Nizhny Novgorod was founded on the confluence of the two great Russian rivers - the Volga and the Oka - by Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich in 1221 as a strong standpoint of defending the Russian frontiers from Mordvinians, Cheremisians and Tatars. The Nizhny Novgorod city is the most economically progressive and reformist in Russia. History decreed that the Nizhny Novgorod city should be the "heart of Mother Russia", situated as it is in the very center of the European part of the Russian Federation, on the banks of the River Volga. The City has advantageous geographical location for economic and social development. The City covers an area of 41,1 thousands ha., population - 1370,2 thousands pers., average age of inhabitants - 36 years, Russian population - 95%. You need only to walk down the streets to sense the renaissance in NizhnyNovgorod, where the visible changes, construction, renovation and restoration continue unabated, a place in a rush to catch up with the rest of the world. It's not only cosmetic. Foreign investment was growing and Industrial output was revers-ing the long decline that had marked Russia's transition to a market economy The future of Russia is being written in Nizhny Novgorod. A great number of historical, architectural and cultural monuments has remained in the City, what gave premises to UNESCO for inclusion of Nizhny Novgorod in the list of 100 cities constituting world historical and cultural value.