The Great Ring of the Urals

The Great Ural Ring is a unique route that allows you to simultaneously plunge into the past and present of the Ural region. Demidov and Stroganov patrimonies, the history of industry in the Urals, unique architectural monuments.
You will also get acquainted with the rich museum heritage of the region. You will visit the shrine of the Perm region - the place of imprisonment and martyrdom of M.N. Romanov - the uncle of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty.

 

You will also have an interesting excursion to the “bottom of the Perm Sea”, to the operating salt mine of OJSC Silvinit. And, of course, you will have a unique opportunity to visit the border of Europe and Asia and feel like the master of two continents at the same time.
The Great Ural Ring runs along the route “Yekaterinburg – Nevyansk – Nizhny Tagil – Kachkanar – the border of Europe and Asia – Chusovoy – Solikamsk – Cherdyn – Nyrob – Usolye – Perm”. Travelers have the opportunity to see unique sights with their own eyes.

 

Nevyanskaya leaning tower

 

This is a unique monument of industrial architecture, which has no analogues in the history of domestic material culture. It was erected in the first half of the XVIII century in Nevyansk - the capital of the mountain kingdom of the Demidovs. For a long time people traveled here, covered hundreds and thousands of kilometers to touch its mystery.

 

Like a magnet, the tower attracted scientists and travelers from different countries. It was admired by a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the German P, S, Pallas and his compatriot I.G. Gmelin, it was painted by the English artist T.U. Atkinson and the Russian poet V.A. Zhukovsky, D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak, A.N. Tolstoy, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote about it... And today, after many years of oblivion, the tower once again appeared in all its modest splendor, tourists come here from different cities of Russia and abroad. Nearby, another pearl and pride of Nevyansk shines with its domes - the newly built Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral.

 

Lower Tagil - the supporting edge of the Power

 

Nizhny Tagil is included in the list of “historical cities” of Russia. This is one of the oldest centers of mining - domestic and world metallurgy, a city with a glorious history, the former Demidov patrimony in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the famous "tank town" of the Great Patriotic War, the venue for exhibitions-arms fairs in our days. Ancient and modern in Nizhny Tagil coexist.

 

In the city you can make a sightseeing tour with a visit to the Fox Mountain, which offers a magnificent view of the city and the surrounding area, as well as with a visit to the observation deck of the Main quarry of the Vysokogorsk mine, where magnetic iron has been mined since 1721.

 

In the historical and local history museum, the oldest in the Urals (existing since 1840), you can get acquainted with the activities of the Demidov miners and the history of mining. Nearby the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant-Museum, a former Demidov enterprise, there are industrial facilities of the XVIII - XX centuries. In the Museum of armored vehicles you can not only see all types of tanks produced in the Urals, but also sit in the cockpit of a modern T-90 tank.

 

On the border of Europe and Asia

 

A significant moment of the tour is crossing the border of Europe and Asia. At this place stands a high stone obelisk.

 

The journey continues on the Permian land. And the next point of inspection is the ethnographic museum of the history of the Chusovaya River. The open-air museum exhibits reproducing Russian antiquity. From different corners of the Kama region, a man's rural shop, a theater-museum of Russian wooden toys, children's fair carousels, a badja, a mill, a well ... Inside the premises you can see Russian household items, clothes, tools. The museum is not organized according to the laws of the museum. Here you can touch everything, hold it in your hands - potted two-bucket samovars, spinning wheels, kerosene lamps. The spirit of the primordial, native here lives freely among the objects of antiquity.

 

It is obligatory to visit the Ermak Campaign Museum, the only museum in the world that really lived the hero of the Russian Land. This is a real synthesis of arts: an old chopped chapel, an excellent polyptych by Pavel Shardakov, a wonderful soundtrack - an excited story about the epic of Yermak. After all, it was from these places in 1851 that the legendary campaign of Ermak on the Chusovaya River to Siberia began.

 

Salt of Russia

 

Next, tourists get acquainted with the real “salt shaker” of Russia – the city of Solikamsk. The history of this city is in essence the history of Russia itself, its formation as a powerful and vast power. In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the city bore the resounding name “Salt Capital of the Russian State”, 70 percent of the salt of Russia was mined here. Therefore, acquaintance with the city begins with an excursion to the existing potash fertilizer mine, "to the bottom of the Perm Sea."

 

Solikamsk amazes anyone who saw it for the first time. Here clearly reflects the breath of gray antiquity. The central architectural ensemble of the city is unique. According to experts, it has no equal not only in the Kama region, but also far beyond its borders. The highlight of the ensemble is the House of Voivode (1688) - the "residence" of the tsarist governor of the Solikamsk Voivodeship. The ensemble also includes the Trinity Cathedral, built in 1697 with money donated by Queen Sofia Alekseevna Romanova. This is the most monumental and picturesque building of the city. Its pyramidal-step composition with elegant decorative decoration of figure bricks dominates the panorama of urban development. It is also noteworthy that it kept one of the relics of the city - the icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker, presented by Ivan the Terrible. Next to it stands the 60-meter spire of the Cathedral bell tower, installed on the crest of a steep scythe in 1713. Perhaps one of the most interesting churches of the city is the Epiphany Church. In appearance attracts attention to the abundance of tiles. In the interior there is a carved wooden iconostasis with a rare collection of icons of Stroganov letter.

 

Perm - The Great Cherdyn

 

The next point of the route is a visit to the first capital of the Russian Urals, the oldest city of Russia Cherdyn. A sightseeing tour of the Cherdyn district, the local history museum and the Museum of the History of the Faith will help to look into the secrets of that time.

 

Cherdyn, the most ancient city of the Kama region, is not just rich in monuments of history and nature, it is a special civilization. Local tribes even before the arrival of the Russians in the Urals traded through the Volga Bulgaria with Persia, Byzantium, Khorezm.

 

In the XV-XVII centuries Cherdyn was the administrative, military, craft, trade and religious center of Perm the Great. Then there was even such a concept as “Perm Great Cherdyn”, which was mentioned in official business correspondence and colloquial speech of that time.

 

The role of Cherdyn in the development of Siberia by Russians is great. From here they went to the newly built cities of Verkhoturye and Pelym military and construction detachments, artisans, merchants and clergymen, with whom the penetration of Russian culture into Siberia took place.

 

Acquaintance with Cherdynya will begin with the Trinity Hill, where the earthen rampart – the remnant of the Kremlin wall – is preserved, the main attraction of Cherdyn. It offers a historical view of the city center, the river Kolva and the faraway.

 

The majestic bell tower of the Resurrection Cathedral (XVIII-XIX centuries) serves as a high-altitude dominant of the city panorama. In the architectural appearance of Cherdyn, the early traditions of the Russian North are intertwined with the techniques of the Ural school of architecture of the second half of the XVIII century and are reflected in temples, public buildings, merchant shops and houses.

Cherdyn residents have preserved many relics that are known throughout the world today. This Perm animal style, Perm wooden gods and unique icons.

 

Rich in sights and surroundings of Cherdynia. You will follow the ancient Pechora road, along which there are settlements founded even before the annexation of the Cherdyn region to the Russian state. There are a lot of monuments – witnesses of the brightest events of our history. This is the Annunciation Church (1785) in the village of Pokcha, this is the Holy Trinity Church (1779) in the village of Vilgort, the Vvedenskaya Church (1915) in the village of Kamgort. On the way you will visit a unique archaeological monument - the Iskor settlement in the village of Iskor, and also visit the famous "narrow street" and "wide street".

 

The place of the king's imprisonment

 

Further, the path lies in the northernmost village of Cherdyn district - Nyrob. It is believed that the most beautiful architectural ensemble of the Cherdyn region was created in Nyrob. In 1705, the St. Nicholas Church was built there, listed as a UNESCO monument.

 

The hole is infamous as the place of imprisonment and martyrdom of M.N. Romanov, the uncle of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty. Yama M.N. Romanov to this day is the shrine of Nyrob In July 1998, a memorial service was held at the pit of Mikhail Romanov in the presence of descendants of the Romanov dynasty.

 

Another holy place among the inhabitants of the region is considered Nikolsky spring. Its water has an amazing taste. Local residents attribute this to the fact that for a long time the apparent icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker was buried in it.

 

The Spiritual Charge of Old Russia

 

The final point of inspection is the ancient city of the Perm Territory - Usolye. Having preserved its face, it is a living part of the past, reminiscent of itself with church domes, stone merchant buildings, unusual names. Sometimes it seems: the doors of the old mansion are about to open, and the all-powerful owner of the Usolsky Territory Grigory Stroganov will appear on the threshold ...

 

Directly the history of the city begins with 1606, when Nikita Grigorievich Stroganov starts a new salt fishing, which was called New Usolya. The brines of New Usolya were distinguished by high concentration. The finished salt was delivered along the river to Nizhny Novgorod, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, there was loaded into barns, and from there the “Permianka” (the so-called Permian salt) dispersed throughout Russia, was sold abroad.

 

The XX century prepared for Usolya serious trials. The city is practically not preserved in its original form: in 1954, in connection with the formation of the Kama HPP, it was moved to Mount Kamen. Only the buildings of the old center, standing on a hill, remained unflooded. They keep to this day the memory of the “golden age” of the rich Stroganov patrimony, the former capital of Russian salt-making. Visiting the Usol region, where the past speaks to us today, you will feel a powerful spiritual charge of old Russia.

 

A visit to the cities of the Urals evokes an extraordinary feeling – a sense of one’s own involvement in the events that took place and are taking place. At first glance, individual and at the same time so unlike each other, they have their own special fate, their page in the annals of Russian history. Cherdyn, Solikamsk, Usolye are not only our memory, but also the beautiful reality of today. Strict and solemn silhouettes of temples, cozy quiet streets of residential quarters, majestic rustle of age-old trees, slowing down the count of years, immerse us in an atmosphere of peace, tranquility and harmony.

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