CULTURE PROGRAM

Samara Embankment

Samara is standing on Volga river, and the Samara embankment is 5 km long. It is pedestrian with bicycle line and it is one of the loveliest places for the citizens and tourists. Also people like to spend free time in one of 10 parks and gardens, over 20 parkettes and avenues, and a total of 17 squares, including one of the largest in Europe - Kuibyshev Square. There are plenty of landmarks in Samara from small sculptural forms to larger monuments and memorials, as well as several monuments to technical achievements. Also, Samara is called a city of fountains

Theatres and museums

Now, Samara is an important cultural centre of Russia. Samara has an Opera and Ballet Theatre, a Philharmonic orchestra hall, and five Drama theatres. There is a Museum of natural history and local history studies, and Museum of fine arts, private galleries, etc. The city`s survival architectural heritage represents one of the most rich and vibrant ensembles in all of modern Russia. The dominant architectural styles are the Art Nouveau and Eclecticism of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, as well as the Post-Modernism of the 20th century

Kuibyshev Square

One of the largest squares in the world is found in Samara At 174,000 square meters, Kuibyshev Square is bigger than London’s Trafalgar Square and Moscow’s Red Square and just under half the size of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre is located within the square. Kuibyshev Square was the FIFA World Cup 2018 Fan Fest Zone for Samara

The Zhiguli Mountains

Several minutes out of Samara city will take you to the Zhiguli Mountains. This mountain range used to hide pirates back in the day. Around the ‘Samara Bend’, the naturally occurring hairpin bend just out of the city created a perfect opportunity for pirates to ambush cargo ships and then flee into the cavernous expanse of the mountains

Stalin’s Bunker

In World War II Samara became an emergency capital of the country, and this shelter was built in 1942 for Joseph Stalin, the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces, to be evacuated in case of need. It took almost 50 years for locals to discover Stalin’s hidden underground bunker, only in 1990th it was opened for locals and soon a museum was established. Now it is very popular among both Russians and international tourists. This shelter is 37 metres below ground, which is the depth of a 12-story building. It can hold up to 115 people for up to five days before air supplies run out

Samara Space Museum

While walking in the center of Samara city, one can see a full scale monument to the legendary Soyuz carrier rocket. This is not only a monument. But also a home to a museum of the history of the aerospace industry in Russia. Its exhibition includes real parts for spaceships, including Yantar-4K1 and Resurs F-1 landing sections, and model rocket engines. The Soyuz carrier rocket has been erected to commemorate Samara’s contribution to the Soviet space exploration. This is a rocket which launched Yuri Gagarin into space, heralding the Soviets as space pioneers