also three Mosques.
, is Posop. An interesting detail is the Soviet era military base, belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is located along the railway lines and serves of a time when Saransk was, effectively, a closed city
. Another city landmark is The Saransk TV Tower — a 180-meter-tall guyed tubular steel mast built in 1961.
lines.
Saransk is a station on the Kuybyshev Railway
, and has additional stations serving regional rail lines to Ruzayevka
and Krasnyi Uzel. Formerly, Saransk was also served by two daily Penza
–Nizhny Novgorod
passenger trains, carrying passengers from nearby villages mainly to either Ruzayevka
junction station and Penza or to Arzamas
and Nizhny Novgorod
.
The city is served by the small Saransk Airport
(Russian: Аэропорт Саранск) (IATA: SKX, ICAO: UWPS) located to the southeast of downtown. It is served primarily by small regional carriers; the most common aircraft is the An-24. There are regular daily flights to and from Moscow's Domodevdo airport on weekdays. Saransk is also home to the Lyambir
air-force base.
with: Trenčín
, Slovakia
Botevgrad
, Bulgaria
Gorzów Wielkopolski
, Poland
Sieradz
, Poland
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...
and the capital
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the Republic of Mordovia, as well as its financial and economic center. It is located in the Volga
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
basin at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Saranka and Insar River
Insar River
Insar is a river in the Mordovian republic of Russia. It is a right tributary of the Alatyr River. It is 168 km long, with a drainage basin of 3860 km². The river gets most of its water from melting snow, and hence its discharge is at its highest during the spring thaw. Average discharge...
s, about 630 kilometres (391.5 mi) east of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Population:
History
Saransk was founded in 1641 as the Russian fortress AtemarAtemar
Atemar is a village in Lyambirsky District of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia....
, which took its name from a nearby Mordvin village; the fortress was, at the time, located on the southeastern frontier of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The current name "Saransk" refers to the city's situation on the Saranka river. Soon after its founding, the city became an important trade center for nearby Erzya
Erzya
Erzya could refer to:*Erzya language, a Uralic language spoken in Russia.*Erzya Oblasts, the areas of Russian in which Erzya is spoken.*Erzya literature, literature written in the Erzya language....
villagers. After 1708, Saransk was assigned to the Azov Province, and latter to the Kazan Governorate
Kazan Governorate
The Kazan Governorate or Government of Kazan was a governorate of Imperial Russia from 1708–1920, with the city of Kazan as its capital.-History:...
. In 1780 the settlement was granted town status and was again transferred, this time to Penza Province. In 1928 Saransk become the administrative center of the newly established Mordvin National Area (Ogrug) which was transformed into the Mordovian Autonomous Region in 1930. Soviet planners reconstructed the old city center in the 1960s and 1970s, adding wide streets and planning the construction of massive residential areas.
Industry
Industrial activity in Saransk includes the production of electrical cables, chemical production, textile manufacturing, food processing, machine building, and metallurgy. The city has two thermalThermal energy
Thermal energy is the part of the total internal energy of a thermodynamic system or sample of matter that results in the system's temperature....
power stations.
The most notable industrial enterprises include The Lisma Electrical Factory which employs nearly 12,000 people; the Biokhimik pharmaceutical facility; Rezinotekhnika, a rubber products manufacturer; The cable manufacturer Saranskkabel; and Elektrovypryamitel, which manufactures electronic components and, on a small scale, televisions.
Demographics
Saransk is by far the largest city in Mordovia and accounts for 34.3% of the total population of the Republic (as of the 2002 CensusRussian Census (2002)
Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
). Ethnic Russians form the majority of the population (about 85%), and Russian, rather than any of two co-official Mordvinic languages
Mordvinic languages
The Mordvinic languages, alternatively Mordvin languages, or Mordvinian languages, are a subgroup of the Uralic languages, comprising the closely related Erzya language and Moksha language.Previously considered a single "Mordvin language",...
, is the common language of communication in the city. As with many provincial capitals in Russia, the population of Saransk has decreased since the dissolution of the USSR, primarily as a result of economic migration to larger cities, made especially attractive by the downsizing, or outright collapse, of many smaller, regional, industrial enterprises.
Culture and religion
Saransk has several theaters, including the Dramatic Theater (founded in 1961), The State Puppet Theater of the Republic of Mordovia, and a Comedy theater. The Saransk Regional Museum is dedicated primarily to the history of the city, while The Mordovian Museum of Visual Arts, has an excellent collection of works by Russian masters Stepan Erzia and Fedot SychkovFedot Sychkov
Fedot Vasilevich Sychkov was a Russian Impressionist painter. Born in the Kochelaevo village, Mordovian Republic.He began as the icon painter in Serdobsk-town, 1885-1887...
.
The city is also home to Mordovian State University
Mordovian State University
N. P. Ogarev's Mordovian State University is located in the city of Saransk, the capital of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. It was established in October 1957 as an expansion of the Mordovian National Pedagogical Institute, established in 1931...
(founded in 1957) as well as several technical colleges.
Saransk have three Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
Churches and also a small Lutheran Church provided by the Finnish Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....
and opened in 2005.
In Saransk there are also three Mosques.
Cityscape and architecture
The town has a large number of buildings remaining from the 17th and 18th centuries, however many parts of the town are dominated by Soviet era apartment blocks, dating mainly from the 1960s, similar to other provincial towns which expanded rapidly due to fast industrialization. These buildings are nearing the end of their service life and are in need of serious repair and, in many cases, replacement. Industrial enterprises are mainly located to the north of the town center. The eastern part of Saransk, located east of the Insar RiverInsar River
Insar is a river in the Mordovian republic of Russia. It is a right tributary of the Alatyr River. It is 168 km long, with a drainage basin of 3860 km². The river gets most of its water from melting snow, and hence its discharge is at its highest during the spring thaw. Average discharge...
, is Posop. An interesting detail is the Soviet era military base, belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is located along the railway lines and serves of a time when Saransk was, effectively, a closed city
Closed city
A closed city or closed town is a settlement with travel and residency restrictions in the Soviet Union and some of its successor countries. In modern Russia, such places are officially known as "closed administrative-territorial formations" ....
. Another city landmark is The Saransk TV Tower — a 180-meter-tall guyed tubular steel mast built in 1961.
Transportation
The municipal transit system of Saransk consists primarily of a network of bus and trolleybusTrolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
lines.
Saransk is a station on the Kuybyshev Railway
Kuybyshev Railway
The Kuybyshevskaya Railway is a subsidiary of the Russian Railways operating in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Mordovia, Ryazan Oblast, Penza, Tambov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Orenburg, and Chelyabinsk Oblasts of Russia. Its headquarters are in Samara...
, and has additional stations serving regional rail lines to Ruzayevka
Ruzayevka
Ruzayevka is a town in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, located on the Insar River, southwest of Saransk. Population: It was founded in 1631 as the village of Urazayevka , later known as Ruzayevka. It was granted town status in 1937....
and Krasnyi Uzel. Formerly, Saransk was also served by two daily Penza
Penza
-Honors:A minor planet, 3189 Penza, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after the city.-Notable residents:...
–Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
passenger trains, carrying passengers from nearby villages mainly to either Ruzayevka
Ruzayevka
Ruzayevka is a town in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, located on the Insar River, southwest of Saransk. Population: It was founded in 1631 as the village of Urazayevka , later known as Ruzayevka. It was granted town status in 1937....
junction station and Penza or to Arzamas
Arzamas
Arzamas is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Tyosha River , east of Moscow. Population: -History:Arzamas was founded in 1578 by Ivan the Terrible in the lands populated at the time by the Mordvin people...
and Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
.
The city is served by the small Saransk Airport
Saransk Airport
Saransk Airport is an airport in Russia located 7 km southeast of Saransk. It services small airliners, mainly Antonov An-24s. There is a single 300 x 195 m pad with 10 parking spaces.-Passenger airlines:...
(Russian: Аэропорт Саранск) (IATA: SKX, ICAO: UWPS) located to the southeast of downtown. It is served primarily by small regional carriers; the most common aircraft is the An-24. There are regular daily flights to and from Moscow's Domodevdo airport on weekdays. Saransk is also home to the Lyambir
Lyambir
Lyambir is an air base in Russia, located north of Saransk. It is a large airfield with parallel taxiway and tarmac space. Probably a forward deployment airfield. Google Earth images show airfield empty except for a few small single-engine propeller planes....
air-force base.
Twin towns/sister cities
Saransk is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Trenčín
Trencín
Trenčín is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 56,000, which makes it the ninth largest municipality of the country and is the seat of the Trenčín Region and the Trenčín District...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
Botevgrad
Botevgrad
Botevgrad ; pre-1866: Samundzhievo ), is a town in western Bulgaria. It is located in Sofia Province and is close to Pravets. Botevgrad is situated at a 47-km-distance from Sofia.-Geography:...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the biggest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 125,149 inhabitants...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Sieradz
Sieradz
Sieradz is a town on the Warta river in central Poland with 44,326 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodship , but was previously the eponymous capital of the Sieradz Voivodship , and historically one of the minor duchies in Greater Poland.It is one of the oldest towns in Poland,...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...