Mug Shot — «Yekaterinburg - Sevastyanov's House»

City: Yekaterinburg Country: Russia Edition: 2008 Icon Edition Belongs to: 261 users (32 trading, 104 seeking)

Yekaterinburg alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg, is the fourth-largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast, located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, on the border of Europe and Asia. At the 2010 Census, it had a population of 1,349,772. Yekaterinburg is the main industrial and cultural center of the Ural Federal District. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was named Sverdlovsk after the Communist party leader Yakov Sverdlov. Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Vasily Tatishchev and Georg Wilhelm de Gennin and named after Tsar Peter the Great's wife, Catherine I (Yekaterina). The official date of the city's foundation is November 18, 1723. It was granted town status in 1796. The city was one of Russia's first industrial cities, prompted at the start of the eighteenth century by decrees from the Tsar requiring the development in Yekaterinburg of metal-working businesses. The city was built, with extensive use of iron, to a regular square plan with iron works and residential buildings at the centre. These were surrounded by fortified walls, so that Yekaterinburg was at the same time both a manufacturing centre and a fortress at the frontier between Europe and Asia. It therefore found itself at the heart of Russia's strategy for further development of the entire Ural region. The so-called Siberian highway became operational in 1763 and placed the city on an increasingly important transit route, which led to its development as a focus of trade and commerce between east and west, and gave rise to the description of the city as the "window on Asia". With the growth in trade and the city's administrative importance, the ironworks became less critical, and the more important buildings were increasingly built using expensive stone. In 1781 Russia's empress, Catherine the Great, nominated the city as the administrative centre for the wider region, which led to a further increase in the numbers of military and administrative personnel in the city.

Sevastyanov’s House is one of the most beautiful bulidings in Yekaterinburg. Nikolay Sevastyanov was a successful businessman. He made a fortune during Gold Rush in Yekaterinburg at the beginning of 18th century. Just like other merchants of provincial Yekaterinburg, Sevastyanov felt envious of his counterparts from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Ural oligarchs might have more money but they didn’t have fame and nobility the Muscovites enjoyed. I should add here that Yekaterinburg residents have inherited the competitive spirit and still live with it. For example, Yekaterinburgers have a firm belief they live in the third major city in Russia. Despite the fact that Kazan officially patented the name of ‘Russia Third Capital’ in 2009, we still tend to call Yekaterinburg the third capital or at least the Capital of the Urals. So Sevastyanov’s kitschy eclectic house was to make this statement – Yekaterinburg is not a provincial Godforsaken place. And speaking about God, Sevastyanov even sent a request to the Tsar to get permission to cover the roof with gold. That was too much, as only Churches in Russia may have golden domes so that God can notice them. For his daring intentions Sevastyanov was ordered to go to church every day wearing heavy iron-cast boots. Luckily for him, the church of St. Yekaterina was just across the street from his beautiful house. The owner had never lived in his house. Sevastyanov rented it to rich visitors. He himself preferred a modest life-style and had a small wooden house behind the mansion. However, every day he would sit outside on a bench facing the big green house and watching passersby who would inevitably stop and gaze at his creation. Neither Sevastyanov nor the bench is no longer here but passersby continue gazing at the house with admiration.

edited by mobydick74
photo by lucky robles

  Russia, Yekaterinburg, MIT

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