Ulyanovsk

Overview

Ulyanovsk is an administrative center of Ulyanovsk Region of the Russian Federation. It is an important industrial and cultural center of the Volga region, with the road and railway junction (Moscow, Kazan, Ufa and Saratov direction), river port, and airlines providing a lot of domestic and international flights. It is situated on the bank of the Kuibyshev Water Reservoir, 893 km south-east of Moscow. Its population is about 700 thousand people. It is divided into 4 districts. It has a radial rectangular system of city planning.

History in Brief

The city was founded in 1648 on Venets, a high steep bank of the Volga River, by the military governor B. M. Khitrovo and a cleark G. Kunakov. It was founded as Sinbirsk fortress acting as a defense line (of the same name) in order to secure protection against the nomadic tribes and expand the boundaries of the Russian state. In 1670-1671, during the Peasant War led by S. T. Razin the city was under siege. When Russia was split into provinces, in 1708-1717 and 1728-1780 the city was part of Kazan province, and in 1717-1728 it was included into Astrakhan province. In 1773-1774, E. I. Pugachev was held in the city jail. In 1780, the city was renamed to Simbirsk and became the center of the governorship of the same name. Since 1796 it was the main city of Simbirsk province and during the 19th century it became a major center of trade in food products, livestock and forest. It was a period when the city’s first public theater, gymnasium, Cadet Corps and a seminary opened; several dozens of industrial enterprises were in operation. In the late 19th-early 20th century the first railroads had passed through the city. In December 1917, Ulyanovsk had Soviet power established. In July 1918 there was a thwarted attempt to start a left socialist-revolutionary revolt. Between July and September 1918 the town was captured by “White Czechs” who rose in rebellion. In May 1924, Simbirsk was renamed to Ulyanovsk. In 1928 it joined the Middle Volga region (and the territory of the same name at a later time); in 1936 it became part of the

Kuibyshev region. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Ulyanovsk hosted the number of industrial enterprises evacuated from the western regions of the USSR, including the part of the Moscow Automobile Plant. In 1943, the city became the center of the newly formed Ulyanovsk region.

Today Ulyanovsk is a major center of machine-building and metal-working plants, including: “Ulyanovsk automobile plant UAZ”, plants with heavy and unique machines, electrical engineering plants “Contactor” and “Avtozapchast”, hydraulic plants, and aircraft manufacturing plants. In addition, there are house-building factories, a knitting factory, enterprises producing construction materials and food products.

Ulyanovsk is a place where the writers I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich and a poet N. M. Yazikov were born. It is a place where in the family of N. I. Ulyanov, an inspector of Simbirsk province schools, V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) was born and where he spent his childhood and adolescence.

Cost of living

Rent a room: 4 000-6 000 RUB/month (120-200$)

Rent a studio: 8 000-15 000 RUB/month (250-500$)

Rent a one-bedroom apartment: 10 000-25 000 RUB/month (300-700$)

Rent a two-bedroom apartment: 5 000-35 000 RUB/month (500-1000$)

Bus/tram/trolley-bus fare – 12 rubles (0.36$)

Fixed route taxi-bus fare – 16 rubles (0.50$)

Student travel pass – 360 RUB/month (11$)

Things to see

Ulyanovsk architecture

Well-preserved buildings (18th-early 20th century) in the central part of the city with boundaries: in the south – Kirov street, in the north – Tukhachevsky street, in the east – Boulevard Novy Venets, in the west – Sviyaga River Embankment.

Museum of the History of Civil Aviation

The museum is located on the territory of Ulyanovsk Higher Aviation School. Museum aerotechnics is exhibited near Ulyanovsk-Centralny Airport (its coordinates are given, it’s impossible to drive past it as it is on the way to the airport).

Lenin Museum-Memorial

Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore named after Ivan Goncharov

Monument to the letter ‘Ё’ (YO)

This letter is carved on the red and gray granite pyramid (height – 2.05 m, weight – over 3 tons).

Karamzin Square

This historic park was created in 1866. There is a monument to N. M. Karamzin who was born in Simbirsk county.

Wind organ

Memorial of Eternal Glory

It was built on the 30th anniversary of the Victory Day. The complex consists of an obelisk (stela), eternal fire, stairs, sculptural group of soldiers and the wall on which the names of 57 Ulyanovsk citizens (heroes of the Soviet Union) are inscribed.

Later this complex was enlarged by the monuments to Ulyanovsk soldiers killed in military operations in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Monument to destroyed temples

Monument to destroyed temples of Simbirsk is a metal 9 meter monument in the form of a multilevel chapel topped with a gilded onion dome and a cross.

Imperial bridge

It was built in 1913-1916. Originally it was only a railway bridge; today it unites railway, road and power lines. Its length is 2800 m.

Monument to Oblomov’s couch

Monument to the Hero of Russia Dmitry Razumovsky

It was established in 2007, created by sculptor Vadim Kirillov.

Lieutenant colonel Dmitry Razumovsky, Ulyanovsk native, was killed in 2004 during the liberation of the school in Beslan.

Monument to the Builders

Karl Marx Monument

Art Nouveau Architecture Museum

Useful links:

http://www.ulyanovskcity.ru/

http://ulgrad.ru

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