Samara

Sobornaya Street and horse tram in 1905

Samara, together with its northern neighbour Kazan, is at the centre of the Idel-Ural historical region. Ahmad ibn Fadlan visited the area that is now Samara around 921 while on his journey to the Volga Bulgars who then controlled the region from their capital Bolghar.[18]

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 whenever the pirates organized an attack. Officially, Samara started with a fortress built in 1586 at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers.[3] This fortress was a frontier post protecting the then easternmost boundaries of Russia from forays of nomads. A local customs office was established in 1600.

As more and more ships pulled into Samara's port, the town turned into a centre for diplomatic and economic links between Russia and the East. Samara also opened its gates to peasant war rebels headed by Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachyov, welcoming them with traditional bread and salt. The town was visited by Peter the Great and later Tsars.

In 1780, Samara was turned into an uyezd town of Simbirsk Governorate overseen by the local Governor-General, and Uyezd and Zemstvo Courts of Justice and a Board of Treasury were established. On January 1, 1851, Samara became the centre of Samara Governorate with an estimated population of 20,000. This gave a stimulus to the development of the economic, political and cultural life of the community. Samara was outside of the Pale of Settlement and as such did not have any significant Jewish population until the late 19th century.[19] In 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a mission from the Samara city government Duma led by Petr Alabin, as a symbol of spiritual solidarity, brought a banner tailored in Samara pierced with bullets and saturated with the blood of both Russians and Bulgarians, to Bulgaria, which has become a symbol of Russian-Bulgarian friendship.

In 1935, Samara was renamed Kuybyshev in honour of the Bolshevik leader Valerian Kuybyshev.

During World War II, Kuybyshev was chosen to be the alternative capital of the Soviet Union should Moscow fall to the invading Germans, until the summer of 1943, when everything was moved back to Moscow. In October 1941, the Communist Party and governmental organisations, diplomatic missions of foreign countries, leading cultural establishments and their staff were evacuated to the city.[20] A dugout for Joseph Stalin known as "Stalin's Bunker" was constructed but never used. To mark its role as wartime national capital a special Revolution Day parade was held at the city's Kuybyshev Square on November 7, 1941, and since 2011 has been remembered in an annual military parade organised by the city government.

As a leading industrial centre, Kuybyshev played a major role in arming the country. From the very first months of World War II the city supplied the front with aircraft, firearms, and ammunition. Health centres and most of the city's hospital facilities were turned into base hospitals. Polish and Czechoslovakian military units were formed on the territory of the Volga Military District. Samara's citizens also fought at the front, many of them volunteers.

After the war the defence 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 centre for the country. The launch vehicle Vostok, which delivered the first manned spaceship to orbit, was built at the Samara Progress Plant. Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel in space on April 12, 1961, took a rest in Kuybyshev after returning to Earth. While there, he spoke to an improvised meeting of Progress workers. Kuybyshev enterprises played a leading role in the development of Soviet domestic aviation and the implementation of the Soviet space program. There is also an unusual monument situated in Samara commemorating an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft assembled by Kuybyshev workers in late 1942. This particular plane was shot down in 1943 over Karelia, but the heavily wounded pilot, K. Kotlyarovsky, managed to crash-land the plane near Lake Oriyarvi. The aircraft was returned to Kuybyshev in 1975, and was placed on display at the intersection of two major roads as a symbol of the deeds of home front servicemen and air-force pilots during the Great Patriotic War.

Ladya apartment complex

The Volga River in Samara

In January 1991, the historical name of Samara was given back to the city. Samara is one of the major industrial cities of Russia and has a multiethnic population.[21]

The development of the territory of modern Samara began in the 16th century with the foundation of the Samara fortress. Prior to the founding of the fortress, this area was home to piers for Volga ships. The official date of foundation of the settlement was the decree of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich of 1586. The location of the town was predetermined by several factors: strategic placement in order to ensure security from the raids of nomadic tribes; expansion of the Russian state in the Middle and Lower Volga regions; convenient location in the steppe landscape, at the intersection of the Volga and Samarka rivers.[22]

The fortress was wooden with 11 towers, surrounded by a rampart and a moat, and occupied 5.2 hectares. Gradually, the population of the fortress increased, and the surrounding territories were developed.[22] Simultaneously with the fortress in 1586, Boldyrskaya Sloboda arose on the Volga slope, and around 1645, upstream the Volga, Voznesenskaya Sloboda. During the 17th century, the settlements merged into a single whole.[23]

In 1688, the settlement received the status of a city, which required the development of the first boundary plan. It is known that by the beginning of the 18th century the city stretched in a narrow strip along the Volga slope. From 1703 to 1706, a new earthen, diamond-shaped form was built to the east of the old fortress. The layout was unsystematic, with small blocks of bizarre shapes. Almost the entire territory was occupied by residential buildings and administrative, commercial and military buildings were concentrated only in the fortress. The territories along the banks of the Volga and Samarka were occupied by marinas and barns. By 1717, there were 210 philistine houses and 17 houses of yasak peasants in Samara. The settlement grew slowly due to its border position and by the end of the 18th century it occupied 61.2 hectares of territory, compactly stretching along the banks of the Volga.[22][23]

Samara city plan in 1886

In 1763, Empress Catherine II signed an order "On the making of all cities, their buildings and streets of special plans for each province especially." In the 70s, extensive activities were launched by the “Commission on the Stone Buildings of St. Petersburg and Moscow” to rebuild provincial cities. At the same time, the development of the first master plan for Samara began. In 1764, the settlement changed its administrative status, becoming a settlement. In 1780 it again received the status of a county town. In 1765 and 1772 it was badly damaged by fires. Despite these obstacles, in 1782 Samara received the first master plan with a rectangular grid of streets. According to the plan, the territory of the city was subject to a complete redevelopment: all buildings were liquidated, with the exception of several churches, houses and a fortress. In 1796, a second reconstruction plan was drawn up, identical to the first. As a result of its implementation, by 1804 the territory of Samara had increased to 70.4 hectares. The basis for the planning of the northern part of the city was a rectangular quarter measuring 130 × 260 m. The southern part of the settlement retained its irregular character.[23] The main type of building of this period is a low-rise estate. The directions of the streets were determined by the direction of the channel, the so-called Samara break. The city was divided into functional zones: residential areas with trade facilities, administrative and religious buildings. Community centers were located around churches and at the ship's pier. Forges were located on the outskirts of the city. The fortress occupied 3.6 hectares, divided into a residential zone, an administrative zone (offices, a prison, a storehouse), a public one (a court, a thought), a commercial, an industrial one (warehouses, piers, forges, barns).[22] In 1804, a new plan for the reconstruction and expansion of Samara was drawn up, following the model of the previous ones. The old buildings in the south of the city were demolished, and a regular layout appeared in its place. In 1839, the plan was almost completely implemented. The territory of Samara has increased by 3.5 times (246.4 ha). The city occupied the entire territory along the watershed of the Volga and Samara rivers, the banks of which were built up with marinas, grain barns, warehouses, and small-scale industries. The Samara fortress was still preserved, but had already lost its significance.[23]

In 1840, a new development plan was approved, according to which the territory of the city expanded further along the watershed, while maintaining the planning structure.[23] The new plan reflected the nature of the prevailing wooden buildings (stone houses accounted for only 10% of the total). The size of the quarters remained the same, the city grew at the expense of adjacent agricultural land. As a major trading center, with a railroad, Samara in 1851 received the status of a provincial city. The general plan of 1853 regulated only building within the city limits, however, the settlement began to grow chaotically, numerous industrial facilities appeared: tanneries, oil mills, brick factories and mills. The development of navigation along the Volga led to the fact that piers, warehouses, sawmills and other factories occupied the entire Volga coast of the city. From 1875 to 1877, a private railway to Orenburg was built through Samara, laid along the banks of the Samara River. The residential part of the city was cut off from the banks of the industrial rivers, with the exception of a small section of the Strukovsky Garden, overlooking the Volga. By the end of the 19th century, Samara was a single planning space with a regular plan (with the exception of the Zasamarskaya settlement, which arose no later than the end of the 18th century).[23]

The rapid growth of Kuybyshev required the development of a new master plan "Big Kuibyshev" in 1937, which was designed for the future, until 1956. It provided for a significant expansion of the city, turning it into a major industrial center. The main compositional axes arose along the watershed of the Volga and Samara rivers, and the second axis - Novo-Sadovaya Street. The structure highlights the main urban centers - Samara Square and the area of the Botanical Garden. The existing historical buildings were renovated and redeveloped, old cemeteries and churches were demolished to accommodate new public and cultural facilities.[22] The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War prevented the full implementation of the plan. In the 1940s, large defense factories were evacuated to Kuibyshev, in connection with which the area of the city during the war and the first post-war years increased by 50%, amounting to 6651.3 hectares by the end of the 40s. Factories and factories were located along the railway, east of the old city, in empty areas. Between them and the old city, new residential areas arose. New construction also unfolded in other immediate outskirts and further in the periphery.[23]

In 1949, a new general plan of Samara was adopted, according to which the transport system developed (the emergence of new highways), a new industrial and residential area of Bezymyanka was built, new territories were developed, new planning units appeared - microdistricts. The development of the city proceeded at an intensive pace: the Kirovsky district, the village of Kryazh, the mouth of the Dry Samarka were built up. Landscaping work was underway, the reconstruction of squares (Kuibyshev and Chapaev squares), the laying of the TsPKiO. A new urban framework was formed by community centers and main highways connecting remote areas with the historical center.[22] However, until the end of the 1950s, the city was a conglomeration of scattered workers' settlements, located around the largest industrial enterprises. In such a system, two centers were key: the Old City (historical merchant) and the new Bezymyanka industrial district (social city). Bezymyanka was connected with the Old Town by a railway line and bus routes. This two-part structure of the city lasted until the end of the 20th century.[24] In the 1950s, during the construction process, the local architectural school was able to form outstanding architectural ensembles that connected the workers' settlements into a single urban system - these are the buildings of Revolution Square, Kuibyshev, Samarskaya, Chapaev, Agriculture, Kirov, Pobeda Street, Kirov, Metallurgists, Yunykh Pioneers, Kuibyshev, Novo-Sadovaya, Maslennikov, the Soviet Army and the Volga embankment.[24]

Samara experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb, borders on Dfa). Samara's humidity levels are higher in the summer than many Russian cities thanks to the precipitation levels and the close proximity to the Volga. The humidity levels usually range from 29% to 98% humidity over the period of a year. There was a record high of +40.4 °C (104.7 °F) during a severe heat wave. Being far inland, summers are very warm and winters very cold for its latitude among European cities.

Samara is the administrative center of the oblast[2] and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Volzhsky District,[1] even though it is not a part of it.[27] As an administrative division, it is, together with two rural localities, incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Samara—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[2] As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Samara is incorporated as Samara Urban Okrug.[10] In April 2015, Samara's nine city districts were granted municipal status.[10]

Church of St. George in Samara

Samara is a multi-confessional city with various religious groups, including an Orthodox Christian majority and minorities of Armenian Apostolic Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews.

However, since 2009, a Russian "anti-extremism" law has led to an increase in repression of religious minorities. Local authorities and courts in Samara have targeted Jehovah's Witnesses by liquidating the group's legal entity ("Local Religious Organization" or "LRO") and designating it as an "extremist" organization.[28] In November 2016, "the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the decision of the Samara Regional Court to recognize the Samara branch of Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization and to ban its activities."[29]

International festivals, scientific congresses and other social events are held on the territory of Samara. Among them are the most famous:

• Grushinsky festival (Russian: Грушинский фестиваль) — is an annual Russian bard song festival that was established in 1968. It takes place near the city of Samara, on the Mastryukovo lakes. The festival takes its name from Valeri Grushin, a singer-songwriter who died during a backcountry camping trip trying to save his drowning friends.
• Rock over Volga (Russian: Рок над Волгой) — international rock festival, held annually from 2009 to 2013 and timed to the Russia Day in Samara. The line-up included bands such as the Ken Hensley, Aquarium, Skunk Anansie and Rammstein.
• Metafest (Russian: Метафест) — the annual multi-format music festival in the open air, held on the territory of Mastryukovo lakes since 2007. The line-up included bands such as the Ivan Smirnov, Olga Arefieva, Z-Star and Theodor Bastard.

Architecture of Samara dates back to 15th and 16th centuries, the city had numerous wooden buildings with elaborate decor and more than 2000 cultural heritage objects. However, after the 1990s many unique ensembles were destroyed by a "concrete tsunami" of modern office and apartment blocks.[30]

Samara is a major transport hub.

Samara is located on the M5 highway, a major road between Moscow and the Ural region.

There are rail links to Moscow and other major Russian cities. The new, unusual-looking railway station building was completed in 2001.[32]

Samara is a major river port, due to its location at the confluence of the Volga and Samara rivers.

The Kurumoch International Airport handles flights throughout Russia and Central Asia and to Frankfurt, Prague, Helsinki and Dubai. A Soviet Air Force base once existed east of the city at Bobrovka air base.

Public transportation includes the Samara Metro, trams, municipal and private bus lines, and trolleybuses. Local trains serve the suburbs.

Samara Tram is an extensive light rail system covering most of Samara. First opened in 1915 it currently has 25 lines extending 168.2 kilometres (104.5 mi) served by 423 tram cars.[33] Most of all Samara trams are Tatra T3SU, modified Tatra T3E and 1 unique Tatra T3RF.

Samara Metro is a single-line underground rapid transit system. Opened in 1987, its only line has been expanded through 2015 and currently has 10 stations.

• 
  Golaz-AKA-6226 bus
• 
  Scania OmniLink bus
• 
  ZiU-682 trolleybus
• 
  AKSM-321 low-floor trolleybus
• 
  Tatra T3 tram
• 
  Tatra T3 trams
• 
  Samara Metro
• 
  Samara railway station
• 
  Kurumoch International Airport

• Самарская Губернская Дума. №179-ГД 18 декабря 2006 г. «Устав Самарской области», в ред. Закона №6-ГД от 11 января 2016 г. «О внесении изменений в Устав Самарской области». Вступил в силу 1 января 2007 г. Опубликован: "Волжская коммуна", №237 (25790), 20 декабря 2006 г. (Samara Governorate Duma. #179-GD December 18, 2006 Charter of Samara Oblast, as amended by the Law #6-GD of January 11, 2016 On Amending the Charter of Samara Oblast. Effective as of January 1, 2007.).
• Самарская Губернская Дума. Закон №189-ГД от 28 декабря 2004 г. «О наделении статусом городского округа и муниципального района муниципальных образований в Самарской области», в ред. Закона №23-ГД от 30 марта 2015 г. «Об осуществлении местного самоуправления на территории городского округа Самара Самарской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Волжская коммуна", №247, 31 декабря 2004 г. (Samara Governorate Duma. Law #189-GD of December 28, 2004 On Granting the Status of Urban Okrug and Municipal District to the Municipal Formations in Samara Oblast, as amended by the Law #23-GD of March 30, 2015 On the Implementation of Local Self-Government on the Territory of Samara Urban Okrug of Samara Oblast. Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).
• Самарская Губернская Дума. Закон №23-ГД от 30 марта 2015 г. «Об осуществлении местного самоуправления на территории городского округа Самара Самарской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: Официальный сайт Правительства Самарской области, 30 марта 2015 г. (Samara Governorate Duma. Law #23-GD of March 30, 2015 On the Implementation of Local Self-Government on the Territory of Samara Urban Okrug of Samara Oblast. Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).