Today, Yekaterinburg, the fourth largest city in Russia (about 1.5 million people), is the largest administrative, cultural, scientific, and educational center of the Urals.

And here is how Yekaterinburg looked a little over a century ago with a population of about 60 thousand people. These unique color photographs were taken by Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944), a pioneer of color photography in the Russian Empire, in 1909.

The general views of the southern part of Yekaterinburg.

unique photos of Yekaterinburg

Tags: Ekaterinburg city · Sverdlovsk oblast

Yekaterinburg (from 1924 to 1991 – Sverdlovsk) is a city with a population of about 1.5 million people, the administrative center of the Ural Federal District and the Sverdlovsk region, the fourth largest city of Russia.

Located on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals, along the banks of the Iset River, it was founded as an ironworks in 1723 and named after Empress Catherine I. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over Yekaterinburg

Tags: Ekaterinburg city · Sverdlovsk oblast

There is a rather unique place located about 60 km west of Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Sverdlovsk region – a huge abandoned railway tunnel named after the village of Didino, which is also almost completely abandoned at the moment. But in the past life was in full swing here.

Construction of the tunnel lasted from 1914 to 1918. During the Civil War in Russia, this tunnel was of great strategic importance. Kolchak’s echelons passed through it retreating to Siberia, which gave rise to legends of countless treasures, which the White Command left somewhere in these places saving them from the Bolsheviks. The Didino Tunnel on Google Maps. Photos by: Dmitry Solodyankin.

explore the tunnel

Tags: Abandoned · Ekaterinburg city · Sverdlovsk oblast

The Northern Urals is one of the most hard-to-reach areas of the Urals, but it gradually becomes more popular among tourists primarily thanks to two main attractions: the rock formations on the Manpupuner Plateau and the Dyatlov Pass.

Both of these places are covered with legends. Although one of them was created by nature, and the second – by human tragedy that is still an unsolved mystery. Photos by: Slava Stepanov.

fly over the Northern Urals

Tags: Komi Republic · Perm krai · Sverdlovsk oblast

This March, people living in central Russia could see in the sky unusual for these places natural phenomenon – northern lights. According to experts, it was caused by a powerful magnetic storm.

Let’s enjoy the following beautiful pictures of the northern lights in the sky over Sverdlovsk region. Photos by: Sergey Makurin.

amazing views

Tags: Sverdlovsk oblast

Volchansk (Sverdlovsk oblast) is the smallest town in Russia with the tram. Its population is just 10,000 residents. The tram has been running from 1951 and connects the southern and northern parts of the town.

The length of a single line is 8 kilometers. There is only one car on the line. The video was captured by Victor Borisov.

Tags: Sverdlovsk oblast

In the village of Kunary (Nevyanskiy district of Sverdlovsk oblast) there is an incredibly beautiful and amazing house. The house is the handwork of blacksmith Sergey Kirillov.

Here you can see the domes of churches, crosses, doves, coat of arms of the USSR, kittens, flowers, children and thousands of different cute flourishes. As a result of nationwide contest of amateur wooden architecture in 1999, the house of Kirillov Sergey Ivanovich was recognized as the best in Russia. The photos by daypic.ru

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Tags: Sverdlovsk oblast