Yekaterinburg – my native city. *

Yekaterinburg is my native place. Though, when I was born it was Sverdlovsk.

Our city was founded in 1723 by Tatishchev and de Gennin by the order of the tsar Peter the Great as the centre of the mining industry. The town was placed on the Iset River. It grew up very quickly and soon it became the centre of metallurgy, machine building and jewellery. The name of the city was Yekaterinburg. Before the October revolution there were about 100 factories. There were also two gymnasiums, a mining college, two theatres, many cathedrals and two newspapers. In the 19^th century the Society of the Ural Technicians and the Ural Society of Nature Explorers were founded. Because of the large number of industrial workers in the city the revolutionary activity was very strong. The Soviet power was established in July of 1919. And in 1924 the city got the name of Sverdlovsk. When speaking about the history of our city, of course, we should mention one tragical event that had happened in Yekaterinburg – the murder of the tsar and his family in July of 1918.

Our city became one of the greatest industrial centres of the country. New large plants appeared one after another. For example, such enterprises as Uralmash, Uralelectrotyazhmash, Uralkhimmash and many others were built in 30-40es. Many old plants and factories, such as Verkh-Iset Steel plant, were reconstructed. During the years of the Great Patriotic War many plants from the western regions of our country had been evacuated here and our city became native to a great number of people. Now there are more than 300 factories and plants here.

Yekaterinburg is a great scientific centre of the country. There are many research institutes, the Ural branch of the Academy of Science of Russia, about 30 higher educational establishments, though only 14 of them are state ones. Among them there is the oldest institute in the Urals, opened in 1917, the Mining Academy, the Ural Gorky State University, opened in 1924, the Ural State Polytechnic University, the Pedagogical University, the Medical Academy, the Architectural Academy, the Financial Academy, the Conservatoire, the Law Academy, the Agricultural Institute, the Industrial Pedagogical University, the Drama School (Institute), the High Military College, the Forestry Academy and many others. There are more than 200 schools, vocational schools, colleges, and lyceums. Many of schools are specialized in different subjects or have classes with advanced courses.

Our city has old cultural traditions. The first theatre appeared in 1843. The Opera House was opened in 1912. Now we have 11 theatres in our city: the Opera House, the Drama theatre, the Musical Comedy theatre, the Children’s theatre, the Puppet theatre, the Chekhov Chamber theatre, the Chamber theatre, the Variety theatre, the “Volkhonka” theatre, the Study-theatre of Drama school, the theatre “On the Outskirts”. Our city is the only one in the country that has two philharmonic societies – for adults and for children. Many famous singers began their artistic career her: Sobinov, Kozlovsky, Arkhipova, Gulyaev, and Shtocolov. The Ural Folk Choir is famous all over the world. There are two professional ballet groups: the Provincial Dances and the Ballet Plus. Several newspapers and magazines are published in Yekaterinburg. Many writers and poets brought glory to our city. Among them we can name Mamin-Sibiryak, Bazhov, Likstanov, Krapivin, Drugal, Kolyada and many others. Our film studio began its work at the end of 50ies of the twentieth century. Many famous films were shot there: “Strong in Spirit”, “Trembita”, Privalov’s Millions” and others. When speaking about our painters we cam mention such names as Denisov-Uralsky, Volovich, Mosin, and Sterligova.

Yekaterinburg has rich sport traditions. There are many stadiums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, shooting galleries, sports grounds, and skating-rinks and ski complexes. Everybody knows the ski-jump complex situated on the Uktuss hills. Our volleyball team “Uralochka”, a hockey team, a boxer Konstantin Tzyu, a diver Irene Lashko – all of them are well-known in our country.

Yekaterinburg has been changing its appearance rapidly. Our city is very attractive now: many streets have become wider and cleaner. A lot of trees have been planted and in summer one can see multicoloured carpets of flowers in the streets, squares and public gardens. Our metro is not very long. It connects only several residential areas with the centre. But it is one of the most beautiful. Not long ago we got one more station – “Geological”. In 2008 we celebrated the 285^th anniversary of our city. And on this occasion the houses of our city had been repaired and painted. In winter our city looks much more strict and severe because of the colourless sky, dark lines of trees and white snow everywhere. But we like our city in any weather, we like the embankments of the City Pond, shadowy alleys of the Main Prospect (the Lenin Prospect), graphic lines of new districts. But most of all we like the spirit of the Yekaterinburg citizens – their strong will, trustworthiness and their readiness to help anybody if there is need. Our city is rich in gifted people. Many famous people lived in different times and brought glory to Yekaterinburg. I am proud of my city.