In the historic part of the city there are many universities, theaters, museums and churches.
It is an important economic, transportation, scientific, educational and cultural center in Russia and the vast Volga-Vyatka economic region, and is the main center of river tourism in Russia. Nizhny Novgorod is the sixth-largest city in Russia, the second-most populous city on the Volga, as well as the Volga Federal District. The city is located at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga rivers in Central Russia, with a population of over 1.2 million residents, up to roughly 1.7 million residents in the urban agglomeration.
'Lower Newtown'), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, known from 1932 to 1990 as Gorky ( Горький, ), is the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and the Volga Federal District in Russia.
