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The capital city of Ryazan oblast: Ryazan.
Ryazan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the center of the European part of the country, in the Central Federal District. Ryazan is the capital city of the region.
The population of Ryazan Oblast is about 1,085,100 (2022), the area - 39,605 sq. km.
According to archaeological excavations, the first people settled in what is now the Ryazan region in the Upper Paleolithic (15 - 25 thousand years ago). The first known inhabitants of this area were the tribes of Finno-Ugric group: Mer, Ves, Muroma, Meshchera, Mordvinians and others, who gave a lot of preserved to this day geographical names.
The Slavic tribes moved to the east at the end of the 1st millennium AD. The tribes of Vyatichi and Radimichi settled in the upper and middle reaches of the Oka River. Over time, these lands came under the control of the Kiev principality. Further expansion of the Slavs to the east was stopped by the Kama Bulgars.
According to the latest archaeological data, the town of Staraya (Old) Ryazan was founded in the 10th century (about 50 km south-east of the present Ryazan). The town of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky was first mentioned in 1095.
In the 13th century, the Ryazan Principality, with its core in the middle reaches of the Oka, extended south to the Voronezh and Don rivers.
Despite the vast territory of the region and mixed composition of the population, it was gradually exposed to the Christianization, a lot of churches and monasteries were built. In the 12th century, Olgovsky Assumption Monastery was founded (the present village of Lgovo) - one of the oldest monasteries in the North-Eastern Russia.
In 1237, Staraya Ryazan, the capital of the principality, was destroyed during the Mongol invasion. After that, its place in the principality was gradually taken by Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, which, later, inherited the name of the former capital.
The rise of the Ryazan Principality is usually associated with Prince Oleg Ivanovich (1350-1402), who, with varying degrees of success, competed with the Moscow princes. His descendants were not so successful in opposing Moscow and the Ryazan principality ceased to exist in 1521 and became part of the Moscow Principality.
In the 16th-17th centuries, the Ryazan region, being the southern boundary of the Russian state, suffered from frequent devastating raids of nomads. Ryazan guberniya (province) of the Russian Empire was established by the decree of Catherine II in 1778. The town of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, the administrative center of the province, received a new name - Ryazan.
In the 18th century, metallurgy (iron foundries, needle factories), textile (cloth, rope, linen factories) and leather industries appeared in the region. In the 19th century, coal mines, cement, brick, tile, match factories were opened. In the north of the province, there were several glass factories.
In the southern districts of the province, agricultural processing industry was developed. Construction of railways, along with the traditional and already well-developed river navigation, was essential for the development of the regional economy.
In 1929, almost the entire territory of the Ryazan region became part of Moscow Oblast. In 1937, a separate Ryazan Oblast was formed. During the Second World War, only the south-western districts of the region (Mikhailov, Skopin) were occupied by the German troops.
In the post-Soviet period, an outflow of population from Ryazan Oblast has begun (due to the proximity to Moscow). In 1991-2015, the population of the region decreased by more than 200 thousand people.
Lake in Ryazan Oblast
Forest stream in Ryazan Oblast
Ryazan Oblast scenery
Ryazan Oblast is located in the depression between the Central and Volga Uplands, in the central part of the Russian Plain. The region stretches for 220 km from north to south and 259 km from west to east.
The Oka River divides the territory of Ryazan oblast in two parts: the northern with coniferous forests, and the southern with deciduous forests and forest-steppes. In total, forests cover about one third of the territory.
The climate is temperate continental. The average temperature in January is minus 10.6 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 19.7 degrees Celsius. The region has such natural resources as cement limestone, marl, refractory clay, glass and quartz sand, high-quality peat, phosphorite, lignite.
The most developed industries are engineering and metalworking, oil refining, power engineering, and food industry. Production of construction materials, leather are also developed as well as non-ferrous metallurgy. The main industrial centers are Ryazan, Skopin, Kasimov. Ryazan refinery is one of the largest enterprises in the region. The largest in Europe underground reservoir of natural gas “Kasimovskoye” (8,500 million cubic m) is located in Ryazan oblast.
Agriculture is specialized on cattle-, pig-, sheep-breeding, poultry farming. Barley, wheat, rye, oats, forage crops, sugar beets, fruits, and berries are cultivated in the region.
Two important railways pass through the territory of the Ryazan region: the “historical” branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway and two main lines in the direction of the Caucasus railway. The express “Sergei Yesenin”, a special train of Ryazan Oblast, runs daily between Ryazan and Moscow. Two federal highways cross the territory of the region: M5 “Ural” and M6 “Kaspiy”. The Oka River is navigable with ports in Ryazan and Kasimov.
The radioactive fallout, which spread as a result of the Chernobyl accident, fell on the south-western territories of the region.
Ryazan Oblast is a real reserve of Russian folk culture with its unique music, song and choreography, poetic traditions, multicolor palette of folk costumes, arts and crafts. Eight settlements are included in the list of historic settlements of Russia: Ryazan, Kasimov, Mikhailov, Ryazhsk, Skopin, Spas-Klepiki, Spassk-Ryazansky, Shatsk.
Architectural monuments of the region include monuments of church architecture, manor complexes, industrial buildings, merchants’ mansions. Altogether there are about 1,200 architectural monuments and more than 2,200 archaeological sites. There are more than 100 thousand hectares of protected areas on the territory of the Ryazan region (47 nature reserves and 57 natural monuments).
The main attractions of Ryazan Oblast:
Ryazan Oblast landscape
Monastery in Solotcha in the Ryazan region
Abandoned church in Ryazan Oblast
Wooden church in Ryazan Oblast
Winter in the Ryazan region
Abandoned cathedral in Ryazan Oblast
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