Yekaterinburg is the largest city in the Urals and one of the largest cities in Russia. The town’s history dates to the first half of the 18th century, when mines and ironworks were built in the area. However, the first locations of mines and settlements lacked water for production, and therefore the mine manager Burtsov was asked to find a suitable place for a new city and production. Burtsov’s plan for damming the river at present-day Yekaterinburg was approved in 1723, and soon after the city was established. Tsar Peter the Great decreed the construction of large ironworks in the city, which was named after the Tsar’s wife. Yekaterinburg was officially founded on 18 November 1723, and in the same year a fort was established which housed many of the early structures in the city. Yekaterinburg was one of Russia’s first industrial cities, and the urban plan consisted of a mixture of housing and the predetermined ironworks behind the fort’s fortress walls.

Yekaterinburg was strategically located in the Urals, and it quickly developed as a trading city between Europe and Asia. Catherine the Great made Yekaterinburg the administrative city of a larger region in 1781, and the city became less and less dependent on the iron works and other production. However, the Urals were still an important mining region, and in the first half of the 19th century, up to 45% of the world’s gold was mined around Yekaterinburg, which also struck the majority of Russia’s coins. The city’s development continued, and after the October Revolution, the Russian tsar family was sent into exile in Yekaterinburg, where they were executed by Bolsheviks in July 1918. In the early years of the Soviet Union, e.g. established a university in the city, which in 1924 changed its name to Sverdlovsk after the politician Jakov Sverdlov. Heavy industry led to growth in the Urals and Yekaterinburg, which during this time grew into one of the country’s largest cities. Yekaterinburg got its original name back in 1991.

Today Yekaterinburg is an interesting metropolis with many sights that you can enjoy on a stroll around the city. 1905 Square/Площадь 1905 года is a good place to start, as it is a central square that developed as a commercial square from the founding of the city. A cathedral was eventually built here, which no longer stands, however, and the town hall became the scene of demonstrations in connection with the Russian 1905 revolution, after which the square was later named. In the square you can see a large statue of the head of state Lenin, and around him there are several interesting buildings.

On the south side of the square is the city’s town hall as the dominant building. It was originally built as a large shop and market building in a significantly smaller size than today’s town hall. From 1930, the house was expanded, which took on its current appearance with the period tower in 1954. At the top you can see a red star à la those in the Kremlin in Moscow. At the western end of the 1905 square there are shopping centers again, and thereby the place has retained its role as a market place. The Evropa/Европа center is modernly furnished behind rebuilt old facades. From the square you can walk along Yekaterinburg’s main street, Prospekt Lenina/Проспект Ленина.

Going east, you come to the banks of the Iset River, which has the character of a lake in this part of Yekaterinburg. You can take some nice walks around the lake, and to the northwest you can see the Yekaterinburg City/Екатеринбург-Сити area, home to modern buildings and high-rises in the city’s business center. One of the buildings is Iset Tower/Башня Исеть from 2010-2015, which was built with a height of 209 meters as the city’s tallest building. On the corner of the lake at Prospekt Lenina, you can see the beautiful house, Dom Sevastjanova/Дом Севастьянова, known from 1817. Later in the same century, it was expanded in the current Gothic-inspired style, which has its own character.

If you continue along Prospekt Lenina, you can shortly after visit Muzej Istorii Yekaterinburga/Музей истории Екатеринбурга, which depicts the history of the city. After this comes the Yekaterinburg State Theater of Opera and Ballet/Екатеринбургский государственный академический театр оперы и балета, built in the years 1904-1912. In the same area, you can see the collections of the museum Sdelano v SSSR/Сделано в СССР, which goes back to the Soviet Union and evokes childhood memories for locals, and is an interesting historical insight into the times of the 20th century for others.

A little north of Prospekt Lenina in central Yekaterinburg you can go to a special place. Here is the Church of the Blood in the Name of All Saints/Храм-на-Крови во имя Всех святых, a memorial church on the exact spot where the house Dom Ipateva/Дом Ипатьева stood until 1977. Dom Ipateva was the place where Tsar Nicholas II was assassinated together with his family on 17 July 1918. It was Boris Yeltsin who ordered the demolition of the house in 1977, when it had increasingly become a pilgrimage destination. The current church was built from 2000 and consecrated in 2003. Next to the church you can see a cross that marks the place of death of the Tsar family.

Next to the Church of the Blood, you can see the museum Muzey Svyatoy Tsarskoy Semi/Музей Светят Царской Семьи, which is the museum of the Tsar family. At the museum there are interesting exhibitions in relation to Czar Nicholas II and the Czar family. You can also cross the street east of the Church of the Blood, where there is a monument to the Ural Komsomol, which was the association of young pioneers in the Soviet Union. The monument was erected in 1959, and it stands with the Church of the Ascension/Храм Вознесния Господня as a backdrop. The church is a beautiful baroque church with elements of classicism, which was built in its current version in the years 1792-1818.

If you are interested in more of the time of the Tsar family and their final time in Yekaterinburg, you can go to Ganina Jama/Ганина Яма, which is located approximately 15 kilometers northwest of the city. Here the bodies of the last Russian tsar, his wife and their five children were thrown into a pit in a disused mine. Today, a cross has been erected to commemorate the events that took place here, and in 2000 a monastery was built on the site. The monks themselves built seven wooden churches on the site, which served as memorial churches for the seven members of the Tsar’s family.