Sarov (English) Саров (Russian)
-  Town[citation needed]  -
Location of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia
Sarov Location of Sarov in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Coordinates: 54°56′N 43°19′E / 54.933°N 43.317°E / 54.933; 43.317Coordinates: 54°56′N 43°19′E / 54.933°N 43.317°E / 54.933; 43.317
Coat of arms
Administrative status (as of November 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Nizhny Novgorod Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to	town of oblast significance of Sarov[1]
Administrative center of	town of oblast significance of Sarov[1]
Municipal status (as of December 2006)
Urban okrug	Sarov Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of	Sarov Urban Okrug[2]
Representative body	Sarov Town Duma[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	232 km2 (90 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2010 Census)	92,073 inhabitants[3]
- Rank in 2010	185th
Population (2002 Census)	87,652 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2002	187th
Density	397 /km2 (1,030 /sq mi)[5]
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[6]
Town status since	1954[citation needed]
Previous names	Arzamas-16 (until 1991),[7] Kremlyov (until 1995)[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	607188[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 83130[8]
Official website

Sarov (Russian: Саро́в) is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Until 1995 it was known as Kremlyov (Кремлёв),^[7] while from 1946 to 1991 it was called Arzamas-16 (Арзама́с-16).^{[citation needed]} The town is closed as it is the Russian center for nuclear research. Population: 92,073 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[3] 87,652 (2002 Census).^[4]

  History

  Sarov Monastery in 1910

The history of the town can be divided into two different periods. In the earlier history of Russia it was known as one of the holy places of the Russian Orthodox Church, because of its monastery, that gave Russia one of its greatest saints, St. Seraphim. Since the 1940s, it has gradually become the center for research and production of Soviet and later Russian nuclear weapons.

The history of human settlement in the area around Sarov goes back at least to the 12th–13th centuries, when a large Mordvin settlement was founded on its spot. In 1298, the town was taken over by Tatars.

The modern town took its name from being the site of the Sarova Monastery next to the Sarovka River. In 1664, an Orthodox monk Theodosius first settled on the Sarov Hill. The first Church of Sarov tenement was founded in 1706. Saint Seraphim was living in Sarov from 1778 to 1833. In 1903, the monastery was visited by Tsar Nicholas II and other members of the royal family. At that time the monastery had nine churches, including one underground. Around 320 monks lived in the monastery.

In 1923, the monastery was closed, the monks faced Bolshevik repressions, and many were executed. During World War II, the monastery buildings were used as factories for producing rockets for BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket launchers.

In 1946, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics—a nuclear weapons design facility that would become known in the West under the acronym VNIIEF—was built. The town, initially called Arzamas-75, later renamed Arzamas-16, was removed from all unclassified maps. In 1954, Arzamas-16 was granted town status.^{[citation needed]}

  Model of the "Tsar Bomba" in the Sarov atomic bomb museum

The town is home to the Russian Federation Nuclear Center and "Atomic Bomb" museum which has a number of casings of Soviet-era nuclear weapons and photographs of those involved in their production. The main access is by train, which, after a security stop and inspection, is allowed into the town 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.

The town is surrounded by fences patrolled by the military. Foreigners, and even Russians who do not live in Sarov, are not allowed to enter the town without permission. Foreigners who visit on business must surrender their passports, phones, and cameras to security while they are in the facility, though some documentary filmmakers have shot footage inside the town walls.

A large portion of the town is located on the grounds of the P.G.S. State Park in adjacent Temnikovsky District of the Republic of Mordovia.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, the town became a sister city to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the home of the U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory (Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL). Scientists from LANL and VNIIEF have cooperated on various arms control and nuclear safeguards programs, under which the Los Alamos scientists learned, to their amusement, that their Russian colleagues paid homage to their American rivals by irreverently calling their own laboratory "Los Arzamas."^{[citation needed]}

Boris Yeltsin changed the town's name back to Sarov at the request of the residents in August 1995.

Today the Russian federal nuclear center is responsible for important decisions concerning the development, production, storage, and utilization of nuclear weapons; the recycling of radioactive and other materials; and research in fundamental and applied physics.

  Administrative and municipal status

Administratively, it is incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Sarov—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] Municipally, the town of oblast significance of Sarov is incorporated as Sarov Urban Okrug.^[2]

  International relations

  Twin towns and sister cities

Sarov is twinned with:

• Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
• New Athos, Abkhazia (de jure Georgia)

  See also

• Soviet atomic bomb project
• Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction

  References

  Notes

  Sources

• Законодательное собрание Нижегородской области. Закон №184-З от 16 ноября 2005 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Нижегородской области», в ред. Закона №21-З от 12 марта 2012 г «О внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Нижегородской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Нижегородские новости", №218(3390), 23 ноября 2005 г. (Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Law #184-Z of November 16, 2005 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, as amended by the Law #21-Z of March 12, 2012 On Amending Various Legislative Acts of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).
• Законодательное Собрание Нижегородской области. Закон №155-З от 26 декабря 2006 г. «О утверждении границ и состава территории городского округа город Саров Нижегородской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Нижегородские новости", №2(3654), 10 января 2007 г. (Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Law #155-Z of December 26, 2006 On Establishing the Borders and the Territorial Composition of the Urban Okrug of the Town of Sarov of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Effective as of after ten days from the day of the official publication.).
• "Los Alamos and Arzamas-16: The 'Sister Cities' Relationship". Los Alamos Science 24: 44–47. 1996. http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/number24.htm. 
• Борис Забываев. "Любимый город". Саров в Internet. [1]
• James Risen's State of War

  External links

• Official website of Sarov (Russian)
• Official website of Sarov Town Duma (Russian)
• Sarov Information from the Nuclear Cities Initiative Website
• More on Sakharov (and some photographs of Sarov), from the Center for History of Physics
• The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program (and more photographs of Sarov, including from the "Atomic Bomb" museum)
• Annotated bibliography for Arzamas-16, Russia from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• English page on Sarov Monastery web-site

Cities and towns in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Administrative center: Nizhny Novgorod Arzamas Balakhna Bogorodsk Bor Chkalovsk Dzerzhinsk Gorbatov Gorodets Knyaginino Kstovo Kulebaki Lukoyanov Lyskovo Navashino Nizhny Novgorod Pavlovo Perevoz Pervomaysk Sarov Semyonov Sergach Shakhunya Uren Vetluga Volodarsk Vorsma Vyksa Zavolzhye

Closed cities of  Russia Bolshoy Kamen Fokino Gadzhiyevo Krasnoznamensk Lesnoy Mezhgorye Mirny Norilsk Novouralsk Omutninsk Ostrovnoy Ozyorsk Polyarny Raduzhny Sarov Severomorsk Seversk Shikhany Snezhinsk Snezhnogorsk Tryokhgorny Uglegorsk Vilyuchinsk Zaozyorsk Zarechny Zelenogorsk Zheleznogorsk Znamensk