Samara.

History

The fortress of Samara was founded in 1586 by decree of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich; before that, the Samara Bend was a haunt of river pirates. From 1935 to 1991 the city was called Kuybyshev. In October 1941 the government and foreign embassies were evacuated here, as Kuybyshev was prepared as a reserve capital, and a bunker was built for Stalin that was never used. Later the Vostok rocket was built here, and Yuri Gagarin rested in Kuybyshev after his flight.

Culture & traditions

Samara has an opera and ballet theatre, a philharmonic and five drama theatres. The local history museum dates from 1886, a museum of Art Nouveau opened in 2012, and Samara Kosmicheskaya tells the story of the city's role in rocket building. During the war Dmitri Shostakovich completed his Seventh Symphony here. Since 1968 the Grushinsky festival of bard songs has been held every year.

Sport

The football club Krylia Sovetov was founded in 1911. In 2018 the 45,000-seat Samara Arena hosted six matches of the FIFA World Cup. The city also has an ice hockey team, and tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova comes from Samara.

Food & drink

The city's best-known taste is Zhiguli beer, brewed in Samara. The Rossiya chocolate factory also operates here.

Practical information

The city is served by Kurumoch International Airport. A new railway station was completed in 2001, and there is a large river port on the Volga. Samara has a single-line metro opened in 1987, and trams have run since 1915. The climate is continental, with cold winters and warm summers; May to September, when the embankment comes alive, is the best time to visit.

What to see

• Volga embankment — the favourite place to relax for locals and visitors alike
• Stalin's Bunker — the reserve capital's shelter that was never used
• Samara Kosmicheskaya — a museum of the city that built rockets
• Art Nouveau Museum — the architecture and life of the Art Nouveau era
• Samarskaya Luka National Park — the nature of the Volga bend near the city