 Ulyanovskaya Oblast borders upon Saratovskaya, Penzenskaya, Samarskaya oblasts and the republics of Mordovia, Chuvashia and Tatarstan. The main rivers are the Volga with its tributaries Sura and Sviyaga. There is the Kuibyshevskoye water basin in the territory of the region.
The climate is moderately continental. The average temperature of January is -13 degrees, in July it is +19 degrees centigrade. Precipitations are about 400 mm a year.
The oblast was formed on the 19th of January, 1943. Its area is 37,3 thousand sq. km. (0,22 % of the total area of the Russian Federation). The region includes 20 districts, 6 cities and towns, 4 urban districts, 32 urban settlements, 284 villages. The regional centre is Ulyanovsk. The city was founded in the year of 1648. The distance between Moscow and Ulyanovsk is 893 km (before 1924 the city was called Simbirsk). The city consists of 4 districts: Zheleznodorozhny, Zavolzhsky, Zasviyazhsky, Leninsky.
Other cities are Barysh (1954), Dimitrovgrad (1919) (before 1972 - Melekess), Inza (1946), Novoulyanovsk (1927), Sengiley (1943). The main cities are Ulyanovsk (690,9 thousand inhabitants), Dimitrovgrad (136,7), Inza (22,9), Barysh (21,5). The population (on the 1st of January, 1998) is 1478,6 thousand people. Density of population (on the 1st of January, 1998) is 39,6 per 1 sq. km.
Ulyanovskaya Oblast is the multinational region where side by side live and work people of about 100 nationalities. Mainly, they are the Russians, the Tatars, the Chuvashs and the Mordovians.
People of different religions live in the region. The majority of the population professes Christianity and Islam. For the last decade 100 orthodox temples, one German church and about 80 mosques were restored and constructed. Monasteries and spiritual educational institutions are under construction. The cultural traditions of the region have deep roots. The Simbirsk land gave a lot of outstanding figures, statesmen, poets, artists and writers. V.I.Lenin and A.F.Kerensky studied in the same grammar school.
The great Russian writer I. A. Goncharov was born and grew up here. There are several monuments to the writer in the city. The most interesting one is the memorial building on the bank of the Volga. It was built in honour of the centenary of I.A.Goncharov in 1916.
Nowadays two museums are here: the Museum of Local Lore and the Museum of Art. Both of them exist more than hundred years.
Here lived and worked such people as the writer Nikolay Karamzin, the poets Nikolay Yazykov, Dmitry Sadovnikov, Dmitry Minayev. Near Simbirsk lived Denis Davydov and Nikolay Ogarev. It is the birthplace of the outstanding artist of the present A.A.Plastov.
In Simbirsk one of the first theatres of Russia and one of the first libraries in the Volga region were established.
Now there are dozens of museums and their branches, the creative unions of writers, artists and journalists.
Besides there are the regional Drama Theatre and the State Philharmonic Society in the region.
The Ulyanovsk Academic Symphonic Orchestra is known not only in Ulyanovskaya Oblast and Russia, but also abroad.
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