Ufa is a Russian metropolis located in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Its modern history started in 1574, when Tsar Ivan IV founded a fort here at the mouth of the Ufa River in the Belaja River, named Tura-Tau. Twelve years later, the settlement around the fort formally became a town. Ufa developed into an important trading town in the border country with Siberia, but it was also besieged and attacked on several occasions.

Ufa was successfully defended each time, and increasingly the city also became politically important. It first belonged to the Kazan Governorate before becoming part of the Orenburg Governorate and finally the provincial capital of Ufa. In the 19th century, Ufa was the residence of the regional governor, and the city was developed with wide streets and open squares.

Ufa also grew with the industrialization that could grow after the 1850s, when the Belaja River became navigable. In 1870, connections to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod were established by river, and Ufa’s river port became the largest in the Ural region. From 1885, Ufa was connected to the Russian railway network, which also strengthened trade and industry. Ufa became part of the Soviet Union as the capital of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Republic from 1919, and the city’s industry developed through the 1920s and 1930s.

During the Second World War, industries, authorities and organizations such as the Comintern were evacuated to Ufa, which was done on orders from Josef Stalin. This resulted in, among other things, well-known leaders such as Wilhelm Pieck and Klement Gottwald staying in Ufa during this period. After the war, Ufa became particularly known for Bashkiria’s large oil industry.

Today, Ufa is an interesting city with many sights. The old part of the city is located in the southern part of the center, where the city’s historic Kremlin was also located. You can start a stroll in the square and in the park Sad Aleksandra Matrosova/Сад Александра Матросова. The park is a lovely green area, and around it there are several of Ufa’s well-known buildings. To the south is the House of the Republic/Дом Республики from 1973-1979, which was built for the Council of Ministers of the Republic during the Soviet era. Today, the building houses the government of Bashkortostan.

Along the western side of the park, you can visit the Drama Theater of Bashkortostan/Башкирский театр драмы, housed in a modern theater building located on the site of the city’s neoclassical cathedral until its demolition in 1932. Head east at the intersection of streets ulitsa Tukeávea/Улица Тукаева and ulits Sovetskaya/улица Советская, you can see a beautiful building from the old Ufa. It is Dom Guvernatora/Дом гувернатора, which was the residence of the local governor from the 1860s to 1917. The house was built as a private residence in the 1830s, and it was used for a time as the Soviet of Ufa in the early Soviet Union. Today it is home to a Ministry of Bashkortostan.

South of the center of Ufa, you can take a walk along the banks of the Belaja River, where long promenades have been laid out. On the way there from, for example, Sad Aleksandra Matrosvoa, you can pass by Monument Druzhby/Монумент Дружбы, which was erected as a symbol of friendship between peoples on the occasion of the 400th anniversary monument in honor of the 400th anniversary of the historical Bashkortostan in the Russian state, the Friendship Monument was built from 1957 on the site of the Ufa Kremlin before its destruction.

From the Friendship Monument you can walk up a large flight of stairs to the river promenade, where on the southern bank there is a beach that is popular in the season. You can walk along Belaja to the west, and after a good walk you can see one of the city’s landmarks high above the river. It is the equestrian statue of Salavat Yulaev. Salavat Yulaev Monument/Памятник Салавату Юлаеву was erected in 1967 and depicts Salavat Yulaev, who was a Bashkir national hero who participated in a peasant uprising of 1773–1775. The statue stands on a site with a panoramic view of the river and the area to the south.

If you go north from the central park, you come to Natsionalnyy Muzey Respubliki Bashkortostan/Национальный музей Республики Башкортостан, which is the national museum of Bashkortostan with many interesting collections depicting the region’s history, nature, art and culture. Close to this is the Opera and Ballet Theater of Bashkortostan/Башкирский театр оперы и балета, which is one of the city’s leading stages. One can also visit the House Museum of Vladimir Lenin/Дом-музей В. И. Lenina. Lenin visited Ufa twice in the year 1900, where he lived for three weeks in a house located next to the current museum building. The museum was established in honor of Lenin’s stay in the city.

There are also several religious buildings worth seeing in Ufa. In the eastern part of the center you can see the beautiful Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Kafedralnyy sobor Rozhdestva Presvyatoy Bogoroditsy/Кафедральный собор Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы. The church was built 1901-1909 with a 47 meter high tower and a beautifully decorated interior. To the west of the city is the mosque Lala Tulpan/Ляля-Тюльпан, which was built in the 1990s in modern architecture.