Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located about southeast of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

on the Uda River at its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

with the Selenga. According to the 2021 Census, 437,565 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 404,426 recorded in the 2010 Census, making the city the third-largest in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

by population.

Names

Ulan-Ude was first called Udinskoye (, ) for its location on the Uda River. It was founded as a small fort in 1666. From around 1735, the settlement was called Udinsk (, ) and was granted town status under that name in 1775. It was renamed Verkhneudinsk (, ; "Upper Udinsk") in 1783, to differentiate it from Nizhneudinsk ("Lower Udinsk") lying on a different Uda River near

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

which was granted town status that year. The descriptors "upper" and "lower" refer to the positions of the two cities relative to each other, rather than the location of the cities on their respective Uda rivers. Verkhneudinsk lies at the mouth of its river, while Nizhneudinsk is along the middle stretch. The current name was given to the city on 27 July 1934 and means "

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

Uda" in Buryat, reflecting the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Geography

Ulan-Ude lies east of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and southeast of

. It is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

at the foot of the

Khamar-Daban Khamar-Daban (; , from – "nut", and – "pass" or "ridge"), is a mountain range in Southern Siberia, Russia. Geography The range is located in Buryatia, with a small section in Irkutsk Oblast. It rises near the Baikal Mountains not far from ...

and Ulan-Burgas mountain ranges, next to the

of the Selenga River and its

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

, the Uda, which divides the city.

Hydrography

Ulan-Ude is traversed by two rivers, the Selenga and Uda. The Selenga provides the greatest inflow to Baikal Lake, supplying 50% of all rivers in its basin. The Selenga brings about of water into the lake per year, exerting a major influence on the lakewater's renewal and its sanitary condition. Selenga is the habitat of the most valuable fish species such as

Omul The omul, ''Coregonus migratorius'', also known as Baikal omul (), is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object of one of the largest commercial fisheries ...

Siberian sturgeon The Siberian sturgeon (''Huso baerii'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae. It is most present in all of the major Siberian river basins that drain northward into the Kara, Laptev and East Siberian Seas, including the Ob, Y ...

, Siberian taimen,

Thymallus ''Thymallus'', commonly known as graylings, is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish and the only genus within the subfamily Thymallinae of the family Salmonidae. Although all ''Thymallus'' species can be generically called graylings, withou ...

and

Coregonus ''Coregonus'' is a diverse genus of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae). The ''Coregonus'' species are known as whitefishes. The genus contains at least 68 described extant taxa, but the true number of species is a matter of debate. The type ...

. Uda is the right inflow of the Selenga river. The length of the watercourse is .

History

The first occupants of the area where Ulan-Ude now stands were the

Evenks The Evenki, also known as the Evenks and formerly as the Tungus, are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Evenki are recognised as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, indigenous peoples of the Russi ...

and, later, the Buryat Mongols. Ulan-Ude was settled in 1666 by the Russian

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

as the fortress of Udinskoye. Due to its favorable geographical position, it grew rapidly and became a large trade center which connected Russia with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and, from 1690, was the administrative center of the Transbaikal region. By 1775, it was known as Udinsk, and in 1783 it was granted city status and renamed Verkhneudinsk. After a large fire in 1878, the city was almost completely rebuilt. The

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

reached the city in 1900 causing an explosion in growth. The population, which was 3,500 in 1880, reached 126,000 in 1939. From 6 April to October 1920, Verkhneudinsk was the capital of the Far Eastern Republic (Дальневосточная Республика), also known as the Chita Republic. It was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. On 27 July 1934, the city was renamed Ulan-Ude.

Administrative and municipal status

Ulan-Ude is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude — an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

.Resolution #431 As a municipal division, the city of Ulan-Ude is incorporated as Ulan-Ude Urban Okrug.Law #985-III

Demographics

According to the 2021 Census, 437,565 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 404,426 recorded in the 2010 Census. In terms of population, it is the third-largest city in eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. It ranks 45th among all cities in Russia. Roughly 600,000 people live in the urban agglomeration. The ethnic makeup of Ulan-Ude in 2021 was: *

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

: 61.4% *

Buryats The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their ti ...

: 35.1% *Others: 3.5% The city is the center of Tibetan Buddhism in Russia and the important Ivolginsky datsan is located from the city.

Transportation

Ulan-Ude is located on the main line (Trans-Siberian line) of the

between

and Chita at the junction of the Trans-Mongolian line (the Trans-Mongolian Railway) which begins at Ulan Ude and continues south through

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in China.

The city also lies on the M55 section of the Baikal Highway (part of the Trans-Siberian Highway), the main federal road to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

. Air traffic is served by the Ulan-Ude Airport (Baikal), as well as the smaller Ulan-Ude Vostochny Airport. Intracity transport includes

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

, and ''

marshrutka ''Marshrutnoye taksi''share taxi A share taxi, shared taxi, taxibus, or jitney or dollar van in the US, or marshrutka in former Soviet countries, is a mode of transport which falls between a taxicab and a bus. Share taxis are a form of paratransit. They are vehicles for hire and ...

) lines.

Culture

Until 1991, Ulan-Ude was closed to foreigners. There are old merchants' mansions richly decorated with wood and stone carving in the historical center of Ulan-Ude, along the river banks which are exceptional examples of Russian classicism. The city has a large ethnographic museum which recalls the history of the peoples of the region. There is a large and highly unusual statue of the head of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

in the central square: the largest in the world. Built in 1970 for the centennial of Lenin's birth and weighing 42 tons, it continued to tower over the main plaza at .

Sights

The '' Ethnographic Museum of the peoples of Transbaikal'' is one of Russia's largest open-air museums. The museum contains historical finds from the era of the Slab Grave Culture and the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

until the mid 20th century, including a unique collection of samples of wooden architecture of

. Odigitrievsky Cathedral –

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

Diocese of the Buryat, was the first stone building in the city and is a Siberian

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architectural monument. The cathedral is considered unique because it is built in a zone of high seismic activity in the heart of the city on the banks of the River Uda River where it flows into the Selenga. One of the attractions of Ulan-Ude is a monument in the town square — the square of the Soviets — in the form of the head of Lenin (sculptors G.V. Neroda, J.G. Neroda, architects Dushkin, P.G. Zilberman). The monument, weighing 42 tons and with a height of , was opened in 1971 in honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth.

Climate

Ulan-Ude can be described as possessing a humid

steppe climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BSk''), bordering on a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dwb'') and a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(''Dwc''). The climate is characterized by long, dry, and very cold winters, with substantial snowfall and persistent snow cover in the city and surrounding areas. Summers are relatively long for city's latitude and climate zone. Lasting from mid-May to early September, they are warm and bring the majority of the annual precipitation in the form of rain. The record high is on 8 July 2016. The record low is on 6 January 1931. Temperatures have never risen above freezing from 31 December to 1 February, inclusive.

Economy

The Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant is based in Ulan-Ude.

Mongol Rally

Ulan-Ude serves as the endpoint for the Mongol Rally.

Notable people

* Dmitry Masleev, pianist * Oksana Omelianchik, artistic gymnast * Irina Pantaeva, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' model * Alexander Slastin, actor * Inna Stepanova, Olympic archer * Gunsyn Tsydenova, politician

Gallery

File:Monument "Hospitable Buryatia" 07.jpg, ''Mother Buryatia'' statue File:Ulan ude station.jpg, Ulan-Ude railway station on the

File:Raskolnikchurch.jpg, A Russian Old Believer church moved to the ethnographic museum in Ulan-Ude File:Ethnographic museum Gate.JPG, Gate of the Ulan-Ude Ethnographic Museum File:Hambin-Hyre.JPG, Hambyn-Hure Datsan File:Odigitrievsky Cathedral, Ulan Ude.jpg, Odigitrievsky Cathedral File:Panorama of Ulan-Ude. View from Mount Komushka.jpg, Panorama of Ulan-Ude. View from Mount Komushka File:Октябрьский район (Улан-Удэ).jpg, Ulan-Ude File:Center of the Soviet district of Ulan-Ude from a bird's eye view.jpg, Center of Ulan-Ude from a bird's eye view File:Lenin's head in Ulan Ude.jpg, The largest head of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

leader

ever built was in Ulan-Ude as of 2018 File:Ulan-Ude, 1885.png, Verkhneudinsk, 1885 File:Coat of Arms of Ulan-Ude (Verkhneudinsk Buryatia) (1790).png, Coat of arms of Verkhneudinsk in 1790

Panoramic view of Ulan-Ude

Twin towns - sister cities

Ulan-Ude is twinned with: *

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

, South Korea * Berkeley, USA *

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

, China * Chita, Russia * Darkhan, Mongolia *

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

, Ukraine * Elista, Russia * Erdenet, Mongolia *

Erenhot Erenhot ( ; zh, s=二连浩特, p=Èrliánhàotè, commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a county-level city under jurisdiction of the Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia, China, located in the Gobi Desert along the Sino-Mongolian border, ac ...

, China *

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

, Russia *

Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th centu ...

, North Korea *

Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the Capital (political), capital of Inner Mongolia in the North China, north of the China, People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrativ ...

, China *

Hulunbuir Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr''; , ''Khulunbuir'' is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Its administrative center is located at Hailar District, its largest urban area. Major scenic features are the high ...

, China *

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

, China * Manzhouli, China * Rumoi, Japan *

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan *

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

, Mongolia * Ulanqab, China *

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

, Ukraine * Yamagata, Japan *

Yeongwol County Yeongwol County () is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. In Korea, it is known as the place where King Danjong, the sixth king of the Joseon Dynasty, was exiled when he was forced to abdicate by his uncle, who became Sejo of Joseon. It is ...

, South Korea

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control Transbaikal Oblast Populated places established in 1666 17th-century establishments in Russia 1666 establishments in Russia Russian Far East