Samara

Samara was officially founded in 1586. During World War II Samara (the city is situated not far from Moscow), then named Kuibyshev, was considered to be the second capital of USSR.
Many famous people worked and lived in Samara including outstanding Russian writers Lev Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, painters Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov and Ivan Aivazovsky, revolutionists Michael Frunze and Vladimir Lenin. Even French writer Alexander Duma had paid a visit to Samara in 1858. Impressed by the travel he wrote the book "From Paris to Astrakhan" and gave his description of Samara in it.
Full of historic priceless art works, it's a very cultural city and an interesting one to visit if you are in Russia although is not a very tourism destinated place.