Saransk

Saransk is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, its financial and economic center. It is located on the river Insar, about southeast of Moscow.

Understand
Saransk was founded as a fortress in 1641. It was part of a chain of fortifications, created by Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia, to protect it from the raids of the Crimean Tatars. The fortress was far away from the main trade routes, so it could not become a major economic center and until the 1930s it was largely comprised of wooden one-story houses. It was appointed as the capital of the Mordovia in 1934 which imposed grand urban redevelopment; the old center was almost entirely demolished and replaced by Stalin-era architecture. The center was then again modernised between 2000 and 2010; some houses were restored using modern materials and some were demolished and replaced by modern harmonious buildings. In 2018 Saransk hosted World Cup football matches.

There are no architectural ensembles in the center of Saransk. Overall, the old architecture is quite sparse and is not a first-class one. In this regard the city doesn't differ a lot from other cities in central Russia. Also you won’t hear any national languages other than Russian spoken here unless you make some special efforts.

There are two main tourist sites which make Saransk worth visiting: a museum of fine arts with a large collection of sculptures created by Stephen Erzi and 18th century Makarov Monastery - one of the most spectacular ensembles of the Middle Volga region. Additionally, there is a good museum of Mordovian national culture and some modern architecture partly stylised as a national one.

Get in
There are regular train services from Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan taking you to Saransk. The trains between Moscow and Saransk take around 10 hours 40 mins to cover the route. Saransk has a small airport too and a flight from the Russian capital takes just about an hour.



Do

 * Watch football at
 * Watch football at

Go next

 * Head to the industrial center and second largest city in the republic Ruzayevka
 * Explore the rural areas of Mordovia