Murom

Murom (Муром, ) is a historical city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the west bank of the Oka River. It borders Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and is situated 137 km from the administrative center Vladimir. Its population as of the 2021 Census was 107,497.

History
In the 9th century AD, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the East Slavs in the land of the Finnic Muromians. The Primary Chronicle mentions it as early as AD 862. It is, thus, one of the oldest cities in Russia. Circa 900 AD, it was an important trading post from Volga Bulgaria to the Baltic Sea.

Between AD 1010 and AD 1393, it was the capital of a separate principality, whose rulers included Saint Gleb, assassinated in AD 1015 and canonized in AD 1071, Saint Prince Konstantin the Blessed, and Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom, subjects of an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was believed to be the home town of the most celebrated East Slavic epic hero, Ilya Muromets. The town has a statue which shows Ilya holding the hilt of his sword in the left hand and a cross in the right.

On June 30, 1961, Murom was the site of a spontaneous protest and riot against the police and Soviet authorities, following the death in police custody of a senior factory foreman named Kostikov.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Murom serves as the administrative center of Muromsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the Cit] of Murom — an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the territory of the City of Murom together with nine rural localities in Muromsky District are incorporated as Murom Urban Okrug.

Economy
Murom has since 1941 and the Great Patriotic War against the Nazis played host to the JSC Murom instrument making plant (MIMP) which produces the means of initiation and ignition of ammunition, as well as various pyrotechnic devices. It is a subsidiary of Rostec State Corporation. The MIMP was sanctioned on 23.06.2023 in the EU's 11th package of sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sights
Murom still retains many marks of antiquity. The Savior monastery, one of the most ancient in Russia, was first chronicled in 1096, when Oleg of Chernigov besieged it and killed Vladimir Monomakh's son Izyaslav, who is buried there. In 1552, the monastery was visited by Ivan the Terrible who commissioned a stone cathedral, which was followed by other churches.

The Trinity convent, where the relics of Sts. Peter and Fevronia are displayed, features a fine cathedral (1642–1643), Kazan church (1652), a bell-tower (1652), a wooden church of St. Sergius, and stone walls. It is rivaled by the Annunciation Monastery, founded in the reign of Ivan the Terrible to house the relics of local princes and containing a cathedral from 1664. Two last-mentioned cathedrals, being probably the works of the same masters, have much in common with the Resurrection Church (1658) in the downtown. Quite different is the tent-like church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, built in 1565 on the bank of the Oka to commemorate the Russian conquest of Kazan.

International relations
Murom is twinned with:
 * 🇧🇾 Babruysk, Belarus

Notable people
Among notable natives are the father of color photography, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863), the painter Ivan Kulikov (1875) and the father of television, Vladimir Zworykin (1888) and Russian physicist Igor Irodov.