Yekaterinburg

Our mode of transportation between cities was primarily by train although we did fly from Irkutsk to Moscow and traveled by bus from Moscow to Ryazan'. The train rides were very enjoyable as we were able to view Russia from our windows and partake of the food provided in the restaurant car. Our stay in Moscow ended on June 16. That afternoon we boarded train #16 at the Kazanskii Train Station and began our two-day trip to Yekaterinburg - the so-called capital of the Urals. We arrived in Yekaterinburg on June 17 at 8:32 p.m. after traveling for just more than 26 hours.

Yekaterinburg is either the 3rd or 4th largest city in Russia after Moscow, St. Petersburg, and perhaps Novosibirsk. It is located in the Ural Mountains - the physiographic boarder between Europe and Asia. We were in Yekaterinburg through June 21. The photos and narrative below are portrayals of our activities while in Yekaterinburg.
Moscow is located in the Eastern European Plain or the Russian Plain. From Moscow to Yekaterinburg, we traveled through that plain until we came to its eastern edge and encountered the Ural Mountains. The Ural Mountains are very old, worn down mountains and are not much more than big hills nowadays. In the western Urals we first began to notice a change in relief - differences in elevation.
This is another view of the terrain between Moscow and Yekaterinburg. It was generally heavily vegetated and beautifully green.
Each compartment on the train holds four people. Our group contained 14 people so two persons had the possibility of sharing their compartment with strangers. This is Cody and Paul. They were the ones that who would share, but in this case, they had the compartment to themselves.
Because the car we were in between Moscow and Yekaterinburg was not full, Connie had the luxury of having a compartment by herself.
This is, from left, Gail, Karen, and Paula, having a great time in their compartment.
This is Kathleen in her compartment. She shared a compartment with Alexander (Sasha) Pribylov and Elena (Lena) Biryukova. The are from Ryazan' and traveled with us to assist as we moved across Russia.
Phyllis, Mike, and Mary enjoy themselves in their compartment.
Sasha, Lena, and Kathleen in their compartment.
Lena and Mary are visiting with the woman who cared for our car. The sitting/sleeping compartment on the car are on the left. The hallway ran the length of the car.
On each end of the car are rest rooms. Adjacent to one of them is the hot water heater. Several members of our group used this water for tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.
Occasionally our train would stop at various stations along the route between Moscow and Yekaterinburg. This was one of those stops. For you Russian readers, the station is at the town of Druzhinino. At some of these stops we would get off the train and stretch, get some fresh air, and perhaps purchase ice-cream or other food items from people selling those things at the platform.
The train in the middle was our train. It is electric and had 12 cars, one of which was a restaurant car. You can see the platform between the trains where people are selling stuff.
Our host in Yekaterinburg was Ural State University. The Director of the International Program is Irene Danilovna. Here she is standing in Asia welcoming me as I stand in Europe. One of our excursions took us to the border between Europe and Asia. We are standing across the border. The border generally follows the crest of the Ural Mountains.
This is the border between Europe (left side) and Asia (right side).
A closer look at the monument that has been constructed on the border between Europe and Asia. While at this location, we enjoyed "visiting" Europe and Asia several times!
Kathleen is standing in Asia and I am standing in Europe!
This is Svetlana Alexandrovna Mikhailovskaya with one foot in Europe and one foot in Asia. She traveled to the "continental" border with us and is and assistant to Vladislav Petrovitch Belyaer, chair of the philosophy department.
This is Paul standing behind a marker at the "continental" border which explained when the monument was constructed and who identified the border.
As we entered Yekaterinburg, this is the sign that designates the city limits. The sign says, "Yekaterinburg."
One of the first things we did after arriving in Yekaterinburg was to listen to a lecture about the geography of the Ural region. It was held in this academic building.
Alla Vladimirovna Voronina was the geographer who presented the lecture. Her interpreter was Olga Alexeevna Bakhareva. Olga was a professional translator. We enjoyed her company on several excursions while in Yekaterinburg.
After the geography lecture, we had lunch in an academic cafeteria. Russian meals typically consist of a salad, soup, a meat and potato dish, and bread.
These are the Siberian Seminar participants. We had just finished a tour of a mineral museum. The Ural Mountain region is noted for it wealth of numerous minerals.
During the spring months in Russia, the poplar trees shed their cotton. What you see in this picture is poplar cotton all over the ground. It looked as if it had snowed.
This is Phyllis in the midst of poplar cotton swirling in the wind. Look at the piles of it near her feet. The "fuzz" was all over the city and we encountered it while walking to a Lyceum - a special school in Yekaterinburg.
This is the Lyceum - No. 110. Schools are numbered in Russia. Students enroll in grades 1 - 10 and have to go through a rather stiff application procedure to be admitted. Russian students start the first grade when they are 7 and finish high school when they are 17.
This is the logo for Lyceum No. 110. It says that this Lyceum is named for L. K. Grishina - the founder of the school.
When we arrived at the Lyceum, we were met in the entrance by the Director. Here she is telling us about the school. The young lady to her right is Olga, our translator.
Here the Director is showing us photographs of all of the students who have graduated from Lyceum No. 110. Because this is an exclusive school, most of the graduates enter universities.
While at the Lyceum, were shown several classrooms. This room served as the auditorium for the approximately 1000 students who were enrolled in the school.
This is the French language room. One of the French teachers is describing some of the projects that have been completed by her students.
This is the English language room. The teacher is showing us booklets that her students have written in English. You can see some of them laying the desks.
While at the Lyceum, we were fortunate to have participated in a discussion with individuals who teach at the Lyceum. The woman the right is the biology teacher. She was explaining her program. When she finished, out teachers and their teachers began to ask questions of each other about education in Russia and the United States.
This is the group of teachers discussion a variety of education issues.
Here is the group again. These discussions were useful because they 1) provided information about Russian and American educational issues, and 2) they created friendships between the Russian teachers and American teachers. Both groups of teachers discovered that they have similar problems and face similar challenges.
The history lecture in Yekaterinburg was absolutely fascinating. This history professor did not just give us an overview of the history of the region, but went into great detail about her research into small ethnic groups that lived north and northwest of the city. We all really enjoyed this lecture.
We not only enjoyed her historical information, but she also showed us several artifacts that had been created by the ethnic groups she had been studying. The groups had been isolated form civilization and have continued to function has they did centuries ago.
The other vary interesting lecture was about the Old Believers. In the 16th century, the Russian Orthodox Church began some reforms. Some members rejected the reforms and were persecuted and went into hiding. These people became known as the Old Believers. Many of them fled European Russia to the east, Yekaterinburg being one of the areas they began to collect.
Old Believers did not believe in reading books that had been printed by presses so they copied books by hand. The hand-printed book at left is one of about 600 that have been collected by scholars in the Old Believer Center at Yekaterinburg State University.
I understood this to be an entire Bible copied by hand.
This is another book that not only had been copied by hand but an ornate cover had been carved.
Right across the street from Yekaterinburg State University was the city opera house. You can see that it is a large, beautiful building. The statue in front is Sverdlov, the person after which Yekaterinburg was named during the Soviet Era. He was a close associate of Lenin.
This picture shows our tour of the Botanical Gardens. We were shown many plants that were unique to the Ural Mountain region and enjoyed swatting at mosquitoes.
While in Yekaterinburg, we were taken to the most important religious site in the Ural region - to the town of Verkhoturiye which was located 288 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg. On the left is Irene, Director of International Programs at Yekaterinburg State University. Next to her was our guide while in Verkhoturiye. Next to her was the travel agency guide who spent a couple of days with us as we toured the area. On the far right is Connie, a teacher in our group from Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The town of Verkhoturiye derives its name from the river - Tura - and its position on the high - verkh - bank of the river. This photo is taken from that high bank looking westward. This was a wonderful, sleepy town.
Another view of the Tura. The town had three parts. The one seen here. The one to the right of this portion, and the one behind where I am taking this photo. The religious sites are behind me.
Another view of the wonderful little town of Verkhoturiye.
This is the main cathedral in the monastery in Verkhoturiye. It is said to be the second largest in Russia after St. Isaac's in St. Petersburg. I don't believe it is as large as Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, but it was hard to tell.
This was a church at the wall of the fortress that surrounded the monastery and other buildings. Most religious sites like this contain several structures.
This is a close-up of the building in the previous photo.
Another view of the same building.
This is a small, but significant church in the monastery. We couldn't take pictures inside, but we were allowed to walk past the tomb of a very important priest and see a small hole in some fabric where the local priest touched his exposed skull. Did that make sense?
Another building in the monastery cluster.
This is the iconastassis in the main cathedral. It is a place on the east end of the cathedral behind which the priests conduct portions of the service. It also contains icons with the most important at the top.
This is a smaller iconastassis in a smaller chapel adjacent to the main portion of the cathedral.
In 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne of the Russian Empire ending 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia. The Bolsheviks transported the tsar's family to Yekaterinburg where they lived for about a year. On this site in 1918, the tsar and his family were murdered. Within the last few years, this new cathedral has been built to commemorate the event and site.
After the family had been murdered, the Bolsheviks removed their bodies from the building and transported them to a heavily wooded area north and west of Yekaterinburg. Here the bodies were dumped down an old mine shaft. This photo is the alleged site of the mine shaft. Later the bodies, or the remains of the bodies were removed and then buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The Russian Orthodox Church is now in the process of building a monastery here. Several buildings are being erected as shown in the following photos.
This is a new paved path that follows one of the newly constructed wooden walls of the monastery.
This is our group walking toward one of the newly constructed wooden churches in the monastery.
Another wooden church in the monastery.

Return to Previous Page

On to Novosibirsk

Return to Home Page