Photograph of snow-covered Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg's "Church on the Blood," built on the spot where the Tsar and his family were murdered.

Yekaterinburg (Cyrillic: Екатеринбург, also transliterated as "Ekaterinburg" or "Jekaterinburg") is a major city in central Russia, administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the Asian side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Ural region. Its population of 1,300,000 (2002) makes it Russia's fifth largest city. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was known as "Sverdlovsk" (Cyrillic: Свердловск), after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov.

History

The city was founded in 1723 by Vasily Tatischev and named after Great Martyr Katherine, tsar Peter the Great's wife Yekaterina patron saint. It was renamed to Sverdlovsk after the a Bolshevik party leader and Soviet official Yakov Sverdlov from 1924 to 1991.

Soon after the Russian Revolution, on 17-th of July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II his wife, Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were murdered by Bolsheviks in this city.

There was an anthrax outbreak in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) in April and May 1979, which was attributed by Soviet officials to the locals eating contaminated meat. However, American agencies believe that the locals inhaled spores accidentally released from an aerosol of pathogen at a military microbiology facility.

Geography

Yekaterinburg is situated 1,667 km (1,036 mi.) east of Moscow.

Economy

The city produces heavy machinery, steel, chemicals, tires, and petroleum. Gem cutting is a well-developed light industry.

Education

The city is the leading cultural center of the Urals and has numerous institutions of higher education, including the Urals A.M. Gorky State University (founded 1920), a conservatory, and polytechnic, mining, forestry, agriculture, law, medicine, and teacher-training institutes. The Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and many scientific-research establishments are also located there.

Transportation and Accommodation

Yekaterinburg is an important railway junction, with lines radiating to all parts of the Urals and the rest of Russia. As the economic slump subsided, several European airlines started or resumed flying to the city. These include Lufthansa, British Airways, Malev, CSA Czech Airlines, and Finnair. More info can be found at the following pages. Getting to (http://flats.h1.ru/getting.html)Ekaterinburg by air or surface. Ekaterinburg accommodation in furnished apartments http://flats.h1.ru.

International relations

The largest city in the Urals and one of the top five in Russia, Yekaterinburg has a number of consulates of major countries. For people wishing to make a visa application and needing to attend interview, this can easily take a half-week off the travelling time to get to the interview (in the event that there are internal flights to Yekaterinburg, they may only be once per week).

Yekaterinburg is a sister city of San Jose, California, U.S.A.

Consulates

• United States Consulate — 15 Gogolya St.; First consulate in Urals, established in 1994.
• United Kingdom Consulate — established 1997 as a full consulate with a visa section, at 15a Gogolya St.

Photos

Apartment Block on Malysheva Street

More Ekaterinburg photos (http://flats.h1.ru/photos.html)