August 28, 2015

1856 RUSSIA (Republic of Mordovia) - The Railway Station in Saransk


Located in the Volga basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about 630km east of Moscow, Saransk is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia. Founded in 1641 as the Russian fortress Atemar (at the time, located on the southeastern frontier of Russia), now it accounts for 34.3% of the total population of the republic, that means about 300,000 inhabitants. Trains from Moscow to Ruzaevka was opened to traffic in 1893, and in 1903, in the summer, was completed rail line from Ruzaevka to Nizhny Novgorod, through Saransk.

In the first half of the 1940s, the station building and station square were reconstructed: train-station area has been increased, and on the place of the original building a new passenger terminal was built. In the mid 2000s it was decided to demolish the old building of the railway station and erect a new rail terminal, which was commissioned in 2009. On the square in front of the station stands a monument to the fallen heroes - Stratonavts, inaugurated in 1963. In 1934, Andrew Vasenko, Paul Fedoseenko and Ilya Usyskin, climbed to an altitude of 22km stratospheric balloon Osoaviakhim-1, but the balloon fell in the south of Mordovia, and all the participants died.

About the stamps
The first stamp is part of a definitive series about which I wrote here. The second is part of a series dedicated to Russian Kremlins, about which I wrote here.

References
Saransk - Wikipedia
Railway Station, Saransk - pointerst.com
Monument "Heroes-Stratonavts" - pointerst.com

Sender: Alexander Abrashkin (direct swap)
Ssent from Saransk (Republic of Mordovia / Russia), on 18.06.2015

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