To find Yekaterinburg on the map, you need to pay attention to the mountain range - a clearly visible strip that crosses our country from north to south. This is the Urals, one of the richest regions of Russia. It is considered a conditional border between Europe and Asia.
The surroundings of Yekaterinburg are very picturesque places. There are pine forests and many beautiful ponds. The city itself is surrounded by a green ring of forest parks, of which there are more than a dozen in Yekaterinburg. There are also many cultural attractions.
Location
The place where Yekaterinburg is located is the eastern slope of the Middle Urals. The city stands on the banks of the Iset River, twenty-five kilometers from its source.
Here the Ural Mountains are more like hills - they are almost entirely covered with forest and barely reach a height of 400 meters. Over the slopes of some mountains for thousands of years the wind and the sun have been working. The weathering processes gave rise to granite rock-outcrops. Even in the Stone Age, people chose such rocks for their sites and sacrifices. Nowadays, they attract many tourists, and just vacationers.
Looking at Yekaterinburg on the map, it is easy to notice that this is an important transport hub. It is crossed by the Trans-Siberian Railway, it is the location of the Koltsovo International Airport. At the end of the XVIII century, the city - and through it the entire western part of Russia - was connected with Siberia by a road called the Siberian Highway, and thus Yekaterinburg became the "gateway to Asia."
The foundation of Yekaterinburg
Where Yekaterinburg is located now, the first Russian settlements appeared in the 80s of the XVII century. It was the village of Shartash on the shore of the lake of the same name, and two Uktus - Lower and Upper, on the banks of the Uktus river (now Patrushikha). Near Nizhny Uktus in 1702 the Uktus plant was built.
State enterprises in the Urals could not compete with the factories of Akinfiy Demidov. The equipment on them was dilapidated, production fell into decay. Demidov himself lured many workers. The Uktus plant was also in a deplorable state.
In 1720, Vasily Tatishchev came to the Urals with the order of the tsar - to restore production. Having visited Uktus, Tatishchev decided that it was easier not to raise the old enterprise, but to build a new one. For the construction, he chose a place on Iset, a few miles from the old factory.
Tatishchev began construction, but he was soon removed from his post. The construction of the plant was continued by mining engineer V. G. Gennin. The dam itself was built under the guidance of master L. Zlobin. November 18, 1723 was a test run of the plant - it is considered the founding date of Yekaterinburg.
A few months earlier, Gennin gave the name to the new plant and fortress. He decided to call it Yekaterinburg, in honor of Empress Catherine I.
A couple of years later, the Iset began to build a reserve reservoir, and on it - a plant. This plant was named in honor of the princess Anna - daughter of Peter I. He earned in 1726. Later it was called Verkh-Isetsky.
How did the city grow and develop?
At first, Yekaterinburg was a fortified city, but soon the fortress walls grew. Empress Catherine II granted him the status of a county town in the Perm province, and after several decades, he became the capital of the mining Urals.
The Yekaterinburg ironworks itself was closed at the beginning of the 19th century. Since then, the Verkh-Isetsky and Nizheisetsky plants were responsible for metallurgy. A mint took over the industrial zone near the city pond (therefore, it was popularly called a “coin”), and a mechanical factory, a lapidary factory that was engaged in processing gems, and other enterprises settled there.
The railway came to the Middle Urals in 1878, when the line to Perm was built. Since the beginning of the XX century, Yekaterinburg has become the hub of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In Soviet times, the city continued to grow. Many new industrial enterprises appeared, the largest of them - Uralmashzavod. From all sides the city has overgrown with new areas: Uralmash and Elmash in the north, Vtuzgorodok and Komsomolsky in the east, Sorting in the west and many others. The village of Verkh-Isetsky Plant merged with the city.
From 1924 to 1991, the city was called Sverdlovsk - in honor of Yakov Sverdlov. It was in the Urals that he worked for many years as a revolutionary underground.
Historical Square
The heart of Yekaterinburg is Historical Square. People call it “Plotinka” because it is there that the dam of the city pond is located. Actually, only the dam and several buildings of the 18th century remained from the industrial zone. Most of it was demolished in the 1960s, turning the city center into a resting place for citizens.
On the left bank of Iset there are three factory buildings. The first of these is a water tower occupied by a blacksmithing museum. Following the one-story building is a former forge. Here is the museum of nature of the Urals. Behind it is a three-story building of a former mechanical factory. It is occupied by the museum of architecture and design. In the courtyard of this museum you can see old factory equipment - a screaming hammer, a steam engine, a rolling stand, and much more.
The right bank of Iseti is reserved for the memorial. Most of it is a memorial wall-relief dedicated to the builders of the city. Not far from it are a memorial plaque with the first plan of Yekaterinburg and a time capsule. This capsule was laid in 1973, and in 2023 it should be opened.
Temple on blood
The Church-monument on Blood opened in the summer of 2003 on the site of the engineer Ipatiev’s house, where in 1918 Nicholas II and his family were shot.
This building consists of an upper temple and a lower temple. It is located on the side of a mountain called the Ascension Hill. This slope abruptly descends to Tsarskaya Street, the former Tolmachev. Due to this relief, the upper church stands at the level of Liebknecht Street, and the lower one occupies the rest of the slope.
A feature of the upper temple is the iconostasis of white marble. In the lower church there is an earthenware iconostasis, next to it is a commemorative "shooting room", it is also a crypt. There are also several business premises: a conference hall and a gallery, a museum in memory of the royal family, as well as an icon shop. In this shop, not only icons are sold - she sells Orthodox literature and souvenirs that depict the last king, his family and the temple itself. Prices in this store are designed for tourists, therefore they are quite high.
Shartashsky stone tents
Shartash is a picturesque lake in the east of Yekaterinburg. It is much older than any settlement in these places: it is about a million years old. The northern and northwestern shores of this lake are built up - there is a residential area of the private sector. This area is the former village of Shartash, founded back in the late 17th century. But the rest of the coastline is reserved for the Shartashsky forest park, which is very popular among citizens and tourists.
On the southern edge of the forest park are granite rocks - Shartashsky stone tents. They resemble a pile of giant mattresses laid on top of each other. The height of these rocks is from ten to fifteen meters.
Stone tents are famous not only for their unusual appearance, but also for the fact that archaeological excavations have been repeatedly carried out near them. Scientists have found household items and weapons of primitive people here: shards, stone axes, arrowheads, and even idol figures. Everything suggests that in ancient times, people where people settled in where Yekaterinburg is located. They arranged their campsites on the banks of Shartash, and the Stone tents were their ritual place.
How to get to Ekaterinburg?
There are two bus stations in Yekaterinburg - Severny (near the railway station) and Yuzhny (at the corner of March 8 and Shchorsa Streets). There is a bus connection with many cities, both inside the Sverdlovsk region and outside it.
In particular, buses to Yekaterinburg run from cities such as Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Perm, Miass, Ufa, Berezniki (Perm Territory), Verkhny Ufaley (Chelyabinsk Region), Izhevsk, Votkinsk (Udmurtia), Kurgan, Chernushka (Perm Territory), Yugorsk (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), Tchaikovsky, Shadrinsk, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, Samara, Neftekamsk and even Petropavlovsk (Kazakhstan) and Bishkek. Inside the Sverdlovsk region, you can get to Yekaterinburg from almost any settlement.
Getting to Yekaterinburg by train is even easier. For this, not only trains traveling to Yekaterinburg are suitable, but also transit ones. It is important to consider where Yekaterinburg is located - this is a transport hub on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Direct trains to Yekaterinburg and through Yekaterinburg run from cities such as Moscow, Kazan, Izhevsk, St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Barnaul, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Nizhnevartovsk, Penza, Samara, Kurgan, Kislovodsk, Adler, Neryungri, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok , Kemerovo, Tomsk, Novokuznetsk, Novy Urengoy, Krasnoyarsk, Severobaykalsk, Irkutsk, Abakan, Khabarovsk, Makhachkala, Novosibirsk, Tuapse, Priobye, Novorossiysk, Solikamsk, Anapa, Ufa, Chita, Volgograd, Ustye-Aha, Almaty, Tashkent, Bishkek Minsk, Brest and even Beijing and Ulan Bator.
In addition, suburban traffic is developed on the Sverdlovsk Railway . By suburban trains you can get to Yekaterinburg from many cities of the Sverdlovsk region.
Airplanes to Yekaterinburg arrive at Koltsovo International Airport, located on the southeastern outskirts of the city.
Air traffic within Russia is established with cities such as Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Mineral waters, Nizhny Novgorod, Nadym, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Novy Urengoy, Norilsk, Orenburg, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Perm, Rostov, Salekhard, Samara, Simferopol, Soviet, Sochi, Strezhevoy, Surgut, Tomsk, Tyumen, Urai, Ufa, Khabarovsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Chita, Yakutsk, Yamburg.
International air traffic is established with the airports of the following cities: Antalya, Astana, Bishkek, Bangkok, Baku, Goa, Denpasar, Dubai, Dushanbe, Yerevan, Krabi, Larnaca, Minsk, Namangan, Nha Trang, Osh, Pardubice, Paris, Beijing, Prague, Phuket, Rome, Sanya, Istanbul, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Utapao, Fukuok, Harbink, Helsinki, Khujand, Sharjah.
How much does a ticket to Yekaterinburg cost?
The cost of air tickets to Yekaterinburg varies from 1 to 15 thousand rubles - it all depends on the city from which the flight departs and the flight date: on weekends, holidays or tourist season tickets will be more expensive. Another factor is the booking time: many airlines operate on the principle that the earlier a ticket is booked, the cheaper it is.
The cost of a train ticket depends on the type of car (reserved seat, coupe, luxury), the type of train (regular, branded) and can be very different. For example, a ticket from Moscow can cost from 2.5 thousand (the cheapest reserved seat) and up to 15 thousand (luxury branded train).
If you want to get to Yekaterinburg by bus, then everything is much simpler: the further, the more expensive. The cost varies from 50 rubles (if traveling from satellite cities), and up to 1000 rubles and even more (if traveling from a neighboring region).
How to get to Yekaterinburg by car?
Six motorways lead to Yekaterinburg, five of which are called tracts here:
- Siberian tract (P351) - the road from Tyumen;
- Chelyabinsk tract (M5 - Ural) - the road from Chelyabinsk;
- Polevskoy tract (P355) - the road from Polevskoy;
- Serov Trakt (P352) - the road from Serov;
- Novomoskovsky tract (P242) - the road from Perm;
- The sixth highway is the Kurgan-Yekaterinburg highway (P354).
For example, the direct road from Moscow lies along the M5 federal highway.