/5785251941_d527efed29_b.jpg)
Saratov is a city in the south-east of the
European part of Russia, the administrative center of the Saratov
region, which is not included, being a city of regional importance,
forms the municipal formation of the city of Saratov with the status
of a city district. It has large cultural, economic and educational
center of the Volga region. It is included in the twenty largest cities in
Russia, not being a millionaire city, at the same time it is the
center of the Saratov agglomeration, whose population exceeds 1.2
million people.
Saratov is located on the right bank of the
Volgograd reservoir of the Volga River, 389 km from
Volgograd and
442 km from Samara, 858 km south-east of
Moscow.
Founded
as a guard fortress to protect the southern borders of the Russian
state in 1590, in the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich on the site of the
medieval Golden Horde settlement. In the second half of the 18th
century, it became a major transit point and a center for trade in
fish and salt, and since the 19th century it has become one of the
centers for trade in grain. Saratov is a provincial city since 1780. At the
beginning of the XX century was the largest city in the Volga. In
1909 Saratov got its first university.
Saratov is a multifunctional
center with numerous industrial, cultural, and educational
institutions. In the historic center are the administration of the
city and the region (a complex of buildings built in the late XIX -
mid XX century); theaters: opera and ballet (1875), drama (1803),
young spectator (1918), conservatory (1912), circus (1876),
philharmonic (1937); museums: the Saratov Art Museum named after
A.N. Radishchev (1885), the Museum of K.A. Fedin (building of the
beginning of the 18th century), the museum-estate of Nikolay
Chernyshevsky (the beginning of the 19th century); Trinity Cathedral
(end of the seventeenth century); A large number of architectural
monuments of the late XVIII - early XX centuries were preserved of federal and
regional significance.
By plane
Despite the construction of a new airport,
flights to Saratov remain sparse: flights operate almost exclusively to
Moscow, to St. Petersburg every other day, and to other cities no more
than once a week. The prices are quite high though; economy is usually
more expensive than branded train compartments.
1 Gagarin Airport
(IATA: GSV). A new airport, opened in 2019, 30 km north of Saratov.
Contrary to Russian tradition, it was built next to the railway,
although even this did not greatly simplify communication with the city.
Express trains run three times a day (40 minutes), several more times a
day you can get a commuter train (about an hour). Also, express bus No.
101E runs to the airport from the bus station (every hour, 80 minutes),
there are direct flights to neighboring cities of the region - Engels,
Balakovo and Volsk.
By train
Trains to Saratov go from the
Paveletsky railway station in Moscow, the journey takes 14.5-17.5 hours
(taking into account the time difference of 1 hour), part of the trains
go from the Kazansky railway station. Most trains depart in the
afternoon and arrive at Saratov's central station in the morning or
afternoon.
You can still get to Saratov from Samara, Volgograd,
Astrakhan and St. Petersburg. Travel time from St. Petersburg is 26
hours.
2 Station station Saratov-1, Privokzalnaya square, 1.
By car
Saratov is connected by regional highways with Penza - 220
km (P158 via Petrovsk), Ulyanovsk - 400 km (P228 via Syzran, Khvalynsk,
Volsk), Samara - 450 km (via Pugachev, Balakovo, Marx, Engels),
Volgograd - 400 km (P228 through Kamyshin, Krasnoarmeysk), Voronezh -
500 km (through Borisoglebsk, Balashov, Kalininsk).
Saratov
communicates with the Urals of the West Kazakhstan region (through
Ozinki, Dergachi, Ershov).
The distance to Moscow along the
shortest road is 890 km (via Penza, Ryazan).
By bus
Buses to
Saratov depart in Moscow from Kazansky Station Square and
Krasnogvardeyskaya Bus Station. Travel time - 14-16 hours and costs
1500-1800 rubles
On the ship
River tours along the Volga are
open from the beginning of May to the end of September. You can buy a
ticket for various river boats from Moscow to Astrakhan, for any length.
A one-way ticket from Moscow to Astrakhan with three meals a day costs
about 15 thousand rubles, without meals 8000-9000 rubles.
Public transport of the city is mainly represented by
buses and fixed-route taxis. There are also trams, trolleybuses,
electric trains. Travel around the city 25-30 ₽ (in electric transport
with a card 23 ₽); if there is a conductor in the cabin (which is rare)
- pay the conductor immediately and do not forget to take a ticket; if
there is no conductor, pay the driver at the exit. After 21:00
fixed-route taxis almost do not work, buses rarely run even from the
center. Only trams and trolleybuses run on schedule until 23:00 and
beyond. Trams have duty runs at night, check the detailed schedule in
the Saratov Electric Transport group.
Trams
The most stable
mode of transport. In particular, during peak hours, car traffic between
the center and the Leninsky district of the city is practically
paralyzed, while trams, as a rule, move without significant delays. Most
of the trams are old, Ust-Katav, but there are a few new cars. The
following tram lines are currently in operation:
No. 2 Pl.
Ordzhonikidze - Akmola proezd
No. 3 Mirny Lane - 6th Dachnaya
No.
4 6th Dachnaya - 10th Dachnaya
No. 5 Komsomolsky settlement - JSC
"Saratovorgsintez"
No. 6 6th Dachnaya - school No. 52
No. 7 JSC
"Saratovorgsintez" - pl. Ordzhonikidze
No. 8 Pl. Ordzhonikidze -
Komsomolsk village
No. 9 Mirny lane - 1st Prosyanoy passage
No. 10
Mirny Lane - Oktyabrsky Settlement
No. 11 Mirny Lane — SSU
Polytechnic
Bicycles and scooters
In the summer, bicycle and
scooter rentals operate in Saratov. Also in the city there are several
services for renting electric scooters through a mobile application.
It is most convenient to use these modes of transport to ride in the
central areas of the city, where there are many pedestrian zones, wide
sidewalks, and bike parking. In addition, mobile rental services are
usually limited to central areas.
Due to the hilly terrain, the
streets in the city can run at a significant slope. It is worth
considering this when planning a route.
Pleasure boats on the
Volga
Rather than transport, but entertainment. From May to September
from the River Station.
You can walk through the City Park. Gorky; then you
can get to the Cosmonauts embankment, walk along the Volga and reach the
city center and walk along the pedestrian street - Kirov Avenue.
Observation platforms (to look at the city from a height) are in the
Victory Park and opposite the Airport, as well as to the west of the
city - Lysaya Gora in the forest park Kumysnaya Polyana.
1
Saratov State Conservatory, Kirov Avenue, 1. The building of the
conservatory is the symbol of Saratov. The building received its current
Gothic appearance in 1912 in connection with the opening of the third
conservatory in the Russian Empire. For the needs of the conservatory,
the former building of the music school, opened in 1902, was
significantly rebuilt. \
2 Covered Market, Chapaev Street, 59. Built
in 1916 by architect Vasily Lyukshin. For its time, it was a grandiose
building, and even today the scale is impressive. Inside, in the center
- a fountain with sculptures of two collective farmers.
3 Victory
Park (Sokolovaya Gora). The park was founded in 1975 in honor of the
30th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. One of the
largest in Russia in terms of the number of exhibits - units of military
(and not only) equipment. It includes open-air museums of military and
civilian equipment, the "National Village", as well as the monument to
the Saratov soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War "Cranes",
where an instrumental version of the song of the same name sounds. The
park is located on Sokolovaya Gora and has several viewing platforms
with panoramic views. Not far from the park is the outlier "Devil's
finger"
4 Devil's finger (Three monks).
5 Lukomorye Park (Gorky
Park).
6 Cosmonauts Embankment. A long embankment between the River
Station and the Rotunda, several tiers of footpaths: the upper ones are
among trees and lawns, and along the lower tier, near the water, you can
ride bicycles and scooters. On the embankment there is a not very
successful monument to Yuri Gagarin. After the Rotunda, the embankment
narrows to one row, but there you can admire street graffiti on Saratov
and Volga themes.
7 Steel with the inscription "I'm at home", emb.
Cosmonauts. This funny art object appeared in 2017 and has since been
considered one of the local attractions.
8 The bridge across the
Volga Built in 1965, the bridge was the longest in Europe (2.8 km) at
that time. The automobile bridge is clearly visible from the Cosmonauts
Embankment, from the Victory Park. You can ride on the bridge by taking
any bus to Engels (the round trip will take a maximum of an hour), the
fare is 20 rubles one way.
9 Trinity Cathedral , Museum Square. One
of the oldest churches in Saratov (1695). It is a unique monument of the
Moscow baroque for the Saratov region.
10 Monument to the first
teacher, in a triangular square between the street. Moscow, October and
Salt. In the same place, which is logical, there is a board of honor for
educators. This monument was one of the four sculptures that surrounded
the pedestal of the monument to Alexander II (1911, sculptor Volnukhin).
All other parts of the composition have not been preserved, but this one
in 1997 found a new life. Nearby there is a small fountain, it seems not
working..
11 Monument to Stolypin ("The Fifth Element"), st.
Radishchev. The monument represents five human figures: below - the
clergy, the army, the peasantry and the proletariat, Stolypin himself
rises above them on a pedestal.
12 Monument to the fighters of the
revolution of 1917 (between Bolshaya Kazacheya street and Teatralnaya
square). Monument and eternal flame on the mass grave of fighters for
Soviet power in the center of Saratov.
13 The Life-Giving Spring
Chapel, 41/61 Radishchev Street (Teatralnaya Square, next to the
monument to the fighters of the 1917 revolution).
14 Church "Satisfy
my sorrows", st. Volzhskaya, 36 (near the Lipki park). Built in 1906,
architect Pyotr Zybin. The outward resemblance to the Moscow Cathedral
of St. Basil the Blessed and the St. Petersburg Church of the Savior on
Blood is striking: the octagon on the quadrangle is crowned with many
multi-colored onion towers; but the Saratov temple is very small. Notice
the mosaic on the outside wall and the stained glass window. In Soviet
times, this building was a planetarium, now the temple is operating.
15 Monument to Chernyshevsky, between the building of the Conservatory
and the Lipki park. It was installed on the spot where until 1917 there
was a monument to Emperor Alexander II.
16 Park "Lipki". The oldest
park in the city, founded in 1825. Trees, fountains, lots of benches to
sit in the shade. There is even a library and a chess club. Please note:
the park is open until 22.00, then the gates are closed.
17 Reinecke
Mansion, st. Cathedral, 22 (near the Lipki park). Art Nouveau
masterpiece, architect Shekhtel. There is a hospital in the building,
but if the gates are open, you can go in and inspect the mansion from
all sides. However, the façade facing Cathedral Street, the Lipki park,
is the most interesting. Pay attention to the fence around the mansion.
18 Prospekt Kirov (German street). Mostly pedestrian.
19 Sculpture
"Saratov Harmonica", on Kirov Avenue.
20 Sculpture “So many golden
lights”, on Kirov Avenue.
21 Sculpture "Heart of the province"
("Myocardial infarction"), st. Moscow, in the courtyard of the regional
Duma (seen through the fence).
Sculpture "Student" ("Night before the
exam"), near the Saratov State Socio-Economic University.
22 Sculpture "Firemaster of the City", Cathedral Square, 7 (near the
Lipki park, next to the building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry
of Emergency Situations). A mustachioed bronze man affably extends his
hand, as if offering to say hello.
23 Bald Mountain. A beautiful view
of the city from the mountain
24 Intercession Church, st. Gorky, 85.
1 Saratov Academic Drama Theatre, st. Working, 116.
Beginning of evening performances on the Big Stage - 18.00, on the Small
Stage - 18.30, the beginning of children's performances - 11 hours.
2
Saratov Opera and Ballet Theatre, Theater Square, 1. ☎ +7 (8452)
26–31–64 (ticket office).
3 Saratov Theater for Young Spectators, pl.
Kiseleva, 1.
4 Theatrical workshop "Frontiers", Bolshaya Gornaya,
324 (2nd floor). Youth experimental chamber theater. Small hall. In the
summer there are evening performances.
5 Saratov circus, st. Chapaev,
61.
6 Cinema Park (nine-screen multiplex cinema), st. Zarubina, 167.
7 Saratov Philharmonic, Cathedral Square, 9. ☎ +7(8452) 26-24-38.
8 Art Museum (Saratov State Art Museum named after
A.N. Radishchev), st. Radishcheva, 39 and st. Pervomayskaya, 75. ☎ +7
(8452) 26-16-06, +7 (8452) 26-28-55. Monday day off. tickets from 50 to
300 rubles. Collection of Russian and European painting, sculpture,
porcelain, tapestries. Of interest is also the building itself on
Radishcheva, 39, built in 1885 specifically for this museum.
9
House-Museum of the artist Pavel Kuznetsov, st. October, 56. ☎ +7 (8452)
23-75-96, +7 (8452) 26-16-06. Monday day off. tickets from 50 to 200
rubles. Oddly enough, in the artist's house there are no paintings by
this artist himself. A small two-story wooden house with an attic and a
courtyard has become a place for exhibitions of contemporary art works.
Museum-estate of V. E. Borisov-Musatov, st. Volskaya, 33. ☎ +7 (8452)
22-27-52, +7 (8452) 26-16-06.
10 Museum of Military and Labor Glory,
Sokolovaya Gora, Victory Park. A large collection of military and
agricultural equipment in the open air.
Einstein Museum of
Entertaining Sciences, 12 Kirov Ave. An entertaining and educational
museum for children and adults. Interactive exhibits demonstrate the
laws of physics.
11 City Chess Club, st. Rakhova, 91/101. ☎ 52-46-20.
Souvenir shop on Kirov, 29 Kirova Ave.: at the end of the building, where the "Boulevard", entrance from the gateway (not far from the sculpture "There are so many golden lights"). Magnets with views of Saratov, Saratov cats and other useless but cute souvenirs.
Cheap
Uley (fast food restaurant), Sovetskaya st.,
49. ☎ +7(8452) 73-6900. 10.00-22.00. Other Uley restaurants:
Rakhova/Moskovskaya, Prospekt Kirov between st. Volskaya and st. Gorky
Tashir Pizza (Pizzeria). Sold beer, pizza, salads. Some also have
sushi/rolls. Location of outlets: Radishcheva/Moskovskaya,
Vavilova/Rakhova, Kirov/Chapaeva Prospekt, building of the Covered
Market
SSAU student canteen, pl. Chernyshevsky 2, in the building of
the 1st building of the SSAU, entrance from the side of the street.
Radishchev. Side dishes - 15-20 rubles each, first courses about 30
rubles. Portions are small.
"Apple". A fairly common and popular
network of confectionery shops in the city. Yablonka offers not only
pastries, sweets and desserts, but also an unsweetened quick snack.
Desserts taste good, are made with high quality, but their assortment is
relatively small. In the center of "Yablonka" there is on the streets of
Dzerzhinsky (not far from the Covered Market), Gorky, Moscow and
Radishchev, and on the street. Radishchev is open until 22.00.
Average cost
Coffee and chocolate, Volskaya street, 97 (50 m from
Moskovskaya). Despite the most central location, reasonable prices and
stylish design, the coffee shop is not spoiled by visitors. This is a
coffee shop, only hot drinks and cakes.
Coffee house Tenditori, st.
Chapaeva, 73 (right next to Moscow). Good coffee shop, normal selection
and prices.
Irish Papa's Pub, st. Kirov, 20 (corner of Gorky St., in
the basement). Irish pub offers inexpensive and hearty cuisine. You can
watch sports broadcasts over a glass of beer. In summer there is a
summer terrace on Kirov. There is also a branch of this pub on
Moskovskaya, 9.
Expensive
Tavern "Tary-Bary", st. Chapaeva, 64
(opposite the circus). Russian kitchen.
Restaurant "Mandarin",
Yablochkova street 1/35 (corner of Gorky street, in the basement).
Chinese cuisine with European and Central Asian variations. The average
bill is 1000 rubles.
Very expensive
Grill restaurant "Mont
Blanc" (MontBlanc), pr. 50 years of October, 107a (on the 1st floor of
the business center "International"). The average bill is 2000 rubles.
The most expensive burger in Saratov is here! Steaks. Signature Mont
Blanc cheese, oxtail soup, grilled fish, intricate cocktails. The
atmosphere is cozy - each table is surrounded by sofas and thus
separated from the rest of the restaurant space. Service is attentive.
The restaurant has only one drawback - it is located far from the
tourist center of the city.
Irish Papa's Pub is one of the most atmospheric places in the city.
Cheap
Hostels appeared in the city.
Average
cost
1 Mini-hotel "Avantage", Theater Square, 11a (in the yard). ☎ +7
(8452) 79-37-95. Small cozy hotel in a great location - walking distance
to all major attractions. It is more profitable to book directly -
through the website (carefully study discounts and promotions) or by
phone; in this case, the hotel can also provide a free transfer (by
prior arrangement). Among the shortcomings are the steep steps (both at
the entrance and inside, but there is no elevator) and the lack of a
view from the window.
Hotels
2 Hotel "Bohemia" on Vavilova ",
st. Zheleznodorozhnaya, 72 (1.5 km from the Saratov-1 station). from
3500/4200 ₽ — standard single/double room. There is a buffet breakfast;
WiFi. You can also dine in the hotel's restaurant (located on the ground
floor; access is available both from the street and from the hotel).
There is also a small gym.
3 Hotel "Slovakia", st. Lermontova, 30. ☎
+7 8452 28-95-01. single room in the region of 2 thousand rubles.
4
Hotel "Polina", 6th Silk Road, 1A. ☎ +7 (8452) 39-02-72.
5 Hotel
Zagreb, Astrakhanskaya street, 88. ☎ +7 (8452) 39-25-39.
6 Hotel
"Nostalzhi", Sovetskaya street, 55. ☎ +7 (8452) 22-10-86.
7 Hotel
Astoria Kirov Avenue, 34. The oldest hotel in Saratov.
Saratov area code: (+7) 8452
http://wifi4free.ru/saratov/ - Free Internet access points
Mobile
operators - Beeline, Megafon, MTS, Tele-2 and Yota. Within the city, all
operators "catch" the network equally well.
Guests of the city are not recommended to visit the
Zavodskoy district without the need, especially at night. Previously,
this area was mainly industrial, so there are very few attractions in
it, but here you can meet a fairly large number of unwanted persons
(including the so-called gopniks) who may be interested in your cash.
The most disadvantaged corners of the Zavodskoy district in this regard
are the Komsomolsky, Yurish, Kvartala, and Proletarka microdistricts. In
the Oktyabrsky district, the Agafonovka microdistrict, which is also
located not far from the Zavodskoy district, also enjoys a bad
reputation. The "outlying" districts - Zavodskoy, Leninsky, and also,
recently, Kirovsky, which has been actively built up, are generally
considered "restless" among local residents. In turn, the safest
district of the city can be called Volzhsky.
Saratov is often
considered a city with one of the worst road surfaces in Russia. Poor
condition of the asphalt or open hatches on the road can cause unwanted
car accidents even close to the city center, so those visiting Saratov
by car should be more careful on the roads.
During the winter
season, road safety deteriorates significantly. There is a lot of snow,
roads can be poorly cleaned, the city gets up in ten-point traffic jams.
Ice on sidewalks is extremely common.
With the onset of spring,
when the accumulated snow begins to melt, the city is flooded, the roads
are washed out, exposing new obstacles to transport. For pedestrians,
ice is replaced by huge puddles and mud, which are found almost
everywhere outside the center.
Academic sources believe that Saratov got its name from the Nogai
name of Sokolovaya Mountain "sary tau" - "yellow mountain". There is an
assumption that the name of the city comes from the words "sary tau" -
"yellow mountain", from the name of the Serpent Stone of the
yellow-bellied snakes, located at the mouth of the Tereshka River
opposite the Saratov fortress on Bear Island, later renamed in honor of
the Caspian snake - Chardymsky Island, to which, according to the order
of the sentry and village service of the government of Tsar Ivan
Vasilyevich the Terrible, from 1574 to 1579 the villages of the sentry
service, standing between the Don and the Volga under the Tileorman
forest on the Raven River, constantly passed.
Meanwhile, there
are other hypotheses. There is an assumption that the name of the city
comes from the words "sar atav" - "low-lying island" or "saryk atov" -
"hawk island". There is an assumption that Saratov got its name from the
Scythian-Iranian hydronym "sarat". There are also many hypotheses that
find much less support than the above. One of the hypotheses indicates
that the Old Russian word sara (sar) from the end of the 16th to the
beginning of the 18th century was used to refer to river sailors and
barge haulers. The word "saryn" was often called the artel of barge
haulers or a crowd of working people on barks and other river vessels.
The city of Saratov was founded on July 2 (12), 1590 by Prince
Grigory Zasekin and boyar Fyodor Turov, halfway between Samara and
Tsaritsyn.
The exact location of the original Saratov is unknown
- it varies from the modern left-bank Anisovka opposite Uvek to
Pristannoye on the right bank of the Volga. In the winter of 1613-1614,
the city burned down and in 1617 was rebuilt on the left bank of the
Volga, at the mouth of the Saratovka River.
In 1674, according to
the royal decree of Alexei Mikhailovich “To make a new Saratov on the
mountains,” the city was moved to the right bank of the Volga, to the
area of the current Museum Square.
As a result, the city of
Saratov was founded by Russian governors three times: in 1590, 1617 and
1674, and each time in a new place. To the south of the mountain, which
is now called Sokolovaya, Colonel Alexander Shel laid the third building
of the city in a new place in 1674. Sokolovaya Gora is still a popular
place from where the entire city center is visible.
Throughout
the 17th century, Saratov and its environs were devastated by various
gangs of thieves, Kalmyks and Kuban Tatars, who did not stop attacking
it until the first half of the 18th century. In 1670, Stepan Razin
subjected the city to a three-day robbery. In 1708 Saratov was under
siege by Bulavin's troops.
The settled agricultural population
for a very long time could not populate the territory of the region.
Only those who were attracted by the free life of the Cossacks and the
impunity of robberies and robberies on the Volga moved here.
The
construction of the Tsaritsyno guard line and other measures taken by
Peter I to strengthen security created the conditions for settling the
right bank of the Volga. According to the Regional reform of 1708,
Saratov was assigned to the Kazan province. In 1718, the city went to
the Astrakhan province, from 1728 - again to Kazan, in 1739 - again to
Astrakhan.
In 1700, Peter I granted a letter of allotment to
Saratov of 298,763 acres on the meadow and upland sides of the Volga.
A strong impetus to the development of the city was given by the
establishment in 1747 of the “salt administration”. Opposite Saratov,
carters of salt (Chumaks) from Elton founded Pokrovskaya Sloboda. The
location at the intersection of the shortest land route to Moscow and
the water route from the lower reaches of the Volga and the Caspian
makes Saratov an important transit point, a major center for the trade
in fish and salt. So, in 1750, 204 thousand poods of fish were sent from
Saratov by carts (3264 tons, for comparison, in 2005 1800 tons of fish
were caught).
According to the manifesto of Catherine II in 1762,
the persecution of the Old Believers was stopped, they were allocated
land in the Trans-Volga region. In 1763, foreigners were invited to
settle in the free lands of the Volga region and New Russia. Established
in Saratov in 1766, the "Office of the Office of Guardianship of
Foreigners" became the center for managing German colonists in the Volga
region.
In Saratov, Emelyan Pugachev had his last tangible
success. On August 6 (17), 1774, the army surrounded the impostor, and
after the battle on August 7 took the city. But by this time,
Michelson's detachments were already literally on the heels of the
Pugachevites, and on August 11 Saratov came under the control of
government troops.
On January 11 (22), 1780, the city became the
center of the Saratov governorate, renamed in 1796 into the Saratov
province.
The administrative measures of enlightened absolutism
for the organization and development of the city were expressed in the
deployment of civil stone construction, the planting of modern education
and health care. A public school (1786), a printing house (1794), and
the Alexander Hospital (1806) were opened. The building of government
offices (1807), the noble assembly (1807), the theater (1810), the
Gostiny Dvor (1811), the first men's gymnasium (1820), the cathedrals of
Alexander Nevsky (1825) and the Transfiguration Cathedral (1826) were
built.
The basis for the development of the city for more than a
hundred years was the General Plan of Saratov, approved in 1812 (drawn
up in 1803-1810, revised after the great fire of 1811). According to
which new places were assigned for building. Blocks of regular geometric
shape were planned, the so-called regular building. In the old part of
the city, it was also proposed to "regulate" the construction of houses.
The Patriotic War of 1812 made its own adjustments to the life of
Saratov. Many Saratov soldiers were awarded military orders, and three
received golden swords with the inscription "For Courage". In 1813,
French prisoners were exiled here, who were used for public works - they
leveled ravines, built dams, planted gardens. In the future, many of
them took Russian citizenship and remained forever in Saratov, settling
in the quarters of the German settlement. Some of them were invited as
tutors and teachers to Russian families and educational institutions,
others opened craft establishments in the city - shoemaking and
furniture. In memory of the victory over the French Empire, the temple
of Alexander Nevsky was erected in the center of the city.
In the
reign of Nikolai Pavlovich, order was put in place in the provincial
administration, the rule of law was strengthened. A prison castle and
barracks are being built. Capital buildings of 4 police units with fire
towers are being erected in the city. “Since then, in terms of
organization, the Saratov fire brigade and tools have competed with the
Moscow one, as the authorities responded during inspection reviews of
it.” Prior to this, the city burned out up to 15 times.
In 1828,
the Saratov Tobacco Factory, one of the first in Russia, began operating
in Saratov. In addition to it, a rope, leather, bell, brick and a number
of other factories operated. Weaving workshops produced the famous cheap
fabric - sarpinka, the "homeland" of which was the German colony of
Sarepta.
Cholera epidemics broke out in 1830 and 1848. The
epidemic of 1830, which lasted more than a month, claimed up to 10,000
people.
In 1844, a new building of the city duma was solemnly
opened.
In 1882, the Saratov Stock Exchange was opened. The
opening of the exchange took place on February 14, 1882, 10 years after
the adoption of the charter of the exchange in 1870.
In 1892, a
cholera epidemic broke out again in Saratov, which caused a riot in
Khvalynsk.
The further growth of crafts and trade stimulated the
development of a shipping company on the Volga. In the 19th century,
Saratov needed water transport for development, since railways and
horse-drawn transport did not provide all the needs of the city as a
commercial and industrial center.
The Volga, which has become the
main transport artery of Russia, has made Saratov a major port. The
number of inhabitants of the city grew, and the appearance of the city
changed; according to contemporaries, among other cities, "Saratov began
to occupy one of the first places in terms of the beauty of buildings
and the wealth of the inhabitants."
The strongest impetus to the
development of the Saratov province was given by the construction in
July 1871 of the Tambov-Saratov railway, which connected the city with
the country's railway network. Saratov was connected by rail with
Moscow, St. Petersburg and the ports of the Baltic Sea. By the beginning
of the 20th century, it was possible to travel by rail from Saratov to
11 provinces of Russia, and the rapid growth of industry began.
On November 27 (December 10), 1916, the Covered Market was opened in
Saratov. Built a hundred years ago according to the project of the
architect and engineer V. A. Lyukshin, it still arouses admiration
today. In 2016, the street adjacent to the building was named after V.A.
Lyukshin.
One of the main items of trade in Saratov at the end of
the 19th century was bread. The city became one of the largest centers
of grain trade and flour-grinding industry in Russia. In the second half
of the 19th century, steam mills appeared in the city. The first was the
mill of Seifert and Uvarov (1865). Behind them, steam mills are built by
Borel (1876), Reinecke and Schmidt (1879). As a result, Saratov takes
the first place in the country in terms of flour production.
In
1888, the three Schmidt brothers established the Schmidt Brothers
Trading House. In addition to steam mills in Saratov, work continued on
water mills. In the 1890s, flour-grinding grain business reached a large
scale. A new branch of the company opens in Moscow. Flour came true very
widely. Low grades and bran were sent to Astrakhan and the Kazakh
steppes, while higher grades were sent to the Upper Volga region,
Moscow, St. Petersburg, and abroad.
Oil milling was also a
significant industry. The leading factory of the merchant A. I. Shumilin
was the largest in the Middle and Lower Volga. The city became a major
intermediary in the trade of oil products, meat, fish, salt, wool, the
tobacco "factory" of the merchant K. Shtaf was one of the first in
Russia. The factory industry mainly processed agricultural products. In
the production of flour, mustard and sunflower oil, Saratov ranked first
in Russia.
Cast iron and metalworking industries occupied a small
place in the industrial production of the province. But there have been
changes in this part of the industry as well. If in 1860 the share of
production of bell and iron foundries in Saratov and Kuznetsk managed to
reach only 1.7% of the total number of industrial output of the
province, then in 1892 7 mechanical and 10 iron foundries of the
province produced products worth 1,251,000 rubles, which accounted for
5.3% of the total production of the entire industry of the province.
Until the end of the 1920s, Saratov remained the largest of the
cities of the Volga region (larger than Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara,
etc.) and was often unofficially called the "capital of the Volga
region"
Late in the evening of October 26 (November 8), 1917, at
an expanded meeting of the Saratov Council of Workers' and Soldiers'
Deputies, which was held in the building of the Conservatory, the
Bolsheviks adopted a resolution on the transfer of all power to the
council. Already in the morning, the office of the commissar of the
Provisional Government Topuridze, located in the former house of the
governor, was occupied. In response, he issued an "Appeal to the
citizens of Saratov" with a call "to protect order and tranquility" with
weapons in their hands to gather near the building of the City Duma. The
confrontation lasted two days, after which the defenders of the Duma
surrendered (victims on both sides were minimal).
From October
19, 1918 to May 1919, the Soviet authorities of the Autonomous Region of
the Volga Germans (which Saratov was not part of) were also located in
Saratov.
From 1928 to 1932, Saratov was the administrative center
of the Nizhnevolzhsky Territory, since 1934 - the Saratov Territory,
since 1936 - the Saratov Region.
During the Great Patriotic War
of 1941-1945, Saratov experienced rapid development, when a number of
factories and military schools were evacuated here from the west of the
USSR. Wounded soldiers were brought from the front to Saratov, and there
were more than 30 evacuation hospitals in the city alone. From Saratov,
weapons, ammunition and other necessary fighters were delivered to the
front.
Until 1990, Saratov was a closed city (foreigners were not
allowed to visit it), since several large defense industry enterprises
worked in the city, in particular, the Saratov Aviation Plant, which
produced military and civilian aircraft. Many industrial enterprises in
Saratov also carried out orders for the Soviet space program.
In
the post-Soviet period, the order and cleanliness of streets and
courtyards became topical problems of the city due to underfunding and
the quality of management.
In 2020-2022 in order to expand the
development of the city, all settlements of the former Saratov region,
transformed into an administrative region under the new name Gagarinsky,
were reassigned to Saratov, without entering the city limits.
The city stretches along the Volga for 34 km from the Guselka River
in the north to the Neftyanoy railway station in the south. The central
and southern parts of the city are located in a basin (altitude 50-80
meters above sea level), surrounded on three sides by low mountains of
the Volga Upland: Sokolovaya (165 m), Lysa (286 m), Lopatina (274 m),
Altynnaya (251 m ), Uvek (135 m).
The hills of the western part
of the city are covered with the forest of Kumysnaya Polyana. The
territory of the city is strongly dissected by ravines and gullies going
to the Volga. The main ones north of Sokolovaya Gora are Makhanny,
Secha, Alekseevsky, Dudakovsky, Slepysh. In the Volga basin: Glebuchev
(with branches Myasnitsky and Kooperativny), Beloglinsky, Vakurovsky
(Cemetery and Degtyarny), Bezymyanny (Mutny Klyuch), Zaletaevsky
(Rokotovsky), Tokmakovskiy.
In connection with the formation of
the Volgograd reservoir, the water level in the Volga near the city rose
by more than 6 m. On the Volga, opposite Saratov, there are islands: Oak
Griva, Zeleny, Pokrovsky Sands, Kazachiy. The width of the Volga
opposite Saratov is from 2.6 km at the automobile bridge to 8 km at the
village. Zonal.
In the west, the city is bounded by the small
rivers Elshanka and its tributary Razboyshchina, in the north by the
river 2nd Guselka. In the south, the Nazarovka River flows with the
Chernikha and Berezina tributaries.
Vegetation zone: forb
forest-steppe. Soils: ordinary and southern chernozems.
There are
two oil and gas fields on the territory of the city: Elshanskoye and
Sokolovogorskoye (discovered in the 1940s).
The climate of Saratov is temperate continental. The city is
characterized by long (about four months), moderately cold winters and
hot, often dry summers. The coldest months are January and February, the
warmest is July. Precipitation falls evenly throughout the year, less -
in the spring. In winter, especially in late January - early February,
there are frosts down to -30 ... -35 ° C. Summer lasts from mid-May to
mid-September, winter - from late November to the beginning of the last
decade of March. The depth of seasonal freezing is 150 cm.
The
average annual temperature is +7.1 °C
Average annual rainfall - 460
mm
Temperature and precipitation during the year have the following
indicators.
The highest temperature recorded in Saratov for the
entire observation period was +40.8 °C (in July 1971), and the lowest
was -37.3 °C (in January 1942).
Saratov is in the MSK+1 time zone. The offset of the applicable time from UTC is +4:00. According to the applied time and geographic longitude, the average solar noon in Saratov occurs at 12:56.
The rapid development of Saratov in all areas of the economy
intensified during the industrialization of the country in the 1930s,
the volume and quality indicators of Saratov's industry changed
significantly, the main production share shifted from food to
metalworking. At that time, large machine-building plants were built,
and after the war, instrument-making and radio-electronic enterprises of
the defense profile were built. Thus, Saratov became an important
scientific and industrial center. During the five-year plans, Saratov
became an industrial center in the southeast of the country. Today the
city is an important industrial center of the Volga region. Two-thirds
of Saratov's industrial products are produced by large and well-equipped
machine-building and instrument-making enterprises.
Saratov
enterprises produce transport equipment, knitwear, gas equipment,
garments, confectionery and tobacco products, high-quality furniture,
home electric refrigerators and other types of industrial products.
The last two decades are characterized by the virtual disappearance
of a number of industrial enterprises of the city. Most of them have
been converted into retail and warehouse areas. Among the closed
enterprises are the Saratov Aviation Plant, the factory of receiving and
amplifying lamps "Reflector", the woodworking plant "Karat Plus", SNIIM,
the plant named after. Lenin, an electronic engineering plant, an oil
plant (monuments of industrial architecture of the turn of the 19th-20th
centuries were demolished), a machine-tool plant, Saratovrezinotekhnika,
a distillery and a feed mill, as well as some others. However, the city
is still the largest industrial center of the region, accounting for
37.8% of the total share of production in the region in 2012.
Among the main industrial enterprises of the city:
JSC "Saratov plant
of power engineering"
OAO Saratov Aggregate Plant
ZAO Saratov
Valve Plant
OAO Saratov Bearing Plant (owned by European Bearing
Corporation, formerly GPZ-3 - State Bearing Plant No. 3)
OAO
Saratovstroysteklo
SEPO-ZEM LLC
OOO ETZ "GEKSAR"
OJSC Zavod
Neftegazmash (bankrupt since 2019)
OOO Zavod Neftegazoborudovaniye
OJSC "Gazapparat"
OOO Gazprommash
OAO Saratov Oil Refinery (part
of Rosneft)
OOO Saratovorgsintez (part of the LUKOIL Group)
OAO
NPO Bazalt (Saratov) (part of Rostec State Corporation)
ZAO SPC
Almaz-Fazotron is a branch of OAO Fazotron-NIIR (part of Rostec State
Corporation)
JSC "Central Research Institute of Measuring Equipment"
(TsNIIIA, part of the holding company Ruselectronics of the State
Corporation Rostec)
OJSC "Lithium-Element" (part of the holding
company Roselectronics of the State Corporation Rostec)
JSC "NPP
"Contact"" (part of the holding company Ruselectronics of the State
Corporation Rostec)
JSC NPP Almaz (part of the Roselectronics holding
company of the State Corporation Rostec, corporatized in the 1st quarter
of 2012)
PJSC "Tantal", declared bankrupt in 2019
CJSC Saratov
Plant of Heavy Gear Cutting Machines (ceased to operate, liquidated from
01.10.2018)
OAO Saratov Radio Instrument Plant
OAO Saratov
Electrical Instrument-Making Plant named after V.I. S. Ordzhonikidze
(part of the holding company Aviapribor)
JSC "British American
Tobacco - Saratov Tobacco Factory", production moved to St. Petersburg
in the fall of 2019
LLC (formerly PJSC) Plant of Autonomous Current
Sources, PJSC has been bankrupt since 2018
CJSC Saratov Plant of Tank
Steel Structures, bankrupt since December 2017
OAO
SaratovDieselApparat
LLC Furniture factory "Maria"
OJSC Saratov
Plant "Hammer and Sickle"
Branch of FSUE "NPTSAP" - PO "Korpus"
OAO Neftemash — SAPCON (bankrupt since 2022)
TOREX LLC (Steel Door
Factory)
LLC Zavod Saratovgazavtomatika
Zhirovoi Kombinat OJSC
(part of Solnechnye Produkty holding) (in bankruptcy since 2020)
JSC
"Saratovmuka"
Znak Khleba OJSC (part of Stoilenskaya Niva
Agro-Industrial Corporation)
OAO Confectionery Saratovskaya (in
bankruptcy since 2020)
OAO Saratov Pasta Factory (liquidated)
OAO
Saratov Bakery named after V. Strugkin
OAO Saratov Dairy Plant
LLC
"Saratov plant of receiving-amplifying lamps"
Separate subdivision in
Saratov JSC Krasnaya Zvezda (former JSC 107 Military Cartographic
Factory)
The modern energy industry of Saratov begins in 1930 with the launch
of the first unit of the Saratov State District Power Plant. The city
owes the appearance of this power facility to the GOELRO plan. Today,
the city's needs for thermal and electrical energy are provided by
SarGRES (thermal power - 506 Gcal / h, electrical power - 54 MW), CHPP-1
(thermal power - 255 Gcal / h, electrical power - 22 MW), CHPP-2
(thermal power - 1077 Gcal/h, electrical power - 296 MW) and CHPP-5
(thermal power - 1260 Gcal/h, electrical power - 440 MW). The total
capacity of the stations of the Saratov energy center is: thermal - 3098
Gcal / h, electric - 812 MW. All of the above facilities are part of
Volga TGC.
Energy sales functions in the city are mainly
performed by LLC Saratov Enterprise of Urban Electric Networks (SPGES).
In addition to SPGES, energy sales services are provided by the
Independent Electric Grid Company (NESK), however, the size of NEGK's
business today is not comparable with SPGES.
In 2012, almost 727.6 thousand m² were put into operation. housing.
At present, there are several large-scale construction sites in Saratov,
including the Solnechny-2, Yubileyny and other microdistricts. The
center of the city is dominated by infill development.
Saratov is
one of the most affordable housing cities in Russia. The average cost
per square meter of housing in the secondary market in June 2013
amounted to 38.5 thousand rubles.
The first stage of the
continuation of the embankment in Saratov was put into operation. Funds
allocated from the federal budget for the continuation of bank
protection works