Romantic constructivism of Ekaterinburg

It is the youngest and most modern museum of Ekaterinburg, it has been opened only recently but already has become a place of strength. Here you can not only get to know the newest history of Russia, but also spend the whole day not getting bored for even a second. On the Center territory there are: a book store “Piotrovskiy”, cinema with interesting film shows, café “1991” where the dishes are cooked in accordance with Naina Yeltsina’s recipes, art gallery with periodically changing exposition – at the opening the collections of Dmitry Kovalenko, Shalva Breus, Vladimir Ovcharenko, Pierre Brochet were shown, and Yeltsin’s Museum itself, that occupies two floors. This multimedia art center can hardly be named “museum”, it is rather a story about life and reign of the first president: here you can find documentary photos, propaganda materials, and everyday life objects like a cupboard with flint glass, and a copy of grenade that played its role in the life of Boris Yeltsin.

The branch of NCCA in Ekaterinburg is celebrating its adulthood this year – it appeared in the city in 1999, having found location in the building of former school (once Lunacharskiy made a speech here) it proclaimed its mission as introducing contemporary arts into everyday life of the city. Few years after it was opened, on its basis the magazine “ZAART” started to be published; the magazine told about all events in modern art in Ekaterinburg in 2000s. Then came a suggestion to hold a Museums Night in Ekaterinburg, and later the Centre’s projects led to a full-scale event that spread all over the Uralian region – the Uralian industrial biennale of modern art. Apart from the projects for professionals, the Center does its best to make contemporary art part of all the citizens’ lives. The open yard of NCCA is a green territory to lay on the grass, a place where jazz and instrumental concerts are held, a nice playground for kids, a space for making family events and master-classes – i.e. a place where every moment something interesting and educational happens.

Imagine a ship approaching the shore, make the image a bit more abstract, consisting of geometric figures, and you will get the initial picture of how the house of physical culture “Dinamo” looks like. It was built by architect Sokolov in the 30s of the last century. A white and light blue building is located on the bank of the Iset river as a symbol of ambiguous creative thinking of its designers. An acute angle of the bay window reminds the front of the ship, balconies on the front – boats, terraces are like decks and the round windows are portholes. Meanwhile, the poetry of the building does not reflect its functionality: numerous passes made it possible to unite hotel, shooting gallery, swimming pool, gyms and lot more required for healthy person up-bringing into one complex. Until nowadays “Dinamo” is still functioning in accordance with its initial purpose and it is a good example of a sport construction built in compliance with constructivism.

An ideal place for a late breakfast with bruschetta, that smoothly flows into lunch or business lunch – the food here is delicious, the advantage of every ingredient being shown at its maximum. On the menu you will find not only light salads and familiar burgers, but also a tartar collection – beef, smoked eel, salmon, and, surprise, pickled plant eggs with fresh tomatoes. If you are not busy, then come to Double Bar closer to night time and ask for bartender Dasha and make a request for any nice cocktail, you’ll see – the evening will definitely turn into a thrilling one.

Ekaterinburg is not the city for early breakfasts – usually the eateries open from 10 am, so in case you are an early bird or just a very active person who has lots of things to do, you will succeed to eat in only few places, for example, in café Engels. For breakfast they offer cottage cheese pancakes with condensed milk, scramble with various fillings, oats, pastry and special waffles. All coffee drinks can be served with/on soy milk.