Kulebaki is a Russian town, the administrative center of the Kulebaki District in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. It has the population of 34 494 people (as of 2013) and takes the area of 81 sq.km.

The town is located in Meshchora, 188 km to the southwest of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a railway station on a branch from the line Murom – Arzamas and the highway (from Murom to Arzamas).

History of Kulebaki

The Kulebaki Village was recorded for the first time in 1719 and turned into a settlement in 1781. Its name comes from an anthroponyme: the Kulebakins were mentioned in sources starting from the 15th century.

The Kulebaki Steel Works was built and a small blast furnace was put into operation in 1866. The first open-hearth melting furnace (one of the first Martin furnaces in Russia) was constructed in 1877. By 1900 the steel works lagged behind only Sormovsky plant as regards the production output.

It became a working settlement in 1927 and has been a town since 1932.

Architecture and Sights

Detached houses are characteristic for the old part of the town, where there stands out the elegant wooden building of the former People's House (pavilion of the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition of 1896, which was moved to Kulebaki the same year).

In the 1970s-90s the residential district in northern part of the city was built up with 5-storeyed houses, and the downtown was reconstructed.