Tag #148651 - Interview #95439 (Maria Zabozlaeva)

Saratov [over 800 km from Moscow] is a beautiful old town on the Volga, the biggest river in Russia. In the second half of 19th century it became a big industrial center of bread and flour grinding industries. There were steam mills and butteries built in the town. There were many stores and shops in the town and barges in the harbor selling cement, grain, water melons, fish and furs. There was book publishing developed in Saratov. There were straight streets lined with trees leading from the Volga uptown. They were called ascends. There were parks and squares with brass orchestras playing in the evenings in the center of the town. There were one and two-storied stone houses built in the town. In late 19th century there was Russian, German, Jewish, Tatar and Polish population in the town. Russians belonged to Old Believers [1] and Christians. There was a Catholic cathedral, a Lutheran church, a synagogue, and many orthodox Christian churches [2] that made the town different from other in Povolzhye.