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Ufa is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bashkortostan in Russia, a city of more than a million people on the high right bank of the Belaya River where it meets the Ufa River, on the western edge of the Ural Mountains. It is one of the main economic and cultural centers of the Volga and Urals region.
A Russian fortress was founded here in 1574 (1586 by other accounts) on a hill above the rivers, and the town grew as a trading post on the frontier of the Bashkir lands. In the 19th century Ufa became a provincial capital and the seat of the Muslim spiritual assembly of Russia, and mosques and Orthodox churches still stand side by side in its old streets.
Today Ufa is known for the statue of the Bashkir hero Salavat Yulaev high above the Belaya, for the tulip-shaped Lala Tulpan Mosque, and for its many parks. Its opera house trained the dancer Rudolf Nureyev, and its museums show the art and history of Bashkortostan.
The Salavat Yulaev Monument stands on the high bank of the Belaya River in Ufa, a bronze horseman of the Bashkir national hero by sculptor Soslanbek Tavasiev, unveiled in 1967. The 40-tonne statue, 9.8 meters tall, rests on just three points and appears on the coat of arms of Bashkortostan.
Toratau Congress Hall is a modern conference building in Ufa, built for the 450th anniversary of Bashkortostan joining Russia and host of the 2015 BRICS summit. Designed by Kiyokazu Arai and Rishat Mullagildin, it draws on Bashkir culture, with a facade of Bashkir ornament facing the Belaya River.
The Monument of Friendship stands on Trinity Hill in Old Ufa, where the wooden kremlin of the city once stood, marking 400 years since Bashkortostan joined the Russian state. Unveiled in 1965, it has two pink granite steles 30 meters high shaped like swords, with seated bronze women at their base.
Lala Tulpan Mosque is the great cathedral mosque of Ufa, opened in 1998 in the Chernikovka district of Ufa. Its design by Vakil Davlyatshin is based on a blooming tulip, an old symbol of the Turkic peoples, and its two eight-sided minarets rise 53 meters like tulip buds.
The First Cathedral Mosque of Ufa stands on Tukaev Street in the old center of Ufa, built in 1830 with money from a local merchant and rebuilt from 1894 to 1911. Named for the poet Rumi, it is one of the main Islamic centers of Bashkortostan and a protected heritage building.
The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin is the main Orthodox cathedral of Ufa, a sky-blue church with golden domes in the center of Ufa. Rebuilt at least four times, it has a bell tower 47 meters high, and since 2016 it has been the cathedral of the metropolis of Bashkortostan.
Pokrovskaya Church is the oldest surviving church of Ufa, standing in the old trading suburb of the Ufa fortress on the Sutoloka River. It was built in stone in 1817 in the style of Russian classicism, with money from a local merchant, and is now a protected monument.
Ufa Gostiny Dvor is a classical trading arcade on the old Upper Market Square in central Ufa, first built in the early 19th century after Ufa became a provincial capital. Fully rebuilt in 1999 and restored again in 2014 and 2015, its long arcades now hold shops, cafes and offices.
Nesterov Art Museum is the Bashkir State Art Museum in Ufa, founded in 1919 and opened in 1920 on a gift from the painter Mikhail Nesterov, born in Ufa. His collection of Russian art includes works by Shishkin, Levitan, Korovin and Polenov, along with some thirty of his own paintings.
The National Museum of Bashkortostan in Ufa is the largest museum of the republic and one of the oldest museums in Russia, founded in 1864. Its halls cover the nature, archaeology and history of Bashkortostan, from ancient nomad finds to the life of the Bashkir people and the Soviet era.
The Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theatre opened in Ufa in 1938, staging opera and ballet in Bashkir and Russian in a classical building in the city center. The great dancer Rudolf Nureyev studied at its ballet studio as a boy and first drew notice in its production of the ballet Crane Song in 1955.
The Bashkir Drama Theatre is the national drama theater of Bashkortostan in Ufa, named after the poet Mazhit Gafuri. It was founded in 1919 in Sterlitamak as the first Bashkir state theater and moved to Ufa in 1922, where it has staged plays in the Bashkir language ever since.
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