Ulyanovsk Oblast.

History

Simbirsk was founded in 1648 by the boyar Bogdan Khitrovo as a wooden fort on a hill above the Volga's western bank. In 1668 it held out against a siege by Stenka Razin, in 1780 it became a provincial capital, and after a great fire in 1864 it was quickly rebuilt. Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) was born here in 1870, and in 1924 the city was renamed Ulyanovsk. During the war factories from Moscow and Leningrad were evacuated here, an automobile plant appeared in 1941, and on 19 January 1943 Ulyanovsk Oblast was created.

Culture & traditions

Simbirsk was the birthplace of the writers Ivan Goncharov and Nikolay Karamzin and the poet Nikolay Yazykov, and Ulyanovsk has a museum devoted to Goncharov. Pushkin visited in the autumn of 1833. The city centre holds the Lenin's Hometown memorial complex, which brings together fourteen museums. In 2015 Ulyanovsk joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature. Russians, Tatars, Chuvash and Mordvins all live in the oblast.

Nature

The main river is the Volga, widened here into the Kuybyshev Reservoir, joined by the Sura, Sviyaga and Bolshoy Cheremshan. About a quarter of the land is deciduous forest, and the rest is steppe and meadow. The region's flora counts more than 1,700 species of vascular plants, and moose, martens, squirrels and hares live in the woods. The best-known natural spots are Sengiley Mountains National Park and the mineral springs and spas of Undory.

Sport

Bandy has traditionally been the most popular sport in the oblast. Ulyanovsk is home to the Volga bandy club, and in 2016 Ulyanovsk and Dimitrovgrad hosted the Bandy World Championship. The city's football club also carries the name Volga.

Food & drink

The oblast is a major producer of grain, potatoes and sugar, making more sugar than the region itself needs. Flour-milling and butter-making have long been local trades. The Kuybyshev Reservoir is rich in fish such as bream, pike-perch and carp, and Volga fish is the thing to try here.

Practical information

The oblast is on UTC+4, one hour ahead of Moscow. Ulyanovsk has two airports, Baratayevka and Vostochny; the Kuibyshev Railway serves the region, and the Presidential Bridge, opened in 2009, links the two banks of the Volga. The climate is temperate continental, with cold winters (around −10 °C in January) and warm summers (around 20 °C in July). Summer and early autumn are the best time to come, when the Volga banks are at their most pleasant.

What to see

• Lenin's Hometown memorial complex — fourteen museums in old Simbirsk
• Goncharov Museum — honouring the writer in his home town
• Ulyanovsk Aircraft Museum — an aviation collection founded in 1983
• Presidential Bridge — a Volga crossing opened in 2009
• Sengiley Mountains National Park — protected landscapes of the Ulyanovsk Volga region
• Undory — a spa resort with mineral springs

Cities on the map

• Ulyanovsk 612,516