Murom

 

(mū'rəm) , city (1989 pop. 124,000), W central European Russia, on the Oka River. It is a port and a rail junction, with railroad repair shops and machinery, woodworking, and textile industries. First mentioned in the chronicles in 862, it became the capital of the Murom principality in the 12th cent. The city was ravaged by Mongols in the 13th cent., and in 1393 it passed to the grand duchy of Moscow. In medieval times, Murom was an important trade center on the Oka-Volga water route. The city has a cathedral and some monasteries dating from the 16th and 17th cent.

For the ancient Murom Tribe, see Muromian.

Murom (Russian: Му́ром; Old Norse: Moramar) is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls majestically along the left bank of Oka River, about 300 km east of Moscow. Population: 126,901 (2002 Census).

In the 9th century, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of Finno-Ugric people called muroma. The Russian Primary Chronicle mentions it as early as 862. It is thus one of the oldest cities in Russia.

Between 1010 and 1393, it was a capital of a separate principality, whose rulers included Saint Gleb, assassinated in 1015 and canonized in 1071, Saint Prince Konstantin the Blessed, and Saints Peter and Theuronia, subjects of an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was a home town of the most celebrated East Slavic epic hero, Ilya Muromets.

Murom still retains many marks of antiquity. The Saviour monastery, one of the most ancient in Russia, was first chronicled in 1096, when Oleg of Chernigov besieged it and killed Vladimir Monomakh's son Izyaslav, who is buried there. In 1552, the monastery was visited by Ivan the Terrible who commissioned a stone cathedral, which was followed by other churches.

The Trinity convent, where the relics of Sts Peter and Theuronia are displayed, features a fine cathedral (1642-43), Kazan church (1652), a bell-tower (1652), a wooden church of St Sergius, and stone walls. It is rivalled by the Annunciation cloister, founded in the reign of Ivan the Terrible to house the relics of local princes and containing a cathedral from 1664. Two last-mentioned cathedrals, being probably the works of the same masters, have much in common with the Resurrection Church (1658) in the downtown. Quite different is the tent-like church of Kozma and Damian, built in 1565 on the bank of the Oka to commemorate the Russian conquest of Kazan.

Among famous natives, we should mention the father of colour photography, Sergey Prokudin-Gorskiy (1863), and the father of television, Vladimir Zworykin (1889).

Some 25 km south-east of Murom, on the eastern (Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) side of the Oka River, Savasleyka airfield is located. During the Cold War it was a key Soviet Anti-Air Defense base.

	Cities and towns in Vladimir Oblast
	Administrative center: Vladimir Alexandrov | Gorokhovets | Gus-Khrustalny | Kameshkovo | Karabanovo | Kirzhach | Kolchugino | Kosteryovo | Kovrov | Kurlovo | Lakinsk | Melenki | Murom | Petushki | Pokrov | Raduzhny | Sobinka | Strunino | Sudogda | Suzdal | Vyazniki | Yuryev-Polsky

Coordinates: 55°34′″N, 42°02′″E

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