| Situated at the cross roads of Asia
and Europe, in the foothills of the Central Ural Mtns, the city of Yekaterinburg wore many
a hat before it regained its earliest identity. |
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The city is located at the source
of the Iset River in an area pretty with lakes and hills. Yekaterinburg is the capital of
Sverdlovsk Oblast, a region that has abundant natural resources, major deposits of gold, bauxite,
asbestos, iron, vanadium, copper and nickel. Two thirds of the region is covered with
dense forests that produce a fair percentage of Russia's timber.
Founded in 1721 as a fort- cum-foundry, it was
named Yekaterinburg in honour of the Tsarina Catherine I, the consort of Tsar Peter I.
Fully cognizant of the tremendous military and economic potential of the region's natural
resources, Peter I developed the city both as a military garrison and the administrative
nerve-centre for the mining towns in the Urals and Siberia. The construction of the Great
Siberian Highway in 1783 and that of the Trans-Siberian RR in the 19th century made it
more accessible to the rest of Russia and commensurately increased its regional
importance. During the two world wars, the Russian government translocated many of the key
industries to the Ural Mtns, a region less vulnerable to attacks from the German Army/Air
Force.
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Modern Yekaterinburg has since then
grown into one of Russia's largest cities with a population of over 1.5 million. |
It is Russia's main centre for heavy industries,
iron and steel and defence production, a major transport hub for the entire Urals region
and the commercial, scientific and cultural heart of Siberia. Yekaterinburg is also a
major educational centre with the
Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences located here alongwith
the Academy's many institutes and research facilities. As the regional centre for
performing arts, Yekaterinburg is home to the Opera and Ballet Theatre
and the Urals Philharmonic Orchestra Company.
Its long history has seen some bloody chapters -
after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918, the Romanov royal family was kept in confinement
in Yekaterinburg till such time as their fate was decided. Sadly, the entire family
comprising Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, their five children, pets and servants
were killed here on July 17, 1918. The city was given a new name in 1924 - Sverdlovsk -
this time in honour of the mastermind of the royal murders, Yakov Sverdlov. It returned to
being Yekaterinburg in 1991, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The city's most
recent claim to fame is Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president who was born and bred
here.
The city really does not have very
much in terms of tourist interest, except a macabre visit to the site of the Romanov
murders - the house itself was demolished in 1977 but a memorial consisting of an
iron cross and marble plaque commemorate the spot. A church to the Romanovs is on the
anvil - paucity of funds have temporarily put that one on hold. This city is of
great importance to geologists and industrial archaeologists - for them, there is
The Museum of City Architecture & Urals Industrial
Technology and The Urals Geology Museum. For others,
The Fine Arts Museum with sections devoted to unusual cast-iron art, local
craft work and late 19th and early 20th century paintings, The Military History Museum
and The Regional Local Studies Museum would be of more interest. The Sverdlov
Statue straddles a rock on prospekt Lenina as a constant reminder of the city's
gruesome history.
Climate: Yekaterinburg has a continental type of climate - summers are
mild, warm but not hot while winters are bitterly cold. Average summer temperatures tend
to swing between 18°C to 40°C ; winter temperatures are more extreme with average
figures between -15°C to - 40°C .
Getting there: Some 15km south of the city is the main
airport at Koltsovo - it receives daily flights from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk,
Vladivostok and Novosibirisk. International flights come in from Frankfurt ( three times a
week), Tashkent, Almaty, Perm and Krasnoyarsk. The second air terminus in Yekaterinburg is
at Uktus - this one has only a few local flights coming in. As the western terminus for
the Trans-Siberian RR, Yekaterinburg is a major stop for trains bound to Perm,
Novosibirsk, Moscow, Vladivostok, Omsk, Tyumen and Kazan. Trains of the Trans-Mongolian
and Trans- Manchurian RR stop here enroute to Moscow, Vladivostok and Beijing. Direct
trains operate to Yekaterinburg from Moscow, St Petersburg, Tashkent, Almaty and Bishkek.
Bus connections are only available to the neighbouring towns of Tyumen, Chelyabinsk and
Nizhny Tagil. Local transport options would cover trolleybuses, taxis and the metro.
Accommodation is available to suit most budgets - for
those on really tight budgets, rest rooms at the Railway Stn are the cheapest and most
convenient choice while those with narry a care can try out the charms of upmarket hotels
on ulitsa Sofyi Kovalevskoy, ulitsa Bardina, ulitsa Kubiyshev or the ones on ulitsa 8
Marta. Dining out options abound from the traditional local cuisine, pub fare, Chinese
food, what qualifies as pan-European cuisine to the ubiquitous soups, burgers and coffee.
Favourite watering holes and rendezvous with most visitors are the bars in Yekaterinburg -
the Malakhit is an entertainment complex that serves up an eclectic variety of activities.
Shoppers looking for souvenirs should try "Uralskie podnosy" - the local
craft of ground stone engraved trays, rings and pictures.
The bigger banking establishments in Yekaterinburg will exchange currency, cash
travelers cheques and give cash advances against credit cards. The post office is on
ulitsa Lenina and has fax, EMS, Internet and email facilities; the telephone office
is closeby at ulitsa Tolmachyova. Sightseeing tours can be arranged with travel
agents at the big hotels or at the agents located on ulitsa Pushkina or ulitsa Lenina.
City Guide Ekaterinburg is a local English/Russian language publication with
information and a city map comes in handy for tourists .
For detailed country and visitor information, see Russia. |
