The grand hall was packed for Soros' speech

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) was a closed Russian city prior to 1991 under the name Sverdlovsk. It is best know for two events: the birth and rise to power of Boris Yeltsin, and the murder of the Romanov family. But we were there as more than just tourists. Our pupose in Ekaterinburg was to attend the Fourth Annual "New Media New World" Conference. It was designed to introduce and train Russian journalists to the benefits in the use of technology in their work.

While there we even had a visit from George Soros, the man responsible for the state-of-the-art computer facilities available at Urals State University, the site of the event. Mr. Soros gave a speech through his translator, and took questions from the audience. Except for a small protest outside the university, everyone was very happy, and a bit curious, regarding Soros' visit to their city. But between speeches, presentations and lectures, we did have time to get out and see the city. If you would like to see more about the conference, there is an English language on-line report from the conference archived on the

A statue saluting the Komsomol of the Urals region stands in front of the grand Ascension Church The most popular place to visit in Yekaterinburg is the area on Voznesensky Prospect just north of the main street. This small area contains a beautiful mansion, an old Soviet monument, a cathedral, and a memorial on the site where the Romanov family was killed. The photo to the right shows the Soviet monument to the Komsomol of the Urals region on a plaza in front of the Ascension Church. The Ascension Church is operating as a Russian Orthodox church with its newly restored exterior, but outside many pensioners sat in the cold waiting for handouts. The Rastorguev-Kharitonov Mansion (below) is situated north of the church and Komsomol monument (By perspective of the photo, the mansion is just to the left). It was the mansion of a rich 19th-Century gold family, after whom it is named. The Rastorguev-Kharitonov Mansion

The death site of the Romanov family The site where the Romanov family was killed is now nothing more than an empty lot with a small memorial, and a wooden church a few hundred yards away. The Romanovs were killed in the basement of a house that stood on the site until 1977. It was demolished by Boris Yeltsin (then governor of the region) who has since admitted that the buildings were torn down by his command, but claims it was under Soviet Politburo orders. Our tour guides lamented the decision to raze the building. According to them, the entire block was comprised of buildings resembling the Rastorguev-Kharitonov Mansion (above). But rumor has it that the Soviet government were preparing for the Moscow Olympics. They were afraid that the site would become a monument for underground activities, potentially stirred up by the arrival of large contingents of Olympic partcipants and viewers from the West, so they decided to raise the building. But to cover up their intentions, they announced that the entire block of buildings would be demolished to make way for a widened thoroughfare through the city. According to the locals, not only was this street not built, but there were never any plans for it. There have been long-standing plans to build a large cathedral on the empty lot that once housed this block of historic buildings. But for now, the there is a cross and small plaque dedicated to the family, and a small wooden chapel.

Ornate house on Turgenev Street

An old building on Mamina-Sibiryaka Street

The city has some rather striking architecture. The building to the right was located at 24 Turgenev street, just half a block south of the Ascension Church. It was a center for AIDs education, but despite walking past it many times on different days, it never seemed to be open.

Afghanistan war memorial to the dead of Yekaterinburg

We were escorted on a few tours of the city by locals, but each one insisted on showing the memorial for the Afghanistan War Veterans. The Afghanistan War is similar to the U.S. Vietnam War in the sense that many people fought and died, but support for the action was poor back home. This memorial depicts a soldier in the center, head lowered. Each 'rib' shown behind the soldier is marked with a year, and the soldiers from Ekaterinburg that died during that year have their names listed on the rib. The 'ribs' you see behind him actually appear on both sides of the statue. The base of the statue and the bottom of each rib are adorned with black tulips. The ribs on both side of the statue are meant to evoke the ribs of an airplane. The planes that carried home the Ekaterinburg soldiers that had been killed in action were called "Black Tulips."

This wasn't the only reference to the Afghan War we saw in Ekaterinburg. Later that day we went to a museum that had a large display dedicated to those killed in the Afghanistan War.

A view over the Iset river in Istorichesky Square While we enjoyed our tours in Ekaterinburg, it was October. While we had unseasonably warm weather for our visit, the sun did set rather early. There wasn't much time to see the sites before it got dark. To the left, is a view over the Iset River at the city center. The area includes a small dam which funnels into the Iset River. The park around this outlet is called Historical Park, as this is where Yekaterinburg began in 1723. The area is surrounded by museums and historic buildings. Part of the park includes a small area which includes large machines used at the turn of the century for the dam, or the iron forge which was powered by the dam. Today they are used to educate the children of the city who are allowed to climb on them and play around them.

The new governor's mansion To the right, the new governor's mansion overlooking the City Pond which formed behind the dam. Our guides told us that this was quite a controversial building. The governor had built the building with millions of dollars of taxpayer money. When this information was made public, there was a huge uproar. Due to public pressure, the governor handed the building, still not complete, over to the city administration. The city administration completed the project, and presented it to the governor on his birthday as "a gift from the city." It is now his private residence. This site is the travelogue of Civil Society International's October 1997 trip to Russia. You can continue on the tour to Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia Civil Society International is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington. We support the development of civil society by fostering relationships between the nonprofit sector in the West and and the grassroots and nonprofit organizations in the former Soviet Union. We do this by publishing information in books, pamphlets and on our Web site. This Web site is part of our effort to provide easily accessible information to the public and to raise awareness of the the important of a civil society outside the realms of business and government to support democracy and provide a safety net that the government can no longer provide. To learn more about CSI visit our Home page. There is more information about our activities through the "About CSI" link. Also, be sure to visit our list of Russian nonprofit organizations currently operating in the Ekaterinburg area which is available under the "NIS Organizations" link from the home page. CSI Web site: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/