Walk around the city: heart of Ekaterinburg

Студент из Испании Эдгар Бланко (Edgar Blanco), который уже не первый месяц живет в Екатеринбурге и пишет для «It’s My City», продолжает изучать наш город и рассказывать о своих любимых маршрутах для прогулок. Сегодня рассказ пойдет о самых известных и интересных, по мнению Эдгара, достопримечательностях, расположенных в центре Екатеринбурга.

Starting at the Lenina Avenue, following the Iset [Исеть] river banks, it`s great to enjoy a leisurely stroll through a completely pedestrian area, perfect for family outings.

No one can leave Yekaterinburg without getting to know the importance of the Iset river in the history of the city, as this river is the «founder» of it. Many people already know that the city was founded on the bank of Iset by order of Peter the Great. First it was the iron factory and the fortress, so actually this was the reason for building the dam on the river. The Iset river rises in the Urals and flows to the east until it reaches Tobol river. It runs over 600 km and its basin is 59,000 km2 (for comparison — like a half of England`s total area).

Cross Lenina Prospect to start the route in «Work Area» [Площадь Труда]. It is a square with gardens where the first thing to stand out is the [tiny] Chapel of St. Catherine, which commemorates the site of the old cathedral destroyed during the revolution. In the center of the square the «Stone Flower» [Каменный цветок] is situated — it was built on the site of the former St. Catherine fountain.

Also in the square, facing the Iset, rises the monument to the fathers-founders B. Tatishchev [Василий Никитич Татищев] and B. I. of Genin [Георг Вильгельм де Геннин] — it is 4 meters high and was built in 1998 in honour of the 275 anniversary of the city.

It is said that although the statues resemble each other, in reality the appearance and height of the founders were very different. It is said also that the statues are so similar to each other, that the label does not match the location of the figures. At first glance I thought they were the twin founders, but not: Gennin is left in the cocked hat, and Tatishchev — right in the wig without a hat.

Before descending the stairs, to the right if looking at the statue, look at the old water tower. This building served to increase the water pressure of the facilities of the old factory. The building you can see today is the result of several reforms throughout the XXth century. Behind the water tower, there are white buildings with green roofs, that were part of the old factory too, but that nowadays are completely reconstructed.

After going down the stairs you reach the very heart of the city. If you walk parallel to the dam you will see a large stone. This stone commemorates the metallurgic origin of the city: the whole area of the city was closed to the public for many years because of the production of metals, mostly for military purposes. Few of the buildings where the metals were made are preserved.

If you walk alongside the river, which passes slowly through the center, you will realize that the whole area is surrounded by gardens and trees on both sides. As you get closer to the first bridge across the river, you will see that the handrails are full of padlocks. And as you can guess it is called the «Lover`s Bridge» [Мост Влюбленных], as in most cities.

On the right bank of Iset, you can find the «Museum of Fine Arts». If you have free time, the visit may be interesting because of the exhibition of jewelry and antiques (the price for entrance is 150 rubles). Quite possible that this building is the oldest in the city as it is dated from 1764, but due to the reconstructions and reparation it is conserved in a magnificent status.

On the other side of the river, on the left bank, inside the old buildings, you can visit «Museum of History of Architecture of the Urals» and «The Regional Studies Museum». You can’t cross the street under the bridge, so I advise you to leave the park trough the right bank, and you will be able to see the old doors and some old machines at the exit.

To cross Malysheva Street, little detour to cross the traffic light is needed [Epic Fail of the City Administration].

For the next part of the stroll you should choose one of the banks when you cross Malysheva street, because next bridge is a bit further.

If you follow the right bank, and attached to the building with a big sign Green there are stairs that take you back to the riverbank. So just finish that building and in the wall you will find the most colourful monument of the city, the Beatles memorial.

Continue walking little more to take a picture at the monument to QWERTY keyboard, probably unique in the world. The path surrounded by grass to the next bridge will take you to the DendroPark [Дендропарк].

DendroPark or Botanical Garden is one of the best gardens in the city. It is always clean and covered with flowers during the summertime. If the city is not covered by snow, this park is worth visiting. If you leave the park through the west exit, away from the river, you will see a large shopping center, Greenvich.

Following the river course and after leaving the park you will see a white metal structure — it is the Ekaterinburg’s circus. To some people it may seem strange that the city has a permanent circus, but it was a common thing for many cities during the Communist era. In this case, the building dates from 1980 and was built to replace the previous circus destroyed by fire in 1976.

Behind the circus we see a tower- it is the TV Tower of Ekaterinburg. This was an ambitious project initiated in 1983 and abandoned in 1989. The projected height was close to the 400m, but the current height is just 219 m. The tower has become a place surrounded by certain legends, but it is closed to the public and uninteresting.