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Any walk through Samara sooner or later leads to the embankment of the Volga River. The streets next to the embankment descend right to the river, repeating the coastal relief, so you will eventually go out to the embankment.

The neighborhood of the city of Samara with the great Russian river has become strategic: the city is considered the capital of cruise tourism in Russia. Dozens of motor ships and boats depart from the river port of Samara every day. They go to Volgograd and Astrakhan, Kazan and Moscow, and even further - along lakes and canals, to Ladoga Lake.

 A walk along the central streets of Frunze and Kuibysheva, Chapaevskaya and Lva Tolsogo is like going through the pages of a textbook on the history of architecture from the 19th century to the present day: Art Noveau, eclectic, Neo-Russian and Neo-Mauritanian styles, wooden houses and pompous Stalinist Empire style, a bit of pure constructivism.

If you want to get the idea of the architectural variety in Samara, it is enough to list only a small part of the noticeable city constructions: the fabulous mansion of the merchant Ivan Klodt, the newest high-tech railway station, the real “Soyuz” rocket carrier as a monument, the Gothic Сhurch of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the “Zhigulevsky” brewery - a monument of industrial Art Noveau style and the homeland of well-known beer.

This brewing plant with cheerful men and specific flavors stands in the immediate vicinity of the Iversky convent with its peace, quiet and flowers. The most iconic Samara monument stands near the brewery: it is a steel worker statue with wings, a thirteen-meter figure on a forty-meter pedestal. This is a monument to the Samara aviation industry. The main city square has changed the rhythm of life to comply with the epoch. The theatre, of course, continues to stage classis pieces and successfully go on tours, and in the evenings the area before its building turns into a huge roller-skate and bicycle park.

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

The presence of a Catholic church in Samara can puzzle only a person who does not know the history of the country. The Volga region is one of the historical centres of Russian Catholicism.

The adherents of the “Roman law” appeared here back in XVII century - the Poles who served in Russian army settled in these places. The only catholic church of Samara currently standing on Frunze Street can be considered one of the masterpieces of Russian Gothic Revival, not only in the Volga region.

The buildings of the old Samara are eclectic and bizarre, but the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (or simply the Polish church) neighboring the equally huge Orthodox church with a golden dome stands out even against this background. Steeple roofed towers look both brittle and austere, the white twisted column above the portal emphasizes the upward direction on the style, the complicated decorations of the walls cannot by any means be called frivolous. Everything is subordinated to the main goal: to create a sensation of vertical movement from the earth to the sky.

The material of the building - dark brick - enhances the impression of seriousness. The interior of the Polish church looks quite traditional, restrained and well-tended.

The church is almost always open, the church ministers are usually friendly, do not ask anyone to go away, do not prevent people from taking photos, although, of course, you should first politely ask for a permission to do this.

The “Cosmic Samara” Museum impresses you at first sight - the place it takes among its surroundings is emphasized very successfully. The benchmark for potential visitors looks very different from the proud (and slightly awkward) stele of its Moscow “counterpart”: it is the legendary “Soyuz” R-7 rocket carrier installed on the museum’s building vertically, as if before the launch: this benchmark can be seen from afar. The rocket is real, not simply a model; it had served as a training model at the Plesetsk cosmodrome for 15 years, the rocket had been was built here - in Samara-Kuibyshev, at the “Progress” plant. It’s even strange that the Cosmic Museum has appeared in the capital of Russian rocket production so recently: “Cosmic Samara” was opened in 2007.

The landing modules of the “Resurs” photographic surveillance satellites exhibited in the museum not only are real, they were taken to outer space. It is worth mentioning that the thermal protection of the modules was scorched upon landing, just like it should be. The museum exhibits rocket engines produced by Samara plants at different times. You can examine all the details of the engine of the N-1 rocket, aka “Tsar-rocket”, intended for manned lunar flights. There are also products with a more severe purpose – the engines for the R-9 intercontinental ballistic missile.

The first museum in the country created by fans and for fans is the Samara Football Museum. It opened in October 2007 in the building of the sports lyceum on Volzhsky Avenue, then it moved to 148 Molodogvardeyskaya Street, near the Kuibysheva Square.

The founders of the Museum are the famous poet, cultural specialist and TV presenter Sergei Leibgrad and Sergei Chernyshev, the chairman of the “Volzhsky Bastion” public fans association. The largest part of the exposition is devoted to the history of the “Wings of the Soviets” club formed in Kuibyshev (Samara) in 1942, as well as the history of local teams – “Metallurg”, “Lokomotiv”, “Dynamo”, “Unita”, “Lada” (Togliatti), “Syzran-2003”.

The whole collection of the museum consists of memorable things and football rarities donated by football fans, actual football players and veteran players. The collection is impressive and contains 17 thousand exhibits.

The museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., but just in case, it is better to call the enquiry number before your visit to the museum and find out the details: 8 (960) 815-52-41. Address: 148 Molodogvardeyskaya Street, Samara, Samara Oblast. Tel.: 8 (960) 815-52-41. E-mail: fondbk@mail.ru

Pecularities

It is best to buy the legendary Zhigulevskoe beer in the beer garden near the factory: the beverage sold here is the freshest.

Samara is a historically multi-confessional city. In addition to Orthodox churches, there is a Polish Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Lutheran Church of St. George, a cathedral mosque, a choral synagogue and the Old Believers’ cathedrals of three different sects.

There is a multi-figure monument to Chapayev not far from Strukovsky garden, on Chapaeva Square adored by the city’s residents: the monument is the exact twin of the monument standing in St. Petersburg in a much less favorable place, far from the centre, on the territory of the Military Academy of Communications. The Chapaev monument in Samara is the original one, its copy was made for Saint Petersburg. Both monuments are subject to vandalism - hooligans like to steal the sword of Chapaev most often.