a city under oblast jurisdiction, the administrative center of Murom Raion, Vladimir Oblast, RSFSR. Landing on the left bank of the Oka River; junction of railroad lines to Moscow, Kovrov, and Kazan. Population, 105,000 (1973; 12,500 in 1897; 40,000 in 1939; 72,000 in 1959).

Murom was first mentioned in the Lavrent’ev chronicles for 862. It became the capital of the Murom-Riazan principality in 1097 and served as the capital of the Murom principality from the mid-12th to the early 15th century. It became a part of the Grand Principality of Moscow in 1392 and a district city in 1778.

Murom developed according to a radial plan until 1788, at which time a regular plan was introduced. Churches in the city include the Church of Cosmas and Damian (1565; roof collapsed in 1868) and the Voskresenskaia Church (from 1658, with a covered gallery and tent-roofed porch). Murom is the site of a number of monasteries with structures from the 16th to 19th centuries, including the Spasskii Monastery (cathedral, from the second half of the 16th century), the Troitskii Monastery (cathedral, 1642–43; the Kazan Church [1648] and the bell tower [1652] are joined by a covered passageway), and the Blagoveshchenskii Monastery (cathedral, 1664; the Stefanovskaia Church, 1716). There are mid-19th-century market rows and dwellings in the classical style.

Contemporary Murom is an important industrial center. It has machine-building (diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, and Oka refrigerators), radio (radiograms, radio receivers for motor vehicles, electric musical instruments), wood-products (plywood combine), and linen-processing industries. There is a branch of the All-Union Correspondence Machine-building Institute, a medical school, and a pedagogical college. The city has a museum of local lore and is the site of a house-museum in memory of I. S. Kulikov, a painter who lived and worked in Murom. There is a bronze monument to V. I. Lenin by the sculptor Iu. G. Neroda, which was erected in 1962.