Five days in the Urals: A celebration of culture, cuisine and nature in Yekaterinburg and beyond

Yekaterinburg is the first city in Russia founded as a city-factoryfortress. This happened under Peter I in 1723. And it got its name in honor of his wife Catherine I.

Over 3 centuries Yekaterinburg has given a lot to the country and the world – talented people, masterpieces of stone-cutting art, highquality metal and much more.

During the city tour you will learn a lot about the city’s architecture and history, visit the Church on the Blood at the site of the execution Understand what Ural character means and feel the dynamics of the Ural capital.

The Church on the Blood is one of the main attractions of modern Yekaterinburg. The temple was built in 2003 on the site of the house where, on the night of July 17, 1918, the Bolsheviks shot the family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his entourage.

This tragic event changed the history of the country. In Soviet times, city residents were proud that it was here that the emperor’s life ended. And today we have come to repentance.

The Church on the Blood is a working temple, museum and monument. You will learn about the history of the Romanovs in the Urals and get acquainted with the structure of an Orthodox church

The Ural land is rich in precious and semi-precious stones, as well as precious metals. For example, the first Russian gold was found here.

Rubies, emeralds and other gems, rare types of crystals can be observed in the Ural Geological Museum You will learn a lot about the symbol of the Urals – the malachite stone, which was so loved by the Russian rulers.

See samples of meteorites from space – the recent meteorite fell on the Urals in 2013. And in the souvenir shop you can buy samples of minerals and jewelry. It is believed that each stone has its own healing, magical and even destructive properties, and each zodiac sign has its own talismans. Check out in advance which stones are right for you.

“Vysotsky” is a modern skyscraper in the center of Yekaterinburg. It is the second highest building in the city – 188.3 m. We will use a fast elevator to the 54 floor to get to the most visited observation deck to enjoy the city landscape.

You will be able to look at the historical areas and to see from above how the city has changed over the past decades. The all-round panorama and interesting photo zones provide a good opportunity for taking stunning photos.

the Ural Mountains and visit two obelisks: a new one on the Novo- Moskovsky tract and a historical one on the old Siberian road. At the border, you can take wonderful photos, buy souvenirs and make a wish They say it comes true!

The monastery stands on the site where in July 1918 the Bolsheviks tried to get rid of the bodies of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his family and associates. Initially, the remains were dumped into shaft No. 7 in the Ganina Yama tract.

But they had to be removed and hidden in another place. Today thousands of people come here to honor the memory of those innocently killed who have been canonized. There are 7 churches, a museum, an Orthodox pilgrimage center and a Worship Cross over mine No. 7.

At the same time, Ganina Yama is a very picturesque and beautiful place, surrounded by greenery and flowers

Connoisseurs of beauty will enjoy masterpieces of Russian and foreign art of the 14th-20th centuries at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts.

The highlight of the museum is the Kasli cast-iron pavilion. This is the only architectural structure made of metal in the world and was created for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Oriental and European motifs are intertwined in intricate patterns. A large collection of cast iron castings will present you with the high artistic level of Ural craftsmen from the city of Kasli.

Jewelry art of the Urals, stone-cutting art, Russian icon painting of the 17th – early 20th centuries, Russian art of the 18th – early 20th centuries, Russian avant-garde of 1910-1920, Western European art of the 14th-20th centuries, porcelain and earthenware… The list goes on, but it’s better to see everything with my own eyes .

After breakfast we will go on a trip on a retro train to the neighboring town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma. The comfortable retro train Ural Express is an immersion in the atmosphere of the late 19th century, when construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in the Urals. The journey lasts 1 hour. The train has a restaurant car and a bar car, as well as a photo zone.

Upon arrival in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, you will get acquainted with a unique private collection of retro cars. The 4-story pavilion presents the 130-year history of road transport in Russia.

Nevyansk (90 km from Yekaterinburg) is the city where the Demidov mining empire was born 300 years ago. This dynasty of industrialists became one of the most influential in the Russian Empire. In 1721-1725, commissioned by Akinfiy
Demidov a tower was built here.

You will learn about the many secrets of the Nevyansk Tower. You will be surprised by the miracle of engineering – the auditorium room. On the eighth floor you will see and listen to the English striking clock.

They cost Demidov more than the construction of the entire structure. And you will also understand why the tower tilted over time.

It glorified the customer, served as a watchtower, and gave a signal to the clock mechanism to melt metal. But legends say that counterfeit money was minted in the basements of the tower.

In this museum you will learn about the peculiarities of the emergence of the Nevyansk icon painting school, its historical path and revival through the efforts of patrons and modern Nevyansk masters. in the XVIII-XIX centuries Nevyansk became the center of icon painting in the Urals. The Nevyansk icon is the pinnacle of Ural mining and Old Believer icon painting.

Nevyansk masters painted icons in the traditions of the icon painting schools of pre-reform Rus’, but did not copy old icons, but creatively reworked traditions, expressing their feelings and their vision of the world in icons. To paint the icons, the masters used mineral paints – very durable and non-fading, so the icons leave the impression of freshness and novelty. The Nevyansk icon is characterized by an abundance of gold paint, since active gold mining began in the Urals in the 19th century.

In the house of the Nevyansk icon there is an icon-painting workshop, where the guide will tell you about the stages and technological subtleties of painting icons, as well as a shop for samples and finished icons at the museum.

One of the oldest churches in the Urals was founded in 1789 in the Demidov village of Byngi near Nevyansk, and consecrated in 1796. The temple has an unusual architecture: on the bell tower there are chimes made by Nevyansk craftsmen, and inside on the floor there are cast iron slabs with ornaments, cast from local cast iron from the Nevyansk plant. At the corners in the foundation are 200-pound cast iron chairs. The walls are reinforced with metal ties. All this helped the temple survive when they tried to demolish it during the Soviet years.

In the temple you can see icons of the 18th-19th centuries – examples of the famous Nevyansk school of icon painting and wall paintings made in the classicist style depicting biblical scenes. This is one of the few churches in the Sverdlovsk region that was not destroyed during Soviet times. True, services have not been held since 1939 due to the absence of a priest, but in 1944 services resumed. This explains the relatively good preservation of the temple. St. Nicholas Church has the status of an architectural monument of federal significance. It was made in transitional forms from Baroque to Classicism and is an important monument to the process of the formation of Classicism in the Urals.

In the morning you will go to nature – 40 km. south of Yekaterinburg is the city of Sysert – the birthplace of the famous Ural writer Pavel Bazhov. A natural park near the city is named after him. You will walk along a small eco-trail 4 km to the picturesque Talkov Stone lake. Pavel Bazhov collected Ural folklore. During the walk you will get acquainted not only with the nature of the Urals, but also with the heroes of local legends and fairy tales.

Lunch in the city Sysert. Return to Yekaterinburg. Free time. Dinner at a Ural cuisine restaurant with a master class on making Ural dumplings.