It was located on the left bank of the Small Cheremshan River in Alexeeyevsky District of the Tatarstan.

The city was founded around 10th century by the indigenous Bilär tribe of the Volga Bulgars.

In the Rus chronicles, it was also known as "Great City" (Великий город), because its population reputedly was in excess of 100,000.

The city's ruins (nearly 8 km2) were explored by Rychkov, Tatischev, Khalikov and Khuchin.

[2] Bilyarsk was the home of a fictional Soviet air force base in Craig Thomas' Firefox novel and subsequent film, about the fictional MiG-31 Firefox aircraft stolen by United States Air Force pilot Mitchell Gant.