Saransk
Saransk is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic center. It is located in the Volga basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about 630 kilometers (390 mi) east of Moscow. Saransk was one of the host cities of the official tournament of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The Russian fortress Atemar, founded in 1641, took its name from a nearby Mordvin village; at the time the fortress stood on the southeastern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia. The current name, "Saransk", refers to the city's situation on the Saranka river. Soon after its founding, the city became an important trade center for nearby Erzya villagers.
In 1928 Saransk was the administrative center of the newly established Mordvin National Okrug, which became the Mordovian Autonomous Oblast in 1930. In 1941 Saransk was near the front line in the Battle of Moscow but was never reached by the Wehrmacht. Soviet planners reconstructed the old city center in the 1960s and 1970s, adding wide streets and planning the construction of massive residential areas.
The Saransk Regional Museum is dedicated primarily to the history of the city, while the Mordovian Museum of Visual Arts has a collection of works by the Russian masters Stepan Erzia and Fedot Sychkov.
The city is home to the Mordovian State University (founded in 1957) as well as several technical colleges.
Saransk has three Orthodox churches and also a small Lutheran church (Finnish Lutheran Church), which was opened in 2005. There are also three mosques. The main cathedral in Saransk is the Cathedral of St. Theodore Ushakov, the construction of which was completed in 2006.