Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg (Cyrillic: Екатеринбург, also transliterated as "Ekaterinburg" or "Jekaterinburg") is a major city in central Russia. Situated on the Asian side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Ural region. Its population of 1,300,000 (2002) makes it Russia's fifth largest city. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was known as "Sverdlovsk" (Cyrillic: Свердловск), after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov.
History
The city was founded in 1723 and named after tsar Peter the Great's wife Yekaterina. It was renamed to Sverdlovsk after the a Bolshevik party leader and Soviet official Yakov Sverdlov.
Soon after the Russian Revolution Tsar Nicholas II his wife, Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were executed by Bolsheviks in this city.
There was an anthrax outbreak in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) in April and May 1979, which was attributed by Soviet officials to the locals eating contaminated meat. However, American agencies believe that the locals inhaled spores accidentally released from an aerosol of pathogen at a military microbiology facility.
Geography
Yekaterinburg is situated 1,667 km (1,036 mi.) east of Moscow.
Economy
The city produces heavy machinery, steel, chemicals, tires, and petroleum. Gem cutting is a well-developed light industry.
Education
The city is the leading cultural center of the Urals and has numerous institutions of higher education, including the Urals A.M. Gorky State University (founded 1920), a conservatory, and polytechnic, mining, forestry, agriculture, law, medicine, and teacher-training institutes. The Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and many scientific-research establishments are also located there.
Transportation
Yekaterinburg is an important railway junction, with lines radiating to all parts of the Urals and the rest of Russia. As the economic slump subsides, several European airlines started or resumed flying to the city. These include Lufthansa, British Airways, Malev, CSA Czech Airlines, and Finnair.
International relations
Being a major city (the largest east of the Urals), Yekaterinburg has a number of consulates for major countries. For people wishing to make a visa application and needing to attend interview, this can easily take a half-week off the travelling time to get to the interview (in the event that there are internal flights to Yekaterinburg, they may only be one per week).
Yekaterina is a sister city of San Jose, California, U.S.A.
Consulates
- Netherlands Consulate — ulitsa Mamina-Sibiryaka, 38. No further information.
- United Kingdom Consulate — established 1997 as a full consulate with a visa section, at 15a Gogolya St.
- United States Consulate — 15 Gogolya St.; located on the same floor as the United Kingdom Consulate.
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