Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod (Russian: Ни́жний Но́вгород) ( pronounced NIZH-nee NOHV-gah-rat), sometimes transliterated into English as Nizhniy Novgorod or Nizhni Novgorod, was founded in 1221. Literally, the name means Lower Novgorod, referring to the older city of Novgorod.Nizhny Novgorod is the fourth largest city in Russia, with a population of 1.311 million. It lies in the Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District, of Russia at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga rivers, and is the economic and cultural center of the vast Volgo-Vyatka economic region. It is also the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Nizhny Novgorod was known from 1932 to 1990 as Gorky, after the Russian writer Maxim Gorky, who was born here in 1868. During Soviet rule, Nizhny Novgorod was closed to foreigners.
According to an old saying, St. Petersburg was the head of Russia, Moscow was the heart, and Nizhny Novgorod was its pocket. Some say that Nizhny Novgorod is more Russian than both Saint Petersburg and Moscow are, because of the foreign influence to them. Many famous Russians came from the city. The physicist and the Nobel laureate in Peace for 1975 Andrei Sakharov was exiled there until 1986.
Nizhny Novgorod, which used to be an eastern boundary of the Russian kingdom and an outpost of Moscovia till the 17th century, has become a principal crossroads of European Russia. Now, it is an important junction of air-, rail-, and motorways, which go from the west to the east and connect Moscow with the Urals, and it is a large hub for rail-, motor-, and waterways, which run from the north to the south along the Volga River. The natives of Novgorod, an elder city in the northwest of Russia, founded Nizhny Novgorod (which means ‘Lower Novgorod’) at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka rivers in 1221. Since then, the city has grown up along the riverbanks, and now covers the area of 260 square miles. Nizhny Novgorod is the 4th largest city in Russia with a population of 1.36 million, and is the administrative center of the Nizhny Novgorod region and of the Volga Federal District, which covers 14 regions and republics of the Russian Federation.
The metropolitan area is home to 2 million people, and it includes Nizhny Novgorod with satellite cities and towns: Dzerzhinsk, Kstovo, Bor, Gorodets, Zavolzhye, Balakhna and Pavlovo. Other cities: Vyksa, Arzamas, and Sarov are located in the south of the region, and they are known, respectively, for metal production, machine-building, agriculture, and nuclear research. The city of Semyonov, to the north of Nizhny Novgorod, is known as a craft center for Khokhloma wood painting.
Nizhny Novgorod, which is 250 miles to the east of Moscow, can be easily reached from the Russian capital by an overnight train, by car or by air. Since December 2002, a fast train has connected Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow in less than 5 hours. The expansion of highways in the region is 8,100 miles, of railroads - 750 miles, and of waterways – 500 miles. Nizhny Novgorod has regular air connection with a dozen of Russian cities, and Lufthansa flies to the city three times a week. In summer, tourists may travel to Nizhny Novgorod from Moscow and St-Petersburg by passenger boats. The climate in the region is continental, and its is similar to the one in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November till late March with a permanent snow cover.