Yekaterinburg - Jekaterinenburg

Yekaterinburg, also spelled Yekaterinburg or Yekaterinburg is the fifth city of Russia and is also called the capital of the Urals called. The city is located on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Understand

An industrial city with over 1.5 million inhabitants and the most important economic, cultural, scientific and political center of the surrounding region. The city is located on the foothills of the Urals and forms a junction of railways and roads. Due to the large growth in car traffic, traffic is increasingly stuck there. A large number of prestigious new-build projects are being built in and around the center, of which Yekaterinburg-City is the largest.

History

The city was founded in 1723 at the hands of the Russian scientist Vasily Tatyshchev and the German-Dutch mining engineer Georg Wilhelm de Gennin, who came from the Netherlands after the Great Embassy of Peter the Great. The word 'burg' in the name betrays the German background of the Gennin. The city counterbalanced the de facto independent empire that industrialist Nikita Demidov had set up to its north and the beginning of state influence on the eastern side of the Urals. The city was centered on mining and associated metallurgy for centuries, but also had the currency of Russia and was a transit route to and from Siberia and later to Central Asia. The Siberian Trakt and later the Trans-Siberian Railway fueled the growth of Yekaterinburg, which became known as Russia's "window to Asia".

The original point from which the city grew is the ironworks on the Iset River, whose dam on the Iset is still the focal point of the city. In 1781, Yekaterinburg received city status from Tsarina Catherine the Great.

After the communist evolution, the Bolsheviks also seized power in Yekaterinburg. The imprisoned tsar's family was imprisoned by them in the Ipatiev House. There they were executed and then their bodies were dumped in an abandoned mine shaft (Ganina Jama) north of the city. There is now a Russian Orthodox monastery in memory of the family, who were declared 'strastoterptsev' (a kind of saint status within the Russian Orthodox Church) since 2000 and have since adorned every Russian Orthodox church in Russia with their icons.

During the Russian Civil War, the city was conquered by the 'Whites', but after a few months it finally came into the hands of the communists, who changed the name to Sverdlovsk, after the Jewish Soviet leader Yakov Sverdlov, who is blamed for the death of the tsar family in the city. A major industrialization program was launched, the most striking complex being the Uralmash Machine Factory in the north of the city, which employed more than 50,000 people during Soviet times. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the city regained its old name Yekaterinburg. The city's borders have expanded greatly since Soviet times and major urban expansions are also in the pipeline. An example of this in Akademichesky, which is to become a kind of satellite city with more than 300,000 inhabitants, following the example of the city of Zelenograd near Moscow.

Arrive

The city is relatively easily accessible from the major cities of Russia, but the long distance and relatively high flight prices have partly ensured that the city as a final destination has not yet been very popular with non-Russian tourists.

By plane

Southeast of the city is Koltsovo International Airport, the largest Russian airport outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The airport has undergone a major renovation and expansion after the fall of the Soviet Union, but has nevertheless retained its provincial character. The airport has direct connections to all major Russian cities as well as a number of German and other European cities. From the Netherlands it is approximately. Buses and marshrutkas (minitaxis) run to the city from the airport.

By train

The city is often visited as a stopover on trips on the Trans-Siberian Railway. From Moscow, it runs from Yaroslavskaya Vokzal (station) with regular trains to the city, the journey taking approximately 32 hours. From the Netherlands, the journey takes 72 hours excluding transfers.

By car

The city is accessible from Moscow, among other things, via the main road that runs through Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Perm, but the roads in Russia are often of poor quality and the distance is almost 2000 kilometers from Moscow and about 3500 kilometers from the Netherlands.

city ​​transport

The city is crossed by many trams, trolleybuses, buses and marshrutkas and also has a partially completed metro line. City traffic has increased significantly, which means that traffic jams, especially during rush hour, are more the rule than the exception.

Travel around

Various tours are organized from Yekaterinburg to the surrounding region. Tourist hotspots in the area include the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk, the Orthodox center of the Ural Verkhoturje (320 km) north with a number of cathedrals, the caves of Kungur, the village of Nizhnaya Sinyachikha with traditional buildings and churches (gathered from elsewhere) at north of the city Alapaevsky (northeast of Yekaterinburg) and the lakes and parks south and west of the city.

To see

The main axis of the center is Prospekt Lenina, which is home to many important buildings. The Church on the Spilled Blood, which was built in the 1990s, is located on the site where the Tsar's family was murdered. The monastery at Ganina Jama, where the Tsar's family was dumped, can also be visited. In the 1990s, Yekaterinburg was known as the mafia capital of Russia. As a remnant of this, in various cemeteries there are gaudy graves of the mafia leaders who did not survive the battle and belong to them. The best known is the Shirokorechenskoye cemetery. Here you will find photos:click: www.Ekaterinburg.TK

There are also many museums, a zoo and a large number of shopping centers in the city.

do

To learn

There are more than 15 universities in the city as well as a large number of colleges. Most, however, only speak Russian.

To work

To buy

Food

Budget

Medium

Expensive

Drink

To sleep

Budget

Medium

Expensive

Communication

Safety

Next destinations

Nearby towns around the city are:

• Nizhny Tagil (metallurgy city; north)
• Tyumen (to the east)
• perm (West of)
• Chelyabinsk (South of)

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