the Church on the Blood
We’d like to tell you about the most famous and historically significant place in Yekaterinburg –
the Church on the Blood. This place is a shrine where the pilgrims from all over Russia gather.
The Church was built on the site of the house of engineer Ipatieff, where the royal family Nikolai II, his wife, sun and four daughters were assassinated and the 300 year old monarchy of the Romanov dynasty came to an end.
In April 1918 because of the onset of white army the Ural Regional Council (Urals Bolsheviks – Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party) decided to confiscate the house to carry out a hasty assassination over the royal family in it.
Yakov Yurowski was appointed a commandant of the house. He offered to invite the royal family into the basement in pretence of giving them a shelter, then he told them that «their friends» (the white army) were coming up and therefore they are sentenced to death, the shootings followed.
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Shrovetide train
Today, in one of sunny spring days we want to tell you how russian people greet spring.
Since earliest times the Shrovetide is celebrated in Russia in honour of spring coming – a holiday week with pancakes baking and street festivities.
The tradition to bake pancakes came to us from slavs. They took spring as a source of new life and hallowed the sun which gives light and warm for everything alive on the earth. First they baked unleavened cakes in honor of the sun, and when they learnt how to make a batter they baked pancakes. Pancakes were considered as a symbol of the sun, because they are also yellow, round and hot. Slavs believed they ate a piece of the sun, its heat and power.
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If you decided to go to Yekaterinburg, information about annual events of the city can help you to choose when to go or what to do. Here are the events i remember.
annual events in Yekaterinburg
Ice Town opens
when: 29th of December or earlier, where: the square of 1905 year (Ploshchad 1905 goda)
January: Epiphany with swimming in ice hole – extremely popular activity for brave people
when: 19th of January, where: city lake Shartash
February: Shrovetide with street festivities
when: 13th and 14th of February, where: Central park of culture and rest (CPKIO Park)
May: the Military Parade of World War II
when: 9th of May, where: the square of 1905 year (Ploshchad 1905 goda)
May: Museums’ night – all main museums open at night and several city shows are available
when: 16th of May (but date may vary each year), where: in the city centre (the square of 1905 year), in most of museums
May: “May walking” – all fans of cycling and walking moves over several routes (26km, 46km)
when: day may vary, where: starting point may vary
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If you arrived in Yekaterinburg the best thing to start with is an acquaintance with the city. Currently I’m preparing this excursion and would like to share this info.
Yekaterinburg, city pond at night
The historical centre of the city is the dam situated on Lenina avenue. The route I suggest starts near it – from central subway station called the square of 1905 (Ploshchad 1905 goda), on the picture attached it is the point number one. The route finishes in the point number 18 – here is the house of officers and a restaurant with traditional russian cooking, named USSR (CCCP).
So let me describe other points and directions briefly.
1 – you are standing near central subway station and the street you are at is called “8 marta”. In google maps it’s “ulitsa 8 marta” cause ulitsa means a street. Let’s go to the parallel street called “Vaynera”.
2 – you are on Vaynera street, it’s the favourite place of walk for many citizens. This street is an analog of Moscow’s arbad. Let’s cross Lenina avenue (“prospekt Lenina”) and go to the embankment of the city pond.
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