According to Aristmarketing, Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by the famous statesman, historian and geographer VN Tatishchev. The city is located on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals on the banks of the Iset River (a tributary of the Tobol). The river divides Yekaterinburg into eastern and western parts.
In the 18th century, the stone processing industry began to develop here – in 1751 a cutting factory was built for the production of vases, caskets and other products from malachite and porphyry. In 1763, the Siberian tract was laid from Moscowthrough Yekaterinburg to Siberia, and since 1781 Yekaterinburg became the center of the Yekaterinburg region. In the 1840s, the city’s industry focuses on metalworking. In the period from 1924 to 1991 Yekaterinburg was called Sverdlovsk (in honor of Yakov Sverdlov, a member of the Communist Party).
Now in this city you can see numerous buildings of the 18th – early 19th centuries in the style of classicism. This is the Mining Chancellery, rebuilt in 1833-1835 according to the project of the architect M.P. Malakhov, the former estate of Rastorguev-Kharitonov, as well as Malakhov’s house. Very interesting is the Historical Square with blocks of rocks from different regions of the Ural Territory. Yekaterinburg is home to such giants of the world industry as the Ural Heavy Engineering Plant (Uralmash), Uralelektrotyazhmash and Uralkhimmash.
Be sure to visit the museums of Yekaterinburg. The Museum of Fine Arts contains masterpieces of Russian painting and Nevyansk icons (the local Ural school of icon painting), samples of artistic iron casting (trays, plates, caskets, various figurines, medallions, candlesticks) in the Kasli cast-iron pavilion, as well as a unique collection of jewelry made of precious and ornamental stones of the Urals. The Museum of Ural Writers keeps the memory of D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak and P.P. Bazhov. In the Museum of the History of Architecture you will see numerous machine tools and industrial equipment from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The regional museum of local lore has a unique exhibit – the Shigir idol, more than 5 m high, so named because it was found in the middle of the 19th century in the Shigir peat bog. Most likely, this is the oldest surviving idol in the history of mankind, its age is 9.5 thousand years.
Yekaterinburg is known all over the world as the place of death of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family. On the site of the Ipatiev House, where the imperial family was shot, a Temple “on Blood” has now been erected, and the burial place of the remains of the emperor and his relatives is located not far from the city, in the “Ganina Yama” tract.
The Ural is very popular among ski lovers. In the vicinity of Yekaterinburg, there are a lot of places for skiing.
Mount Ezhovaya is the most popular place in the Middle Urals. It is located 100 km from Yekaterinburg. There is a fairly high level of service. The height of the mountain is 556 m above sea level, there are 7 lifts, there are 5 slopes more than 1 km long and a height difference of 270 meters each, one of the routes is illuminated. The relief here is varied: steep slopes alternate with gentle ones.
Mount Belaya is one of the highest in this region, the height above sea level is 715 m. The resort is located near the city of Nizhny Tagil, 140 km from Yekaterinburg. There are 2 main slopes on the slopes, their length is 800 m, the width of one of them is 40 m, the other is 20 m, the height difference is 150 m. Tow lifts deliver skiers to them. There is a route for off-piste skiing called “Cheget”. Mount Volchikha is located 40 km from Yekaterinburg.. The height of the resort is 526 m above sea level. There are 6 tracks of different difficulty levels to choose from, from 600 to 1100 meters long, which are prepared by a snowcat. There are two towing lifts. There are opportunities for evening skiing.
Mount Medvezhka is the closest to Yekaterinburg – 35 km. Skiing here is club-based, so you should contact the head of the Ski Club of the Transport Engineering Plant in advance. There are 2 tracks on the mountain – one is 470 m long with a height difference of 50 m, the other is 250 m long with a difference of 50 m. The tracks are serviced by standard drag lifts. Mikhailovsk resort is located 135 km from Yekaterinburg and is often called “Ural Switzerland”. Of course, because there is an abundance of snow, steep unforested slopes, protected from the winds, with elevation changes up to 100 m. The Mikhailovsk complex includes 2 mountains. Malaya Gora is served by a rope tow. Treeless slopes with a width of 250-300 m abound with descent options, a height difference of 60 m, a uniform slope and a roll-out onto the ice of the Mikhailovsky Pond.
On the slopes of the Big Mountain, the elevation difference is 100 m.) there are opportunities for snowboarding in the snowpark. In total, there are 5 tracks with a total length of 2800 m. An artificial snowmaking system is installed on the main slope, so you can ski in April and even in May.
Those who do not really like extreme recreation should visit the nature reserves of the Urals. For example, in the natural park Deer streams. This park is located 100 km from Yekaterinburg in the picturesque area of the lower reaches of the Serga River, which is considered the cleanest river in the region. Here you can visit more than a hundred caves of various configurations, among which the largest cave in the Sverdlovsk region is Druzhba. It is most beautiful in winter or early spring, when the arches of gloomy dungeons are covered with ice. On the walls of the cave, the fossilized remains of prehistoric animals that lived in the long-disappeared Riphean Sea many millions of years ago have been preserved to this day. Not far from Druzhba there is a sinkhole about 50 m deep with branched horizontal fan-shaped passages. According to popular beliefs, schelpy – Ural goblin – once settled here.
The Visimsky State Nature Reserve is also popular in the Sverdlovsk Region. The area of the reserve is 33.5 thousand hectares, the buffer zone is 46.1 thousand hectares. The purpose of the creation of the reserve is to preserve in its natural state and study the natural complex of the Middle Ural mountain taiga.
In the north of the Sverdlovsk region, 420 km from Yekaterinburg, the highest point of the Stone Belt is located – Mount Konzhakovsky Stone, whose height is 1569 meters. Tourists are invited to climb this mountain. The minimum duration of the ascent is a day. You can spend the night in the place “Glade of Artists” at an altitude of 1.4 km. There is a parking lot for a halt, but tourists should take tents and a supply of food with them. During the hike, you will be able to see how streams are born that give rise to the Lobva and Kakva rivers, taiga in its original form, dense forests with deadwood and windbreak.
