What is common between Finland, Estonia, Hungary, and the Republic of Mordovia?
In 2007, Saransk, Mordovia, the 1st Festival of the Finno-Ugric Peoples was hosted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and visited by Finnish President, TarjaHalonen, and Hungarian Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány. There are about 200 nationalities live in Russia and 13 of them are Finno-Ugric people. The nations that communicate in Finno-Ugric languages live in Finland, Estonia, Russia and Hungary. However, the nationalities have not lost their desire to share their cultural and historical heritage. The festival that was opened 10 years ago established the cultural development of Finno-Ugric peoples. Numerous festivals, events, shows and conferences that focused on protection its common traditions and pass them on to future generations were organized by the Finno-Ugric nations in Estonia, Finland, Hungary and russian regions for these years.
Interesting fact, The Mordovians are divided into two main ethnic subgroups and three further subgroups. The Erzya and Moksha are the main groups:
The Erzya or Erzyans, (Erzya: Эрзят/Erzyat), speakers of the Erzya language. Less than half of the Erzyans live in the autonomous republic of Mordovia, Russian Federation, SuraRiver and Volga River.
The Moksha or Mokshans, (Moksha: Мокшет/Mokshet), speakers of the Moksha language. Less than half of the Moksha population live in the autonomous republic of Mordovia, Russian Federation, in the basin of the Volga River.
Only 1/3 of all Mordovian live in Mordovia, the rest are scattered over the Russia as well as Far East, Armenia,Europe and USA.
5 top destinations to visit Mordovia
The Stepan Erzya Museum of Fine Arts is one of the major cultural centers of the Republic. The museum contains the works of the great sculptor, as well as collections of the folk artist of Mordovia F. Sychkov and Academician of Portrait-painting I. Makarov.
The Museum and ethnographic complex «Mordovian Podvorie» was opened in 2012 Here is a wooden house with national interior design and picturesque yard entourage: household outbuildings, Russian sauna, old farm tools. The restaurant «Mordovian Podvorie» is situated on the territory of the village. It presents the dishes of Mordovian and Russian cuisine.
The Museum of Mordovian Folk Culture was opened in 1999. The museum funds have over 3000 exhibits. Visitors can see Mordovian folk clothing, ceramics, icons, household utensils, as well as the products of folk art craftsmen
The St. John the Teologian Makarovsky Mostery was founded as a churchyard in 1702 by the landowner Makar Artemyevitch Polyansky on his own land. The historical part of the monastery, the Makarovsky churchyard, represents an architectural ensemble in baroque of 18th century.
State Natural reserve of P.G. Smidovich is the area of untouched nature occupies 32,142 hectares. It is located in the far north-west of Mordovia. The reserve is one of the oldest in Russia. The reserve offers the services of the Museum of Nature, cordons “Pavlovsk” and “Inorsky”, nature trails “Understanding the nature reserve” and “observation of the animals”.
The host of the World Cup 2018
Four group stage games of the world Cup FIFA 2018 in Russia will be held on 45-thousand stadium “arena Mordovia”. According to the designers, the shape and color of the “Mordovia Arena” symbolize the sun!