model sailboat hardware

• Privacy Policy

Phone: 626 963 4591

Monday ? friday 9am ? 6pm pdt, model boat accessories.

20mm Size: Width: 13/16" (20mm) Height: 7/32" (5.5mm)

25mm Size: Width: 1" (25mm) Height: 1/4" (7mm)

Must Haves!

• Accessories
• Sound Modules
• Smoke Generators
• Power Distribution Panel
• Building Materials
• Cables / Connectors
• Fire Monitors
• Pulleys / Blocks
• Relay Switches
• Speed Controls
• Turnbuckles / Shackles
• Bargain Bin
• Builder's Gallery

www.rcyachts.com

Builder of champions, header content region, insert text, image or banner ads here, or just delete this text and leave this area blank.

1/25 (36") Scale America's Cup high performance model sailboat

5ft Replica of the 1962 Americas Cup 12 Meter

45" Scale Model of the Olympic Star Boat

J Class Boat-Shamrock V

1/16 (8'-10')Scale Replica of the 1930's America's Cup Class Yacht

RMG Sail Winches

High Performance sail control winches

• Create as many news links as you need. News links are simple bullet lists.

ALL of our boats are PROUDLY

Click on the following logos to get further information on RC Sailboats

		IOM

Chesapeake Performance Models is the Manufacturer, Distributor and builder of the CR-914, EC12 Meter, J Class, Santa Barbara and Star 45 Radio Control model Sailboats. We now offer IOM rig building, commissioning, measuring and optimization serivces.

CPM RACE WEEK 2024 Registration is now Live Who is Coming

Cr914 national championships  2023 j boat down the river race 2023 ec12 annapolis regatta   2023, 2022 cpm race week held sept 10-18 in the annapolis md area was a huge sucess and we hope you were able to attend.

Check Out JUDY BONANNO'S Amazing 2020 Race Week photos   Judy's 2022 CPM Race Week Photos

Great Article in Spinsheet Magazines Jan issue.

Take a look.

Certified Manufacturer of EC12 Meter, S/B Star45, S/B and J Boat Hulls, Decks, Rudders & Ballasts

The custom Shamrock V J Boat Maiden sail

YouTube Video

Taken with a RC gimbaled GoPro Camera

Some great video shots!!!

Custom Paint and Graphics Fabrication and Builds to any Stage of Completion for all Classes

US SERVICE CENTER FOR THE RMG SAIL WINCH

Our email address is   [email protected]   Telephone: CPM Shop Phone 410-604-3907 Hours: Monday to Friday   9:30am to 6:30pm (EST)

  Web Templates from i3dTHEMES.com

This is where you would add your text, images, or advertising banner

Copyright © 2021. Chesapeake Performance Models LLC. All Rights Reserved..

Free Shipping on USA Orders Over $150*

Orders Ship Same Day*

• Shipping & Returns
• Call 888-642-0093

Model Ship Detail Parts

Welcome to the MegaHobby.com model ship accessory section. Here you find many aftermarket sets to detail the decks of model ships. These sets are made by Eduard, White Ensign, Trumpeter, Toms Modelworks and more.

Model Ship Accessories

Photo-Etched Detailing Sets

View style:.

Electric Plank Bender

Pre-Order

Wish List

5mm JACKSTAY EYEBOLTS BRASS

Add To Cart

Wish List

DEADEYES WALNUT 4mm

8mm BELAYING PINS WALNUT

9mm x 17mm 3-Volt Operating Top Lantern

Waterline Marker

Brass Rings 7mm (60)

Deadeyes Boxwood 4mm (40)

4mm DOUBLE BLOCK WALNUT

12mm CLEATS WALNUT

RIGGING .018x30' TARRED

RIGGING TARRED

Dead Eye 3.5mm (18)

8mm CLEAT TWO HORNED

12mm x 6mm Main Boom Fitting

4mm SINGLE BLOCK WALNUT

35mm PEDESTAL BRASS

Dead Eye 5mm (18)

7mm DEADEYES WALNUT

7x18mm Dimpled Copper Plates (50 pcs)

Refine search, filters (4).

• Join Newsletter & Get 10% Off Your First Order

Join / Login

Your home of model ship building, unleash your inner craftsman with our wooden model ship kits.

Model Ship Kits

Beginner model ship starter packs, wooden model kits, model ship fittings & accessories, model ship plans, modeling tools, model ship decorations, model tram kits, modeling timbers, new model kits.

Belle Poule

Venetian Gondola

New Orleans Streetcar

Wooden model ship kits.

HMS FLY – Swan Class 1776

CSS Shenandoah 1864

Endurance & James Caird Model Ship Combo

Featured Model Ship Manufacturer

Modellers shipyard.

Modellers Shipyard has been manufacturing ship model kits since 1986. They are the only manufacturer of wooden ship models in Australia. These historically accurate ship kits are faithful interpretations of the original vessels. All Modellers Shipyard ship model kits are double plank on bulkhead construction and only use the highest quality parts.

Each kit comes with highly detailed English building instructions with color photos which will assist you through the whole building process. Most of their kits have an optional extra DVD set where a master model maker demonstrates the step by step construction of the particular model.

• Modeling Hub

Here at Modelers Central we are passionate about the world of ship model kits. The Modelers Central team are continuously researching new model ship kits, stocking high quality brands and sharing tips and techniques on ship model kit building.

With you, our customer, at the forefront of Modelers Central we strive to provide you with diverse, innovative and enthralling aspects in the pursuit of building ship model kits.

With such a large range of ship model kit products you will be sure to find timber and fittings for the advanced scratch model ship builder, ship model kits for the intermediate modeler and ship model kits for the modeler just beginning in the fascinating area of ship model kit building.

Featured Posts

• Rigging Tips for Building a Model Ship
• Planking Tips For Building a Model Ship
• What Tools Do I Need For Model Ship Building?
• What Glues & Paints Do I Need For A Model Ship?
• How To Do Deck Planking On Wooden Model Ships
• How to Understand Your Model Ship Plans & Scale
• 7 Tips for Choosing a Wooden Model Ship Kit
• Guide To Masts, Yards & Booms On Model Ships
• How To Plank The Hull of a Sharp Bow Model Ship

Latest Posts

Iconic Pirate Ship Details

Pirate ships and their Jolly Roger flags have long captured the imagination of people all around the world. These vessels were known for their speed,

Historical Ships: A Fascinating Look at the Past

There are a number of famous ships that have played a significant role in shaping the course of human history. From ancient times to the

What is the Most Popular Scale for Model Ships?

With a vast array of options available, selecting the most popular scale for model ships can be quite overwhelming for both beginners and experienced hobbyists.

Join 18,543 other modelers to hear about specials, new products and modeling tips

• Become a Member
• Model Ship Building
• Maritime History
• Affiliate Program

Information

• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Modelers Central. ABN: 31 114 830 732

• Claim 10% Off First Order
• Get 5% off ALL orders with a Membership
• Gift Vouchers
• Help & Advice

Modelers Central. 2023, All rights reserved.

• Claim 10% Off Your First Order
• Get 5% Off All Orders With A Membership

Get 10% off

Your first order.

10% off applies only to full-price items. By providing your email address, you agree to our Terms & Privacy Policy

10% off applies only to full-price items. By providing your email address & mobile number, you agree to our Terms & Privacy Policy and consent to receive marketing messages from Modelers Central at the addresses provided. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP.

• Shopping Cart

You have not viewed any items recently.

Your shopping cart is currently empty. If you would like to make a purchase today, add items to your shopping cart.

• Tool Packages
• Ship Model Articles & Videos
• Privacy Information
• Store Policies
• Terms Of Use
• Cookie Information

Search Term

• Advanced Search
• Stainless Steel Wire
• Jackstay Eyebolts
• Reeving and Seizing Rigging Tool
• Display Supports
• DISCOUNT PRICING
• Ship Model Paint
• Ship Model Paint Sets
• Carving & Drilling
• Finishing - Sanding
• Ship Model Builder Catalogue
• Junior Ship Model Kits
• Grapnel Anchor
• Danforth Anchor
• Navy Anchor
• Compass & Telegraph
• Davits - Modern
• Doors, Modern Ship
• Hatch Cover
• Single Foghorn
• Ladders, Brass, Stamped
• Inclined Ladder, Metal, Assembled
• Life Rafts, Life Vests, Life Rings & Boats
• Modern Ship Wheel
• Modern Rigging
• Emergency Lighting
• Masthead & Stern Lights
• Navigation Lights
• Searchlights
• Radar and RDF Loops
• Single Sheave Block
• Double Sheave Block
• Stanchion - 1 Ball
• Stanchion - 2 Ball
• Stanchion - 3 Ball
• Stanchion - 4 Ball
• Turnbuckles
• Ventilation Cowl
• Winches, Hooks, Cable Reels
• Airports, Working
• Airports, Flanged and Drilled
• Spanish Anchor
• Early 18th Century Anchor
• Kedge Anchor
• Wooden Model Ship Wooden Barrels
• Belaying Boxwood
• Belaying Pins - Walnut
• Belaying Pins - Brass
• Blocks Single Sheave
• Blocks Double Sheave
• Blocks Triple Sheave
• Sister Blocks Single Sheave
• Sister Blocks Triple Sheave
• Boats, Lifeboats
• Bollard, Single Post
• Bollard, Double Post
• Bollard, Triple Post
• Wood Bucket
• Capstans Brass
• Capstans Cast Metal
• Capstans Walnut
• Capstans Boxwood
• Chain Copper
• Chain Polished Steel
• Chain Brass
• Chock, Open Style, Bronze
• Chock, Open Style with Bollard
• Cleats Walnut
• Deadeyes Walnut
• Deadeyes Boxwood
• Deadeyes Old Style
• Eyebolt Ringbolt Jackstay
• Galley Stacks and Vents -Period
• Gudgeons & Pintles
• Gun Port Door
• Gun Port Door Hinges
• Gun Barrels
• Guns With Carriage
• Gun Accessories
• Ladder, Wood, Assembled
• Ladder, Wood, Unassembled
• Oars & Boat Hook
• Period Rigging
• RC Sailboat Rigging
• Sails and Sail Cloth
• Split Rings
• Stanchion, Boxwood
• Stanchion, Walnut
• Ships Wheel Stand
• Brass Ships Wheel
• Bronze Ships Wheel
• Britannia Metal Ships Wheel
• Wood Ships Wheel
• Copper Plates, Sheathing and Wire
• Display Cases
• Flags and Markings
• Aluminum Tube
• Brass Pedestals
• Wooden Pedestals
• Waterline Tape
• Walnut Dowels
• Exotic Wood
• Walnut & Mahogany
• Forming / Nailing
• Knife Blades
• Power - Electric, Nitro, Fuel Systems
• Propellers & Drive Shafts
• Ship Model Books
• Nautical Gifts
• Ship Model Inspirations
• All Products
• Product Index
• Best Sellers
• New Products

The online store is currently closed for maintenance. Please check back again later.

has been supporting the ship model building community for the past 20 years. We carry a broad selection of specialty and professional ship modeling tools, fittings and parts, wooden kits and finishing materials.

No problem! Contact us by email.

in US State! anywhere on the for shipping costs outside of North America.

Check out our Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest pages for inspirational and enjoyable videos. Don't forget to turn on the sound!

If you have any comments about our site or would like to provide feedback, you can use our Customer Feedback form.

Click here to send us feedback on our site.

• Account Login
• Create New Account
• Delivery Address Book
• Email Subscriptions
• Send Contact Message
• View Mobile Site

Online Ordering Only --- Mailing Address RPO 15575, 265 Port Union Road Toronto, Ontario M1C 4Z7 Canada

Email: [email protected]

© 2024 Cast Your Anchor Hobby All rights reserved worldwide

10% Off Hobie Parts / 15% Off Rigging / 10-15% Off Select Kayaks - SHOP NOW

• Call Us +1-503-285-5536
• Sign in & Register
• Recently Viewed

General Parts

General Parts, Fittings, and Accessories for Small Sailboats. We offer a full range of sailboat hardware, blocks, cleats, shackles, dollies and trailers, accessories, and more. These parts are not necessarily specific to any one model of sailboat, but rather are general fittings that often work on a variety of boats for a variety of applications. 

• Qty in Cart

Ronstan Horn Cleat 6-1/2 Inch

Ronstan Horn Cleat 5 Inch

Ronstan Horn Cleat 4 Inch

Fabric Guard Waterproofing Spray

Dynamic Dollies Dock Cradle

Dynamic Combo Rail System Rack Over and Spar Deck Double Tongue Dolly

Dynamic Combo Rail System Rack Over and Spar Deck Single Tongue Dolly

Dynamic Combo Rail System Rack Over Double Tongue Dolly

Dynamic Combo Rail System Rack Over Single Tongue Dolly

Dynamic Combo Rail System Double Tongue Dolly

Dynamic Combo Rail System Single Tongue Dolly

Gill Marine Tool

Gill Harness Rescue Tool

ILCA Cunningham / Outhaul Upgrade Kit Harken

ILCA Laser Vang Upgrade Harken

Rooster Carbon Laser Tiller

• Total: items /
• Add all to cart

Adding your products to cart

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive exclusive discounts, new product announcements, and upcoming sales.

Sailboat Hardware

• --> Login   or   Sign Up
• Australian Dollar
• British Pound
• New Zealand Dollar
• Login   or   Sign Up -->

• All RC Cars
• RC Nitro Gas Cars
• RC Electric Cars
• RC Drift Cars
• All RC Trucks
• RC Electric Trucks
• RC Nitro Gas Trucks
• 1/16 Scale RC Trucks Electric
• All RC Buggy
• All RC Electric Buggies
• 1/16 Scale Electric RC Buggy
• 1/10 Scale Electric RC Buggy
• 1/8 Scale Electric RC Buggy
• RC Nitro Gas Buggies
• RC Rock Crawlers
• RC Boats & Sailboats
• RC Airplanes
• All Nitro Gas RC
• Nitro RC Buggy
• Nitro RC Cars
• Nitro RC Trucks
• All Electric RC
• Electric RC Trucks
• Electric RC Cars
• Electric RC Buggy
• Electric RC Rock Crawlers
• Electric 1/24 Scale Cars and Trucks
• Refurbished /Open Box RC Products
• All RC Parts
• All RC Cars, Trucks and Buggies
• 1/10 Scale RC Parts
• 94513 car parts
• 1/8 Scale RC Parts
• 1/16 Scale RC Parts
• 1/24 Scale RC Parts
• HBX Trucks and other vehicles
• All RC Helicopter Parts
• DYNAM E-Razor 450 Parts
• Walkera Parts
• All RC Airplane Parts
• Dynam Airplanes
• RC Quadcopter and Drone Parts
• RC Tank Parts

RC Boat and Sailboat Parts

• Starting Accessories
• All RC Batteries And Connectors
• NIMH RC Batteries
• RC LIPO Batteries
• RC Battery Chargers
• RC Radio & Accessories
• RC Shock Oil and Accessories

Shop by Brand

• HSP / Redcat
• WL toys or WL Racing
• View all Brands

Shop by Category

Parts for RC Boats and Sailboats

To pay by Credit Card or Visa Debit -- select Paypal as your payment method and select "Pay by credit card or Visa debit " at the bottom of the Paypal payment screen.

Rudder Servo for Monsoon and Legend Sailboats

Rudder Servo with Rudder Rod and Connector for Monsoon and Legend Sailboats

325120 9.6V 16.2 Ah LiFePo Battery for Surfer V2 Boat

315222 6.4v 12AH LiFePo Battery For Baiting 2500 Boat

315110 NIMH Battery 5000 MAH Rechargeable 4.8 Volt

FP315130 Left And Right Propeller Cover (V3)

860311 Water Inlet Tube Set for Mad Flow Boat

881133 Plastic Shoes for DF95 Joysway Sailboats

881114 Mast Head Pack B For DF95 Joysway Sailboats

881131 Bolts for Keel For DF95 Joysway Sailboats

881193 Protection Metal Rings For DF95 Joysway Sailboats

830124 Aluminum Alloy Rudder Assembly Set for Bullet V4E Joysway Boat

881227 Waterproof Bellows for for Joysway Boats

315116 Water Seal EVA Rubber for Forward and Rear Cabin

325119 Fishing Surfer Waterproof Gasket (Set of 2)

881110 DF95 Mast Pack B

881130 Carbon-Fiber Keel Fin With Bolts For DragonFlite 95 (DF95) Sailboat

830126 4mm Flex Shaft Set For V4E Bullet Joysway Boat

930513 Silicone Antenna Cap

865304 Hatch Cover for Joysway Mad Flow V3 With Lock Knobs

881105 DF95 "A" Set 50 Micron Mylar Film Sail Set

881182 DF95 Complete "B" Rig set W/ new Ggooseneck & com. strut (No Sails)

865109 Hatch Cover for Rocket V2 RC Boat

881191 DF95 Boom End Rear Plugs (Pk 10)

881563 DF65/95 Knurl Wheels (2pcs) and Bolt (1pc)

881512 A+ Masthead Plug & Carbon Backstay Crane

881189 DF95 Silicone O ring (2big+2small for RX & battery box)

880550 Jib Boom Protection Metal Ring

881196 DF95 Gooseneck (PK2)

881126 DF95 Front bumper(PK2)

881197 DF95 Compression Strut

881564 New Racing Sailwinch + 16mm & 25mm drums(for DF65 & DF95)

881568 DF65 Compression Strut

880534 240mm "Short" Keel with Screws

881217 Aluminum alloy rudder arm set for DF95

881199 DF95 New 25mm Winch Drum

Rudder servo  for Monsoon and Legend Sailboats

Rudder servo with servo arm and Rudder connection Rod  for Monsoon and Legend Sailboats

325120  9.6V 16.2 Ah LiFePo Battery for Surfer V2 Boat    

315222 6.4v 12AH LiFePo Battery For RC Baiting 2500 Boat     

4.8v 5000 mah NIMH Battery for RC Bait Boat Radio Control Baiting 500  Boat Includes Velcro tape  

FP315130 Left And Right Propeller Cover (V3) 

860311  Water Inlet Tube Set for Mad Flow  Boat  

881133 Plastic Shoes for DF95 Joysway Sailboats Package of 2

881131 Bolts for Keel For DF95 Joysway Sailboats Package of 4

881193 Protection Metal Rings For DF95 Jib Package of 5

830124  Aluminum Alloy Rudder Assembly Set  for  Bullet V4E Joysway Boat  This is a new Aluminum Rudder assembly set used in the  V4E version of the Joysway Bullet Boat

881227 Waterproof Bellows for Joysway Boats Package of 4

315116   Water Seal EVA Rubber for Forward and Rear Cabin for Bait Boat

Fishing Surfer Waterproof Gasket (Set of 2) for Bait Boat

881110 DF95 Mast Pack B for Dragon Flite 95 Sailboat

881130 Carbon-Fiber  Keel  Fin With Bolts For DragonFlite 95 (DF95)]=  RC Sailboat/Yacht 40.1 cm long

830126 4mm Flex Shaft Set For V4E Bullet  Joysway RC Boat only ( this is version with new all-metal rudder support)

930513  Silicone Antenna Cap for Joysway Boat

865304  Hatch  Cover for Joysway Madflow V3 With Lock Knobs

881105  DF95 A set  50 Micron Mylar Film Sail Set---printed 50 micron Mylar, Sail  for  DragonFlite 95  Joysway Sailboats 

881182 DF95 Complete "B" Rig set W/ new Ggooseneck & com. strut (No Sails)

 865109 Hatch  Cover with Latch  for Rocket V2 RC Boat

881191  DF95 Boom end rear plugs (10 pieces). for Joysway   DF95 Sailboat

881563  DF65/95 Knurl Wheels (2pcs) and Bolt (1pc) for Joysway  DF65 and DF95 Sailboat

881512 A+ Masthead Plug & Carbon Fiber  Backstay Crane for Joysway  DF65 Sailboat

881189 DF95 Silicone O ring (2big+2small for RX & battery box) for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat  

880550 Jib Boom Proteciton Metal Ring (5 pieces) for Joysway  DF65 Sailboat

 DF95 Gooseneck (PK2) for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat  

 881126  DF95 Front bumper(PK2) for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat  

881197  DF95 Compression Strut for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat

881564 New Racing Sailwinch with 16mm & 25mm drums (for DF65 & DF95 Sailboats)

881568  DF65 Compression Strut  for Joysway  DF65 Sailboat

  880534 240mm "Short"  Keel with screws  for Joysway  DF65 Sailboat

 881217 Aluminum alloy rudder arm set  for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat

881199 DF95 New 25mm Winch Drum for Joysway  DF95 Sailboat

YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

•  Facebook
•  Twitter
•  Google+
•  e-mail

 Page Top

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of country or topic discussed in the article. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from factsanddetails.com, please contact me.

Russian regions

• Chelyabinsk oblast
• Khanty-Mansi okrug
• Kurgan oblast
• Sverdlovsk oblast
• Nizhny Tagil
• Tyumen oblast
• Yamalo-Nenets okrug
• Map of Russia
• All cities and regions
• Blog about Russia
• News from Russia
• How to get a visa
• Flights to Russia
• Russian hotels
• Renting apartments
• Russian currency
• FIFA World Cup 2018
• Submit an article
• Flowers to Russia
• Ask our Expert

Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia

The capital city of Sverdlovsk oblast: Ekaterinburg .

Sverdlovsk Oblast - Overview

Sverdlovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, the largest region of the Urals, located on the border between Europe and Asia in the Urals Federal District. Yekaterinburg is the capital city of the region.

The population of Sverdlovsk Oblast is about 4,264,300 (2022), the area - 194,307 sq. km.

Sverdlovsk oblast flag

Sverdlovsk oblast coat of arms.

Sverdlovsk oblast map, Russia

Sverdlovsk oblast latest news and posts from our blog:.

26 May, 2020 / Unique Color Photos of Yekaterinburg in 1909 .

2 December, 2018 / Yekaterinburg - the view from above .

21 November, 2018 / Abandoned Railway Tunnel in Didino .

12 October, 2017 / Northern Urals: Manpupuner Plateau and Dyatlov Pass .

20 April, 2015 / Multicolored aurora borealis in the Northern Urals .

More posts..

History of Sverdlovsk Oblast

The first people settled here in the Stone Age. At the end of the 16th century, the Russian kingdom gained control of the region. In the 17th century, the most significant stage of the initial development of this area happened, when Russian settlers began a massive advance to the east. In 1598, the first settlers founded the town of Verkhoturye on the territory of the present Sverdlovsk region.

Verkhoturye became the first capital of the Urals because of its strategic location on the Babinov road - an important crossroads of trade routes. Sverdlovsk oblast acted as a transshipment base between the central part of the country and the actively developed regions of Siberia and Central Asia.

The presence of strategic reserves of iron and copper ore, as well as large forest areas, predetermined the specialization of the region (ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, wood processing, mining, etc.). Exploration of minerals in the Sverdlovsk region began at the end of the 17th century.

In the 18th century, the Demidov dynasty founded several plants in the region that turned into large production and economic complexes. The local industry was characterized by a high level of technological development. The blast furnaces of the Ekaterinburg, Nevyansk, Tagil iron-making plants were superior in performance to the best European models of that time, and their products were the leading item of Russian exports.

More historical facts…

The launch of the Trans-Siberian Railway became a landmark event in the life of the Middle Urals, allowing large-scale export of plant products. Between 1920 and 1930, the Urals was able to once again take its place as the leading industrial region of Russia by strengthening its mining industry, creating new production facilities, developing energy and mass urban construction.

In the years of the first five-year plans, along with the reconstruction of old enterprises, several new large industrial facilities were opened: Uralmashzavod, Uralelektrotyazhmash, tool and ball bearing plants in Sverdlovsk, Uralvagonzavod and Nizhny Tagil metallurgical plant in Nizhny Tagil, pipe plants in Pervouralsk and Kamensk-Uralsky, copper smelters in Krasnouralsk and Sredneuralsk, the Ural aluminum smelter in Kamensk-Uralsky and others.

On October 3, 1938, the territory of Sverdlovsk Oblast was finally formed. During the Second World War, from July 1941 to December 1942, more than 2 million people came to the Urals region, of which more than 700 thousand stayed in Sverdlovsk Oblast.

In the postwar period, Sverdlovsk Oblast continued to develop as a major industrial center of the Urals. The industry of the region was a supplier of the most important types of machinery, products of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical, electric power, light, and food industries. Mechanical engineering and metalworking retained their leading place in the structure of the local industry.

Being one of the most important industrial and defense centers of the Soviet Union, the Sverdlovsk region remained closed to foreigners until 1991.

Beautiful nature of Sverdlovsk Oblast

Forest stream in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Author: Vlasov Pavel

Sverdlovsk Oblast nature

Author: Oleg Seliverstov

Sverdlovsk Oblast is rich in forests

Sverdlovsk Oblast - Features

Sverdlovsk Oblast received its name from its administrative center - the city of Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg). The name appeared on January 17, 1934, together with the formation of the region. After renaming Sverdlovsk back to Yekaterinburg, the region was not renamed and retained its Soviet name.

The territory of Sverdlovsk Oblast stretches from west to east for 560 kilometers, from north to south - for 660 kilometers. The climate is continental. The average temperature in January is about minus 16-20 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 19-30 degrees Celsius.

The Sverdlovsk region, being one of the oldest mining regions of Russia, is rich in a variety of natural resources. Today, the local mineral and raw materials base provides a significant part of the production of Russian vanadium, bauxite, chrysotile-asbestos, iron ore, refractory clay. The region is the main raw source for Russian aluminum industry.

There are significant reserves of nickel ores, precious metals, mineral and fresh groundwater, practically unlimited reserves of building materials. There are deposits of stone and brown coals, chromites, manganese and certain prospects for discovering oil and gas fields. Forests cover about 80% of the territory.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is an important transport hub of Russia. The Trans-Siberian Railway passes through its territory. Koltsovo is a large international airport located in Yekaterinburg. The largest cities and towns of Sverdlovsk Oblast are Yekaterinburg (1,493,600), Nizhny Tagil (340,700), Kamensk-Uralsky (162,500), Pervouralsk (117,700), Serov (93,900), Novouralsk (79,000), and Verkhnyaya Pyshma (76,400).

Sverdlovsk Oblast is known for its traditional International exhibition of armament in Nizhny Tagil, annual Russian Economic Forum in Yekaterinburg. Yekaterinburg is the 4th largest scientific center in Russia after Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Novosibirsk.

It is one of the most important industrial regions of Russia. The structure of the local industrial complex is dominated by ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, enrichment of uranium and iron ore, engineering.

The largest enterprises of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy are the Nizhnetagilsky Metallurgical Combine, the Kachkanar GOK Vanadiy, VSMPO-Avisma, the Pervouralsky Novotrubny Plant, the Bogoslovsky and the Ural Aluminum Smelters, the Kamensk-Uralsk Metallurgical Plant, the Sinarsky Pipe Plant, the Seversk Pipe Plant, as well as enterprises of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (Uralelectromed, Sredneuralsky Copper Smelting Plant, Metallurgical Plant named after A.K. Serov, etc.).

The most important enterprises of the machine-building complex are Uralvagonzavod, Ural Heavy Machinery Plant, Uralelectrotyazhmash, Uralkhimmash, Ural Turbine Plant, Ural Civil Aviation Plant. Uralkhimplast, which produces synthetic resins, is the largest chemical plant in Russia.

Attractions of Sverdlovsk Oblast

Coniferous forests and numerous rivers make the nature of the Sverdlovsk region attractive for tourists. There is a number of reserves and nature parks: Visimsky State Nature Reserve, Denezhkin Kamen National Nature Reserve, Pripyshminsky Bory National Park, Oleny Ruchi Nature Park, Chusovaya River Nature Park, Bazhovskiye Places Nature Park, Rezhevskoy Nature and Mineralogical Reserve.

Some of the most interesting sights located outside of Yekaterinburg:

• Nevyansk Tower - a leaning tower in the center of the town of Nevyansk, built by the order of Akinfiy Demidov, the founder of the mining industry in the Urals, in the first half of the 18th century;
• Cathedral of the Savior’s Transfiguration in Nevyansk;
• Battle glory of the Urals - an open-air museum of military equipment in Verkhnyaya Pyshma;
• Automotive equipment museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma - one of the largest collections of Russian cars, special equipment, motorcycles, bicycles;
• Obelisk symbolizing the border between Europe and Asia in Pervouralsk;
• Verkhoturye - a historical town with a kremlin and a lot of churches called the spiritual center of the Urals. The Cross Exaltation Cathedral of the St. Nicholas Monastery is the third largest cathedral in Russia after the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg;
• Mount Kachkanar located near the border between Europe and Asia. At the top of the mountain there is the Buddhist Monastery of Shad Tchup Ling;
• Monastery in the name of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama standing on the site of the extermination and the first burial of the remains of the family of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his servants;
• Museum Complex Severskaya Domna in Polevskoy, 52 kilometers from Ekaterinburg - an industrial and architectural monument (1860);
• Open-air museum in Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha - Ural wooden architecture and the richest collection of the Ural house painting;
• Severskaya Pisanitsa - a monument with rock paintings and images of the Neolithic Age located near the village of Severka.

Sverdlovsk oblast of Russia photos

Pictures of the sverdlovsk region.

Sverdlovsk Oblast scenery

Author: Anatoliy Kislov

Bridge in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Author: Igor Romanov

Road in the Sverdlovsk region

Sverdlovsk Oblast views

Field of dandelions in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Winter in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Author: Isupov Sergei

Churches in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Abandoned church in the Sverdlovsk region

Author: Timofey Zakharov

Wooden church in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Orthodox church in Sverdlovsk Oblast

Author: Kutenyov Vladimir

The comments of our visitors

• Currently 2.92/5

Rating: 2.9 /5 (177 votes cast)