Saransk

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Saransk (English) Саранск (Russian) Саранош (Moksha) Саран ош  (Erzya)
—  Inhabited locality  —
Kommunisticheskaya Street in Saransk
Location of the Republic of Mordovia on the map of Russia
Location of Saransk on the map of the Republic of Mordovia
Coordinates: 54°11′N 45°11′E / 54.183°N 45.183°E / 54.183; 45.183Coordinates: 54°11′N 45°11′E / 54.183°N 45.183°E / 54.183; 45.183
Coat of arms	Flag
Holiday	June 12[citation needed]
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Republic of Mordovia
In administrative jurisdiction of	Republic of Mordovia[citation needed]
Administrative center of	Republic of Mordovia[citation needed]
Municipal status (as of October 2008)
Municipal Status	Urban okrug
Head of Administration[citation needed]	Vladimir Sushkov[citation needed]
Representative body	Council of Deputies[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	71.5 km2 (27.6 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2002 Census)	304,866 inhabitants[1]
- Rank	62nd
- Density	4,264 /km2 (11,000/sq mi)[2]
Population (2008)	295,338 inhabitants[citation needed]
Time zone	MSK/MSD (UTC+3/+4)
Founded	1641[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	430000[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 8342[citation needed]
Official website	http://www.adm-saransk.ru/

Saransk (Russian: Сара́нск; Moksha: Саранош; Erzya: Саран ош) is a city in central European Russia and the capital of the Republic of Mordovia. It is located in the Volga basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about 630 kilometers (391 mi) east of Moscow. Population: 304,866 (2002 Census);^[3] 312,128 (1989 Census).^[4] It is served by Saransk Airport and hosts the air base Lyambir. The population of Saransk comprises 34.3% of the total population of the Republic (as of the 2002 Census). Over 85% of the inhabitants are ethnic Russians, which moved to Saransk to form the work force to the giant size factories built to satisfy Soviet Union demands. The common language is Russian; the Mordvin languages are rarely heard in the streets. According to the published figures, the population is decreasing; a typical trend for smaller size provincial capitals when the importance of the Soviet era created large industrial factories have lost their importance in internal consumption markets due competition of imported goods from abroad.

History

Saransk has many historic architectural sites stemming from its early settlement in 1641 as a Russian fortress Atemar named after nearby Mordvin village, for the southeastern border of Imperial Russia. Saransk (Literally; On the Sara River) become soon a torgovaya (market place) for nearby Erzya (Erzja) villagers. From year 1708 it belonged to Azov Province, then transferred to Kazan Governorate. In 1780 Saransk was placed under Penza Province. In 1928 Saransk become administrative center of Mordvin National Area (Ogrug) which received in 1930 the status of Mordovian Autonomous Region. Soviet planners reconstructed the old city center in the 1960s and 1970s, adding wide streets and planning the construction of massive residential areas.

Industry

Industrial activity in Saransk includes the production of electrical cables, chemicals, decorative cloth, food products; machine building, and metalworking. The city also has two thermal power stations. Saransk also has a train station (halt punkte without station building) since 1893, currently located on the Ruzayevka - Kazan rail route, and is located along a highway Nr.R 158.

The main factories are; AO Lisma, an old fashioned electric lamp factory, with nearly 12.000 employees, only half functioning now, AO Biohimik, a medicine factory making antibiotics, AO Rezinotehnika, manufacturing rubber products, and AO Saranskkabel manufacturing cables of different kinds. In addition, there is also AO Elekrtovypryamitel, manufacturing electronic components. This factory also produces Televisions on a small scale, however, cheap electronic imports have reduced demand for these products . AO Himzavod, a chemical factory, operating under lax Russian laws without any regard to pollution control

Transportation

Saransk municipal public transport is based on trolleybus lines in addition to diesel buss lines.

Up to October Revolution in 1917 Saransk was served by two daily Penza - Nizhny Novgorod pair of passenger trains, carrying passengers from nearby villages mainly to either Ruzayevka junction station and Penza or to Arzamas and Nizhny Novgorod.

Religion

Saransk have three Orthodox Churches and also a small Lutheran Church provided by the Finnish Lutheran Church and opened in 2005.

Other information

The town is full of Soviet era blocks, dating mainly from the 1960s, similar than in other provincial towns which expanded rapidly due fast industrialisation. The industrial enterprises are mainly located to the north of town center. The town needs in near future being to repaired as the average age of Soviet ere built blocks nears to the end without comprehensive repairing program and large investiments to improve the towns infrastructure. When arriving along the highway R 158 from north the appearance of Saransk is quite spectacle, it appears just like that from surrounding countryside imago with small villages from the middle of nowhere to scene of the first time visiter´s eyes. The eastern part of Saransk, located east of Sura River, is named Posop. One interesting small detail is the bases (Kasarma) of the armed troops of Ministry of Internal Affairs located along the railway lines, even nearby Saransk as a reminiscences of the Soviet era when Saransk was a practically closed town.

Saransk have four hotels worth of mentioning. Hotel Saransk, located on the Street of Kommunists Nr. 35, (armed security guards in lobby and Reception), Hotel Pravitelstvennaya, Prospekt Lenina (View of Lenin) Nr. 2, (Hotel used as Government visitor´s gottage). Tsentralnaya (Central), Ulitsa Sovetskaya (Counsil´s Street) Nr. 49, and Hotel Sura, Ulitsa Polezhayeva (Polezhayev Street) Nr. 49.

Ushakov Monument in front of John the Apostle's Cathedral

Saransk has several theaters: a drama theater (founded in 1961), a State Puppet Theater of the Republic of Mordovia, and a comedy theater. It also has a regional history museum and Mordovian Museum of Visual Arts, that has the most complete collection of Stepan Erzia's and Fedot Sychkov's works. The Mordovian State University (founded in 1957) is located in Saransk as well as several technical schools.

A remarkable structure of Saransk is Saransk TV Tower, a 180 metres tall guyed tubular steel mast built in 1961, which has 8 crossbars with gangways running in 2 levels from the mast structure to the guys.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Saransk is twinned with:^[5]

• Botevgrad, Bulgaria.
• Sieradz, Poland.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saransk

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