Volga
The Volga Federal District occupies most of the southern part of European Russia. The region is surrounded by Kazakhstan to the south, the Southern and Central Federal Districts to the west, the Northwestern District to the north and the Urals District to the east. The territory is divided between extensive productive lands used for agriculture and dense agglomerations. Areas with intact nature are an extreme rarity here. This is the second-most populous federal district in Russia after the central one, and is of great economic significance as well. Dozens of industrial centres, like Samara, Saratov, Perm and Nizhny Novgorod, form the image of the region. Saratov is a major port on the Volga, and famous for the longest bridge in Europe, a neo-Gothic conservatory and the numerous poets and prominent scientists born here. The biggest city, Samara, is one of the centres of military production in Russia. The enormous facilities dominate the cityscape, which is also home to many theatres and museums.