The city of Ufa - a large industrial, scientific and cultural centre of the country - is located in the East of Europe.

Ufa is the capital of multi-national sovereign Bashkortostan within the Russian Federation.

The city lies approximately 60 miles West of the ancient Ural Mountain ridges. Major industrial cities such as Samara, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg are located in the immediate vicinity of Ufa. The capital of Bashkortostan lies upon a peninsula of sorts, occupying an elevated plateau encompassed from the three sides by the Aghidel (the Belaya), the Ufa and the Dyoma rivers. As in the whole of the Urals, the climate here is continental, but somewhat milder than in Yekaterinburg and Perm. Winters are normally snowy and cold (average January temperature is 5ø F) and summers are hot (up to 65ø F in June).

The magnificent natural scenery of Ufa and its surroundings depends on the city's location in the forest and steppe zone and on the nearness of big rivers. It is not surprising, there-fore, that the beauty of the land was noticed by people of the ancient past. Archaeologists have discovered remains of the primitive man settlements on the site of the present-day city.

The city of today consists of a number of detached districts, stretching from SW to NE for more than 30 miles, occupying the area of approximately 180 sq. mi. The population of the city is over 1,100,000 people.

The central and the longest (over 6 mi.) street in Ufa - October Avenue - filled the empty span between the former municipal boundaries of Ufa and Chernikovsk, and linked the northern and the southern parts of the city. Many prom-inent R&D institutes are locat-ed along this arterial, including the institutes of the Bashkir Branch of the Russian Acade-my of Sciences. The Avenue's skyline is livened up by origi-nal buildings - the Circus, the best-in-town "Rossiya" Hotel, "Iskra" cinema hall, "Ufa" de-partment store.

Ufa is well-known in Russia and abroad largely thanks to the output of its chemical and petrochemical companies, their premium quality produce. More than one hundred businesses of the city operate in various industries ranging from ferrous metallurgy to perfumes and cosmetics. The determining branches of Ufa's economy are machine and instrument building, oil refining, chemical and petrochemical industries. The development of these industries was contributed by the country's industrialization, discovery of oil in Bashkiria and massive evacuation of businesses from western regions during World War II (WWII).

The "Ufimkabel" Joint-Stock Association manufactures cables and wires to be applied in various industries in Bashkortostan, Russia, the CIS countries and abroad. In collaboration with the "Bashneft" Oil Association the company fabricates downhole cables for oil industry which used to be in short supply, and 80 percent of these cables had to be pur-chased from foreign vendors for hard currency.

The "Bashvest" Production and Merchandising Company uses latest technologies to pro-duce footwear. The company is completing a new production capability using the technology and equipment by "Eurosiba" - one of the leading Italian shoe-makers.

Of great interest are the operations of the Ufa Fashion House, which regularly dispays its new collections with subse-quent sales thereof. These in-clude fashionable designer coats, suits, costumes and dresses made in limited editions.

Customers all over Russia are well acquainted with fabrics and high-grade yarns of the Ufa Cotton Mill, headgear by "Eleghiya", the produce of the Knitted Wear Factory, the "8 Marta" and "Mir" Garment-Making Production and Merchandising Firms.

Dozens of aircraft are daily processed by Ufa Airport. The BAL (Bashkir Airlines) Republican Carrier operates routes both to the remote lo-cations inside the Republic and to major destination in the CIS countries and abroad. The "Bashaeroinvest" Joint-Stock Company is constructing an international sector of Ufa Airport, which will comprise a new passenger terminal building, a hotel, a cargo terminal, aprons and the cen-tral refuelling facility.

Two bus terminals - the Southern and the Northern - provide bus services to Bashkortostan districts and the adja-cent regions.

The mighty industrial base, the availability of transport connections contribute to trade and entrepreneurship development. Ufa boasts hundreds of retail outlets, department stores, trading houses and shopping malls. Many companies are engaged in the sphere of trade and services. A number of firms are authorized dealers of the largest global manufacturers and trade marks such as "Xerox", "Canon", "Panasonic", "Philips".

There are about two dozen of commercial and state-owned banks in Ufa which make loans and provide customers with other banking services. The National Bank of the Republic of Bashkortostan, "UralSib", "AlfaBank" and "Socinvestbank" are among the largest and the most stable banks of the Russian Federation.

People of many nationalties have always inhabited Ufa. It is quite natural, therefore, that the city's liistory has harmoniously absorbed the cultures of the peo-ples that populate the land: the Bashkirs, the Russians, the Tatars, the Chuvashes, the Maris and others.

The fates of many world-famous writers, artists, musicians are connected with Ufa.

A lime-tree alley in a quiet corner of the city near the right bank of the Aghidel river leads to the S.T.Aksakov Memorial House Museum. The famous Russian writer (1791-1859), in his autobiographicals "Family Chronicle" and "Years of Childhood", depicts with great love and care the nature of Bashkiria and recreates the ways of life of old Ufa and its inhabitants.

1938 was the date of birth of the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet House, the repertoire of which was classical works by Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Gounod, Bizet. The Bashkir State Phil-harmonic Society started in 1939.

It is from this theatre's stage that the virtuoso ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-93) started his performing career. His Ufa debut signalled his rise to international stardom both as a dancer and a choreographer. This stage saw National Artist of the USSR Zaituna Nasretdinova performing her best parts.

Ufa is the focal point of Bashkortostan's musical culture. The lives and work of the fa-mous composer A.Spadavekkia, L.Stepanov, G.Almukhametov, Z.Ismaghilov, Kh.Akhmetov, N.Sabitov, R.Murtazin, Kh.Zai-mov are connected with the capital.