Sarov

Sarov (??????) is a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Kremlyovsk and Arzamas-16 and considered a closed city generally off limits to foreigners.

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Much of the city was built by German POWs and the architecture has a definite German / European flavor. The city also houses the Russian "Atomic Bomb" museum which has a number of "shells" of Soviet-era nuclear weapons and photographs of those involved in their production. Most access is by train, which, after a security stop and inspection, is allowed into the city to disembark passengers. A small airport on the facility is generally for government aircraft only, and visitors usually fly to Nizhny Novgorod airport and then drive three hours.

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It was a major research center for nuclear weapons during the Soviet era. The city is surrounded by fences that are patrolled by the military. Many foreigners who visit are forced to surrender their passport, phone and camera to Russian security while they are in the facility, though some documentary filmmakers have shot footage inside the city walls.

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The actual location of the closed city, "Arzamas-16" is difficult to find on the maps. This is because a large portion of it is located on the grounds of the P.G.S. State Park in the adjacent Temnikovski Raion of the Republic of Mordovia.

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See also:

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• Igor Kurchatov
• Lavrenti Beria
• Soviet atomic bomb project
Sarov: External links ►



 

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast: Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (?????????????? ????????) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast)....

Russia: The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: ???????, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,400 km? (6,595,600 mi?), it is the largest coun...

Closed city: A closed city is a city with travel and residency restrictions in the former Soviet Union, or in a CIS country. There are two major categories of closed cities: closed because of the presence of sensitive military or nuclear industry and border cities (in fact, whole border areas) closed for securit...