Yekaterinburg

Overview

Ekaterinburg is the historical and economic center of the Ural s which forms a natural border between Europe and Asia . It is also the administrative center of the Sverdlovsk region and the Ural federal district. The city lies on Iset River.

Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg), the capital city of the Urals, was founded in 1723 by Tzar Peter the Great (and named after his wife, Catherine). The city witnessed the death of monarchy in Russia, as it was there that the last Russian czar Nicolas II with his family was assassinated, in Ipatiev house by the Bolsheviks on July 16, 1918. 

Another dramatic episode in the area took place on May 1, 1960 when American U2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was hit by a missile launched from the local military base. The city was closed to the outside world until 1990 because of its strategic defense industries. 

The city is associated with another famous political figure, Boris Yeltsin, who was born in the village of  Butka not far from Ekaterinburg. Under Yeltsin's orders, the house where the Tzar and his family were killed was destroyed; a wooden cross and a chapel were been installed later. This place has been recognized by the Russian Orthodoxal church as a sacred and now Cathedral-on-the-Blood is constructed exactly on Ipatiev house once stood.

Ekaterinburg has played a notable role in the history of Russia. It was here that Russian industry was born. The products of Ural and Siberian iron mills were exhibited at local trade fairs. Iron...more

History