Mari El Tourism The Republic of Mari El - a hospitable land of tourism

Location of the Republic:
The Republic of Mari El is located in the east of the East European Plain in the middle part of the Volga River basin. From the north, northeast and east, our republic borders on the Kirov region. From the southeast and south with the Republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia, and in the west and northwest - with the Nizhny Novgorod region. The length of its borders exceeds 1200 km, and the total area is 23.3 thousand km2.

The Volga flows through our Republic for 155 kilometers- the longest and most abundant river in Europe. On its banks, the museums of Kozmodemyansk and the Sheremetev Castle in the village of Yurino hospitably opened their doors.

Numerous mineral springs, significant outcrops of which are located in the valleys of the Ilet and Yushut rivers, are used for medicinal purposes in sanatoriums, rest homes and hospitals.

Lakes are the national property of the region. Failed, interdune, floodplain, they invariably attract with summer coolness and the purest refreshing water. The failures are located mainly on the southern, southwestern slopes of the Mariysko-Vyatka ridge. Most of them are located in the lower reaches of the Ilet River - Lake. Yalchik, Deaf, Bottomless, Kichier.

The largest group of such lakes is located on the edge of the northern ledge of the Sotnur Upland, where there are 11 lakes in a chain, among them the Sea Eye with a depth of 35 m, and 6 lakes at the foot of the Kerebelak Upland.

The deepest karst lake in the Republic of Mari El is Zryv. Its depth reaches 56 meters. Most of the failed lakes located in the forests are very picturesque. On their banks there are tourist camps, sports and health camps, rest houses and sanatoriums.
Located on Maple Mountain, Mari Chodra National Park, is an interesting natural-territorial complex. The Klenovaya Gora sanatorium was built on its territory, there are such places popular with tourists as the Zeleny Klyuch spring, lakes Yalchik, Mashinier, Glukhoe, Konanjer, the rivers Ilet, Yushut, Petyalka flow. Here is the oldest copy oak, called Pugachevsky. According to legend, under the canopy of this oak, E.I. Pugachev stopped for the night with his detachment. Oak differs sharply in its size among the stands. This is a gigantic tree with a powerful trunk, the diameter of which is 159 cm, which is part of the upper tier. The Pugachevsky oak, taken separately, is a valuable natural monument.

It offers tourists a developed transport network, represented by all types of transport. This is a river one - along the Volga and Vetluga rivers with marinas in the city of Zvenigovo, the city of Volzhsk, the city of Kozmodemyansk, the village. Yurino, pos. Kokshaisk. The airport of Yoshkar-Ola is connected by flights with the airports of Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov. Railway communication is available to Moscow, Kazan, Yaransk. Highways are laid to Cheboksary and Kazan.

On the territory of the republic, five recreational zones of sports, health and educational tourism have been identified. Tours with active rest are organized. These are water routes along the rivers Malaya and Bolshaya Kokshaga, Bolshoy Kundysh, Ilet, Nemda, Volga; on foot and on horseback - in the southwestern, southern and northeastern parts of the Republic; cycling and skiing around the edge.

Pilgrimage tours enjoy steady popularity to holy places (monasteries, temples, holy springs) and cult groves. The national culture of the Mari region is rich and diverse. Traditionally, cultural and economic ties with the Finno-Ugric peoples are developing. Hungary, Finland, the Baltic countries are long-standing and stable partners of the Republic of Mari El.

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Capital: the city of Yoshkar-Ola, founded in 1584.

Geographical position

Mari El in the north and east borders on the Kirov region, in the southeast - on the Republic of Tatarstan, in the southwest - on the Republic of Chuvashia, in the west - on the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The area of the republic is 23,375 sq km, the population is 685.9 thousand people (2016).

Climatic features

The climate is temperate continental, with long cold winters (average temperature -19C) and warm summers (average temperature +25C). The hottest weather is in mid-July. Winter, which usually begins in November, attracts lovers of skiing, summer is an excellent season for traveling to natural and cultural attractions. Mari El is considered a region with very good ecology.

Tourist Opportunities

Tourism Committee of the Republic of Mari El

Rafting down the Volga, you have the opportunity to visit many museums and ancient castles: in the city of Kozmodemyansk, in the village of Yurino. During the rafting, you can also enjoy fishing: sturgeon, sterlet, carp, roach are waiting for you.

Kayaking enthusiasts will appreciate the picturesque shores of Bolshaya Kokshaga or numerous lakes, such as Lake Pike. The best time of the year for rafting on rivers and lakes is the end of summer. You can choose one of the many routes: along the Studenka River, along Churkan Lake, the route along the Bolshaya Kokshaga, which is considered one of the cleanest rivers in Europe.

Those who are more attracted to mountain landscapes should visit the "Mari Switzerland" - this is how the Vyatka ridge is called.

One of the reserves of the republic is the reserve "Big Kokshaga", created in order to preserve natural wealth. Another large nature reserve is the Mari Chodra National Park, where moose and bears are found. Hiking trails are laid in the park, and one of the main attractions is an ancient oak tree with a trunk diameter of 159 cm, under which, according to legend, Yemelyan Pugachev stopped with his detachment. Hunting is allowed in some parts of the park: elk, bear and other animals can become your trophy.

An unusual story at the intersection of different civilizations and tribes is reflected in the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev. Tourists are offered an exposition dedicated to the animal and plant world of the region, history and ethnography, material and spiritual culture of indigenous peoples: Russians, Tatars, Chuvashs, Udmurts.

History in some places remained on the streets of Yoshkar-Ola. This is the house of the merchant Pchelin, the Ascension Church in the Baroque style, as well as the house of the merchant Lokhanov, the merchant Chulkov and several other buildings.

Not far from Yoshkar-Ola there are villages that have been attracting ethnographers and tourists for many years. This is the village of Yezhovo, where monastic buildings of the 18th century have been preserved; the village of Medvedevo, where the local history museum has an interesting department dedicated to the legends and tales of the Mari people.

Attractions:

Monument to Governor Prince Ivan Andreevich Obolensky-Nogotkov
Musical clock with original sculptural composition "12 Apostles"
Cultural and historical complex "Tsarevokokshay Kremlin"
Sheremetev Castle (Sheremetev Manor)
Monument to Saints Peter and Fevronia
Monument of wooden architecture the city of Kozmodemyansk
State Natural National Park "Mariy Chodra"
stone mountain
sea eye
State Nature Reserve "Bolshaya Kokshaga"
Mountain reserve, tract "Nolkinsky stone"
Sculptural composition "Yoshkin cat"

For more detailed information about the region, see the Internet resources of state authorities of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

Report of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture, Press and Nationalities of the Republic of Mari El M.Z. Vasyutin at the XVI meeting of the Coordinating Council for Culture under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (Yoshkar-Ola, September 28, 2012).

The idea of using cultural potential for tourism development is not new. As well as the understanding that tourism, in turn, is also a resource not only for the development of the economy, but also for culture. It is able to stimulate the processes of preserving cultural heritage, enriching cultural life, humanitarian development of the individual and entire communities, harmonization of interethnic and interreligious relations. After all, tourism not only consumes, but also creates organizational and material conditions in the field of culture, gives cultural bearers a sense of pride and responsibility for a unique heritage, and tourists a sense of respect and awareness of the uniqueness of world cultural, linguistic and religious diversity.

The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001, defines tourism as a sphere that uses the cultural heritage of mankind and at the same time contributes to its enrichment.

In recent years, the topic of mutually beneficial use of the potentials of culture and tourism has become a full-fledged part of the agenda of municipal, regional and federal authorities. Private and public initiatives, non-commercial and commercial projects in the field of tourism become part of regional development programs, objects of support from local governments and the state.

Mari El also does not remain aloof from such processes. We have a rich cultural heritage and the potential of the cultural industry accumulated over decades. In combination with the unique diverse nature that our region is rightfully famous for, as well as the rapidly developing infrastructure and urban architectural environment (which many of the colleagues present here managed to get acquainted with), this becomes a serious basis for the development of cultural and educational tourism in our region.

"Land of Mary. A heritage born of nature” – this is how one of the tourist brands of Mari El sounds. It accurately conveys the importance that we attach to traditional culture, closely related to the nature in which it was born.

Our region is interesting for its location. From time immemorial, there are water and land routes near it, along which communication between the East and the West takes place. In the immediate vicinity were centers of influence, which we now call megacities. At the same time, the nature of the Mari region, the way of life remain almost untouched - already a few kilometers from the transcontinental highways, unique karst lakes, forests, tracts and reserved places, villages with a traditional way of life, management and culture begin.

The special geographical position of the region influenced the formation of a multicultural social environment. Five ethnic groups - Mari, Russians, Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvashs - are the indigenous inhabitants of the region and have coexisted peacefully for many centuries.

This left a special imprint on religious life. Three confessions traditional for our region have official recognition: Orthodoxy, Islam and the Mari Traditional Religion. At the same time, the uniqueness of the situation lies in the fact that both Orthodoxy and Islam, being world religions, have special traditions and features in our region. And the Mari Traditional Religion (Mari Yumyyula in Mari) is perhaps the only pre-Christian denomination in Europe that has official organizational registration, legal registration, rich traditions of religious life, widespread practice and distribution among the population.

The ethno-cultural factor has been playing a key role in the formation of regional cultural policy for many decades. This affected not only the features of the formation of a support system for traditional culture, folk art, amateur performances, a network of rural club institutions, but also the development of theatrical, musical, visual, choreographic art, museum and library science, and a system of professional education in the field of culture.

Therefore, speaking of cultural and educational tourism (including ethno-tourism) in the Republic of Mari El, it would be quite fair to consider in a complex the entire or almost the entire range of cultural benefits created in our region.

But, of course, traditional culture is the basis of modern cultural life. This is our pride. Indeed, in Mari El, it has been preserved in its original form, has a wide existence, rightfully attracts the interest of our guests from all over the world.

For a relatively small population, we have a large number of actively operating and supported by a network of state and municipal cultural institutions of folklore ensembles. The total number of Mari, Russian, Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt ensembles in the republic is 137. And these are only amateur amateur associations. At the same time, it is very important to emphasize that, as a rule, folklore ensembles (even for children) are never limited to only one genre of folklore.

As a rule, this is a universal team with universal participants, able not only to perform on the stage of a folklore festival, but also to support, be the basis of a tribal or community holiday, conduct a ceremony, meet and treat - perform the whole complex of actions of the traditional cultural way. That is, our folklore ensembles are a vivid visible expression of traditional life, the existence of traditional culture among the people. It is extremely interesting to observe when members of a folklore group, together with relatives and fellow villagers, participate in a wedding procession or religious ceremonies, the celebration of calendar and ritual holidays, and other significant events in the life of the local community. In our opinion, this is an excellent example of how the support of a network of rural cultural institutions has affected the preservation, and somewhere the return of traditional culture to the natural environment.

As in the situation with folklore, in the field of arts and crafts and art crafts, Mari El also has great potential. Suffice it to say that there are about 2,000 craftsmen in the republic, and there are historically established traditional centers of folk arts and crafts. In almost half of the districts of the republic, they are engaged in basket weaving and basketry. otp contributions Masters of the central and eastern regions of Mari El are famous for their work on Mari embroidery and folk costume. Weaving is an active trade in the west and in the south-eastern part of the republic. Traditional woodcarving is actively practiced in five districts, and artistic processing of birch bark in two districts. We have coopers, blacksmiths, leather craftsmen, makers of folk musical instruments. Many masters are united in studios, artels, houses of craftsmen. In these associations, constant work is carried out in the direction of studying, researching crafts, and training the younger generation of craftsmen.

Of course, such diversity cannot fail to bear fruit. Numerous traditional holidays are held in the republic on a permanent basis in the form of community, district, city events. Russians - Christmas, Maslenitsa, Krasnaya Gorka, Easter, Apple Spas, Trinity, Ilyin's Day and others; Mari - Shorykyol, Ӱyarnya, Kugeche, Semik, Peledysh payrem, Aga payrem, Indesh kugarnya, U kyshal payrem, Ӱdyrsiy (Girl's feast), Koҥgapayrem (Festival of the stove) and others, Tatar - Navruz, Ramazan, Sabantuy, Udmurt - Grond bydton, Chuvash - Akatui.

Almost every district and even a rural settlement has its own annual festival in the field of folklore, arts and crafts and arts and crafts. And, of course, festivals and holidays are held at the republican level, which have not only regional, but also interregional and, one might even say, all-Russian significance.

The Mari traditional summer holiday Peledysh payrem, the Tatar Sabantuy, the Udmurt Gron bydton, the Chuvash Akatui gather folklore groups, participants and spectators from near and far regions of Russia.

Many other regional festivals of masters of arts and crafts and crafts, music, folklore have grown into interregional and all-Russian ones. Here, first of all, we can mention the unique National Costume Festival “Mari vurgem unala uzhesh” (“The Mari Costume Festival invites you to visit”), which brings together craftsmen, folk costume designers from all over the country.

Our special pride is the recently born festival of ethnic music “Vudsho yoga” (Waters flow…), held in honor of our great countrymen-composers Yakov Eshpai and Andrei Eshpai. Within the framework of one festival, on open-air concert venues, you can hear both traditional and classical, jazz, pop music. Undoubtedly, this festival will take its rightful place among Russian music festivals.

The festival of national pop music "Shy Pamash" (Silver Spring) gathers young performers and fans from many regions of Russia.

The interregional folklore and ethnographic holiday "Land of the Ancestors" in a very short time has grown from a modest municipal event into an interregional event. Thousands of participants and spectators, folklore performers and masters of arts and crafts gather in the picturesque valley of the Arda River. By the way, it should be noted that the organizers of this particular festival were one of the first to start interacting with the tourism industry. The tourist complex "Razdolie", located nearby, acted as a sponsor and co-organizer, as a result of which the geographical boundaries of the festival expanded.

A special place in the series of major festivals is occupied by the Song Festival "Peledysh ayo" ("Festival of Flowers"). For 11 years, it has been held annually in the Gornomariysky district on Pevcheskaya Polyana - a spacious picturesque bank of the confluence of two rivers - the Bolshaya Yunga and the Volga, and gathers fans of choral singing and listeners from Mari El and neighboring regions.

By themselves, these events - holidays and festivals, from the local to the interregional level - are not only the most important tool of cultural policy in preserving traditional culture, enriching the cultural life of our citizens. They are a major factor in cultural and educational tourism. Even without being included in tourist routes and tours, they have actually become objects of intra-regional and inbound tourism. Since the beginning of the 2000s, we have seen a significant increase in the number of visitors to these events, both at the expense of residents of our republic and visitors from other regions. That is, for the sake of familiarizing with traditional culture, for the sake of participating in a cultural event, people make a choice and travel tens and hundreds of kilometers, find accommodation, food ...

We have been observing exactly the same situation for many years when visiting craft centers - residents of Mari El, residents of other regions specially go to get acquainted with the craft, purchase products of masters, learn how to make things with their own hands.

The most important part of cultural and educational tourism is visiting museums. Almost every school or municipal museum of Mari El has a worthy collection dedicated to the ethnography of the Mari and other peoples of our region. As for large museums, it seems to us that they fully satisfy the diverse needs of the most sophisticated visitors. This is a deep acquaintance with the culture, ethnography and history of the Mari region in the National Museum of Local Lore, and acquaintance with traditional architecture and life in the Ethnographic Open Air Museum, and familiarization with the Mari fine arts in the Mari Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery ...

At the same time, it is very important to note that in recent times the museum has ceased to be a frozen phenomenon. Museum workers create a variety of interactive and animated programs, conduct master classes, courses, and lectures. That is, museums are becoming centers of culture, centers of active leisure, familiarization with history and culture. This is manifested in the growth in the number of visits both by residents of the Republic of Mari El and guests from abroad. True, this is also influenced by the geographical factor. Thus, the open-air Ethnographic Museum in Kozmodemyansk, due to its location on the Volga, is visited by many more guests from outside the region than museums in Yoshkar-Ola.

It should be noted here that the construction of the Museum of History and Archeology of the Mari Territory has now begun, which will undoubtedly become another object of interest for both the inhabitants of the republic and our guests.

Another important aspect of cultural and educational tourism are monuments - immovable objects of cultural heritage. In total, there are 1126 such objects in the republic. These include monuments of history and architecture, monumental art of archeology, cultural and landscape monuments.

In general, objects of cultural heritage in themselves are not only part of the tourist interest, but also form entire tourist destinations. This, for example, is the pearl of the Volga region - Sheremetyev Castle - a unique monument of history, architecture and, in a sense, the local traditional culture of the Zavetluzhsky part of the Republic of Mari El. Or another example - the archeological monument "Mount Alamner" - the ancient Mari city - to which reconstruction clubs and spectators from many regions of Russia now gather for annual festivals.

In this regard, it is also worth noting the pilgrimage and religious tourism, which is directly related to visiting historical and cultural monuments. Now in Mari El there is a rapid growth of interest in Christian shrines, as well as in the religious life of adherents of the Mari Traditional Religion. Therefore, we attach great importance to the fact that in the Republic of Mari El, almost all religious objects of the 3 confessions traditional for our region are taken under state protection. These are temples, mosques, sacred groves and other objects of religious purpose.

Perhaps, one of the most common types of tourism in Mari El, rich in unique nature, are classic hiking trips of local history and amateur research groups? This is a direction of tourism, which is rooted in local history of Soviet times - a trip on foot, on bicycles, on off-road vehicles, on skis, on horseback and even on boats, the purpose of which is not love for tourism as a sport, but as a way of knowing the world as a desire to join the culture, history, legends and myths of the unique Mari region. School teams of local lore draw a map of Mari El with their routes. Clubs of extreme travelers from Moscow, Kazan, other cities and villages come to the Mari villages, listen to legends, visit magical places, and then, returning home, talk about their impressions on Internet sites.

All these modest examples emphasize the peculiarity of Mari El in terms of cultural, educational, ethnic tourism.

This feature of Mari El could not but affect the development of the tourism industry as such in our republic. The presence of such a potential in the form of carriers of folklore and the existence of traditional culture, traditional trades and crafts, historical and cultural monuments, museums, cultural institutions created excellent prerequisites for its development. Therefore, it was quite understandable that the tourism industry began to cooperate with culture. Of course, one should not exaggerate the achievements in this area, we can say that we are at the beginning of the path, but something has already been done.

The simplest things are the inclusion of objects of traditional culture - monuments, museums, houses of crafts and workshops, villages and villages, festivals and holidays in tourist routes and information resources about tourism. Not only tourism figures are concerned about this issue. Industries of culture - Republican and municipal institutions are currently tasked with actively promoting information about events, cultural objects in close cooperation with tourist information resources and developers of tourist routes. (By the way, I must say that a special project is being developed to integrate the activities of cultural institutions and the Information and Tourist Center of the Republic of Mari El).

A more difficult task in cultural and educational tourism in terms of its ethnic component is the development of special thematic tours dedicated to traditional culture. In fact, this work is not as simple as it seems at first glance, if we really mean familiarization with real traditional culture, and not with a remake with popular prints and pseudo rarities. In fact, the developer of such a tour must combine not only the skills of a tour operator, but also an advanced cultural organizer, ethnographer, manager of sociocultural work. He not only must be able to organize the delivery of a tourist to a place of contact with traditional culture. He must be able to delicately technically, organizationally, creatively and meaningfully adapt the cultural resource to the perception of visiting tourists. After all, this is a very difficult cultural managerial task, for example, to encourage the bearers of traditional culture, who are used to living in isolation, to open their world to others, and even so that it becomes understandable to strangers.

An equally important skill in this matter is also not to harm and, if possible, to benefit.
The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, mentioned above, states that tourism policies and activities are based on respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage in order to protect and preserve it for future generations, that tourism activities should be planned in such a way as to ensure the preservation and prosperity of traditional crafts, culture and folklore, and not lead to their standardization and impoverishment, that the funds obtained through visits to cultural sites and monuments should at least partially be used to maintain, protect, improve and restore this heritage. Agree, for all of us, remembering the pace at which in Soviet times folklore turned into "ethnographic canned food" for mass stage consumption, the danger of incorrect consumer development of ethnotourism is obvious.

I think in Mari El, as in many other regions of Russia, it is possible to solve such problems.

For example, this is the creation of special small ethnographic museums, ethnographic houses in the places of stay of tourists, where original ethnographic collections are collected, introducing traditional life, a traditional workshop and even a kitchen are equipped. This did not turn out to be a difficult task, apparently because the experience of creating school, rural local history museums, corners of traditional culture in Mari El has decades of history. On the one hand, an ethnographic house, a hut is something like a museum, but on the other hand, it is a living environment in which you can spend time, listen to a lecture, hold an event, taste national cuisine ... The owners themselves, the villagers, organize and serve such houses , receive guests in them.

But there are other examples when tourists are invited to visit and even live in a real residential building with a real Mari family - up to and including participation in housework, caring for livestock, and making hay. This is not an easy way to receive guests.

But much more difficult is the organization of acquaintance of tourists with rituals, including within the framework of traditional holidays and ritual events. After all, it is always desirable that it be authentic and natural, but not all traditional rituals tolerate the presence of strangers, not all are suitable for display. Of course, the simplest is staging. And in many cases it is used. But, as the experience of successful tourist cultural organizers shows (so to speak), in many cases it is possible to do without it.

Now our travel managers, together with the bearers of traditional culture, offer tours where virtually every step of the tourist, from visiting holy places to participating in games and entertainment, or learning applied skills in the workshop of an artisan or blacksmith, is naturally accompanied by natural rites and rituals - everything is done as it should be, with the spiritual attitude and ritual design that is inherent in traditional culture. This is a very difficult task for tour organizers!

The most difficult and costly task is the creation of infrastructure - accommodation, food, transport. After all, it should best correspond to the goals of the development of cultural and educational tourism, especially in terms of ethnotourism.

Creating a sense of immersion in the appropriate atmosphere for those who do not prefer luxury hotels on their trips is a whole science. One of the solutions is the creation of guest houses. Now we are witnessing a process when rural and district administrations, realizing the importance of tourism development, with the support of specialists from the Tourist Information Center and tour operators, encourage rural residents to build new or convert empty houses into guest houses. There are already dozens of such in the republic. They unite in appropriate networks in order to jointly advance in the service market. Now they can already be found on the Internet.

But there are also more ambitious projects - the creation of hotel and recreational complexes with ethnic flavor and even ethnic villages. Several such complexes are currently in operation. The most famous of them are "Expansion" and "Vizimbir".

The whole range of services from the field of ethno-tourism is provided here - immersion in the cultural environment through visiting an ethnographic hut, familiarization with traditional rituals, learning the language, songs, participating in real holidays, tasting and participating in the preparation of traditional cuisine, traditional medicine and health restoration, traditional games and entertainment, teaching crafts, fishing and hunting in traditional ways, and the like.

With the support of the Government of the Republic of Mari El, the group of companies "VladInvestTour" developed a project for a hotel and tourist complex and an educational center "Park-Hotel "Mari Ethnographic Village". The complex is made in strict accordance with the Mari architectural traditions, combined with modern technological solutions. The project is currently at the stage of searching for investors.

In our opinion, cultural and educational tourism in the Republic of Mari El should not be limited to ethnotourism in the countryside. As mentioned above, all of our cultural potential is based on traditional culture, due to the ethno-cultural characteristics of our region. Therefore, ethnotourism, as one of the areas of cultural and educational tourism, in our opinion, can also imply acquaintance with classical and pop music, drama theater, opera and ballet, and the fine arts of the Republic of Mari El. After all, in one way or another, these layers of culture are the heritage, present and future of our people.

We have excellent Mari classical music, opera and ballet, dramaturgy. There are 5 theaters in the republic, working in the Mari, Mountain Mari, Russian languages, which, you see, is a considerable number for a relatively large region. It is important to note that the performances in the Mari language are available to the Russian-speaking audience, since all of them must be performed in simultaneous translation into Russian. Agree, a visit to the national drama theater is one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with the national culture, understanding the traditional culture of the people.

One of the best ways to get acquainted with the Mari dance is the concerts of our song and dance ensemble "Mari El".

Currently, a new puppet theater building is being built, which will undoubtedly become an attractive object for family tourism. His repertoire includes a variety of productions and, above all, performances in Mari or Russian based on Mari folklore, myths, legends and fairy tales.

The construction of the building of the Mari Opera and Ballet Theater named after Erik Sapaev is close to completion. Now the installation of an organ made in France is being completed in it. It should be noted that the theater's repertoire includes not only works of world classics, but also works of Mari composers and choreographers.

The theater has a long and rich tradition of festival activities. This is the holding of opera and ballet festivals "Winter Evenings", "Summer Seasons", "In honor of the great ballerina Galina Ulanova". We believe that the new building of the theater will expand creative opportunities, become one of the centers of opera and ballet art in the Volga region.

Buildings and cultural structures adorn our capital. The city is changing very quickly, new monuments appear that perpetuate the Mari traditions and the history of our region, preserve the memory of Russian poets and writers, and foster a caring attitude towards the family. The visiting card of these transformations was the clock on Obolensky-Nogotkov Square and Patriarchal Square, dedicated to themes from biblical legends. The city becomes comfortable for residents and attractive for tourists.

It seems that the unique, untouched nature, the atmosphere of a beautiful, quiet and cozy capital, the developing road and tourist infrastructure, numerous monuments, a rich, eventful cultural life, and, like a pearl in this setting, rich and unique folk traditions, are a worthy resource for development of tourism in the Republic of Mari El.

The following people took part in the work on the report:

E.A. Yuzykain, Head of the Department of Interethnic and Interconfessional Relations of the Ministry of Culture, Press and Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Mari El;

T.V. Kirillova, leading methodologist of the Republican scientific and methodological center of folk art and cultural and leisure activities.

The Republic of Mari El is located in the east of the East European Plain in the middle part of the Volga River basin. From the north, northeast and east, our republic borders on the Kirov region. From the southeast and south with the Republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia, and in the west and northwest - with the Nizhny Novgorod region. The length of its borders exceeds 1200 km, and the total area is 23.3 thousand km2.

For 155 kilometers, the Volga flows through our Republic - the longest and most abundant river in Europe. Museums of Kozmodemyansk and "Sheremetev's Castle" in the village of Yurino hospitably opened their doors on its banks.

Numerous mineral springs, significant outcrops of which are located in the valleys of the Ilet and Yushut rivers, are used for medicinal purposes in sanatoriums, rest homes and hospitals.

Lakes are the national heritage of our region. Failed, interdune, floodplain, they invariably attract with summer coolness and the purest refreshing water. The failures are located mainly on the southern, southwestern slopes of the Mariysko-Vyatka ridge. Most of them are located in the lower reaches of the Ilet River - Lake. Yalchik, Deaf, Bottomless, Kichier.

Located on the Maple Mountain National Park "Mari Chodra" is an interesting natural-territorial complex. The sanatorium "Klenovaya Gora" was built on its territory, there are such places popular with tourists as the Zeleny Klyuch spring, lakes Yalchik, Mashinier, Glukhoe, Konanjer, the rivers Ilet, Yushut, Petyalka flow. The oldest specimen of oak, called Pugachevsky, has been preserved here. According to legend, under the canopy of this oak, E.I. Pugachev stopped for the night with his detachment. Oak differs sharply in its size among the stands. This is a gigantic tree with a powerful trunk, the diameter of which is 159 cm, which is part of the upper tier. The Pugachevsky oak, taken separately, is a valuable natural monument.

Pilgrimage tours to holy places (monasteries, temples, holy springs) and cult groves enjoy steady popularity. The national culture of the Mari region is rich and diverse. Traditionally, cultural and economic ties with the Finno-Ugric peoples are developing. Hungary, Finland, the Baltic countries are long-standing and stable partners of the Republic of Mari El.