One of the many old wooden houses, mostly unoccupied and some available, in Ekaterinburg, Russia /Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
Where is Yekaterinburg and why did I go there? (Ekaterinburg is the Russian spelling, and the pronunciation is German: EkaterinBORG.)
Glad you wondered! I went to satisfy my affinity for Russian history, specifically, the Romanovs, and, if the truth be known, I realized while there I am nothing more (or less) than a Romanov "groupie." (Russians pronounce the name, RomanOFF.)
An old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
A closer view of the house shown two above, in Ekaterinburg, Russia /Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
Ekaterinburg
is the site of the murders of the seven Romanovs and their staff of
four on July 17, 1918. It is Russia's fourth largest city (population,
about 1.5 million) but third in terms of economy. It is shedding its industrial image, but most of Ekaterinburg's cars have dusty bottoms and tires, but no litter or trash was seen on any street I visited in three cities.
An old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
Another view of a house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
Ekaterinburg lies about 900 miles east of Moscow, in the Ural Mountains which, as mountains go, are not like "our" mountains, but rather flat, but perhaps that was because we were high up which didn't feel like it. I never needed an oxygen infusion, and my guide said the vast forests surrounding Ekaterinburg (beautiful from the air) serve to combat industrial pollution. (Attention, Trump, if you are listening, can you hear me? Russians believe in "global warming.")
It is a crime to cut trees, she said, which explains why I never saw any lumber trucks carrying freight here and yon, but back to history.
This house in Ekaterinburg has two statues on each front corner and a plaque which states in Russian and English, "A.D. Andreyeva's House - Exemplar of the late 19th century residential building with the facade decoration in 'brick' style." Russians are more superstitious than we and often touch statues for "good luck" as this fellow in the right corner is doing/
Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
Ekaterinburg's tricentennial approacheth! 2023. A great time to go! (Aeroflot is a wonderful airline to carry you there two hours from Moscow after a direct flight from Dulles, 9.5 hours. Aeroflot gives beverages and half sandwiches on domestic flights (! No starving like on flights inside the U.S.) and two three-course meals with choices plus a light breakfast and open snack bar on the flight from Dulles. Believe me, save a day of your life and fly Aeroflot and not Finn Air Thin Air!)
An old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
A health care center in a formerly old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia. See the carvings found at most of these houses/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
A corner with street names on an old, wooden house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
This is one of a family's compound of three houses (the others, pictured below), according to the guide, and this one is now used as a consulate by one of the "'Stans," either Tajikistan or Turkmenistan, as I recall. Enlarge the plaques on the walls and see if the wording is legible and please check the lovely contrast between the satellite dish and the building. I believe the others below are available/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
The front of one of the family's compound of three structures (please see above and below), and this photo does not begin to convey the enormity of the place//Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
This is another view of the same house pictured above/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
The last of the family's compound of three buildings, and this one now is a gaming room. Please note the beautiful fencing which stands at many of these old structures/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
An old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
An old house in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
The same house as two above in Ekaterinburg, Russia/Photo by Patricia Leslie, July, 2018
The city was named after Peter the Great's second wife, Catherine whom he married several years after stashing his first wife in the famed (still standing and open for tours) Novodevichy Convent in Moscow (they pronounce it MosKO, not "COW"), but more on that later. (The same convent where he also imprisoned his conniving half-sister, Sofia, who tried to seize his power more than once and to make the point, Peter hung the body of one of her troops outside her convent window. Nice. See painting below. )
In the original by I. Y. Repin (1844-1930) found at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the body of a troop member can be seen hanging outside Sofia's convent/cell window. The painting label says: "Princess Sofia Alexeyevna A Year After Her Incarceration in the Novodevichy Convent During the Execution of the Streltsys and the Torturing of All Her Servants in 1698. Acquired by P. M. Tretyakov in 1879 from the artist"
Not only is Ekaterinburg the sad location of the murders and the last domicile of the family, imprisoned in the Ipatiev House, but 9.5 miles away is the first place, Ganina Yama, where the Bolsheviks threw their bodies and bones into an abandoned mine shaft and then moved them July 19, 4.5 miles to another burial ground, the Porosyonkov Ravine, to keep Bolshevik enemies, the approaching Whites, from finding the remains. (A post and photos to come.)
Knowing there is no "smoking gun" linking Lenin to the killings (like there is no "smoking gun" linking O.J. Simpson to the murders of his ex-wife and friend), it is perplexing why Russia reveres Lenin with multiple statues and monuments.
When I visited Ekaterinburg, it was a week past the centennial of the murders.
On my first day and upon entering a coffee shop, three employees rushed over when they learned I was an American tourist. (Everywhere I went in the city, I was treated as a celebrity!)
Said a waiter, about 30, in good English: "This is rather exciting because you are the third tourist I've seen this week!"
But, he said in a statement with his hand on his hip: "Why would anyone want to come to Russia?" (Later, a history major and waiter at a restaurant in St. Petersburg, told me: "Russian history is boring. It's nothing but wars and wars, and no, I don't like Putin and neither do three of my colleagues here!" To which I replied "nyet" to their belittlements of their nation's history, but I digress...again.)
These old houses in Ekaterinburg populate many downtown streets (but not to be seen near city centers in Moscow or St. Petersburg where land prices are higher).
Most of these structures appeared empty, however, one is a "gaming house" of sorts, according to my guide, where groups go to compete and have fun.
(When my driver and portage met me at the Ekaterinburg airport, the first thing the portage asked was: "Is your media free in the U.S.?" Yes, I said, is yours? Which he did not answer. Many in Russia are still afraid to talk, remembering "Soviet times," and as one told me (she said she had been at the American White House this past January!), the government in Russia knows how you vote. One of my American colleagues said our government knows how we vote, too. So it goes!)
Don't you love these old remnants? The families were quite large then and needed the space. Enjoy!
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