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BETTER PLACE - 164' (50M)

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BETTER PLACE Yacht – Grandiose $50m Superyacht

The BETTER PLACE yacht is a 50.0m sailing yacht built by Italian shipbuilders Wally in 2012.

At the time of her delivery, she broke the record for being the world’s largest carbon sloop and the first yacht to earn a RINA’s Green Star for her minimal environmental impact.  

She is the first largest yacht built by Wally and she’s also one of the largest yachts in the world. 

BETTER PLACE
165ft (50.0m)
10
9
Wally
Wally
Tripp Design Naval Architects
Wally
Wetzels Brown Partners
2012
14 knots
:1 Cummins
310 GT
9652791

BETTER PLACE Yacht Interior

The BETTER PLACE yacht interior was styled by Wally and Dutch design house  Wetzels Brown Partners. 

One of the key elements of this yacht is her interiors open onto the exteriors and vice versa, making easy access for natural light. 

Some of her sophisticated materials are satin, oak, leather, carbon fiber, and upholstery in white and grey colors. 

Her detailed décor includes lamps, cushions, frame pictures, and colors like raspberry, ice green, and sky blue to match the exterior of the vessel. 

What makes her unique is her integral design, where the interior meets the exterior in a smooth transition. She is illuminated with color-changing LED lights. 

Her amenities include an equipped flybridge, spa pool, side bathing platform, terrace on the sea, jacuzzi tub, and barbecue, among so many others. 

BETTER PLACE offers extensive open areas on deck, perfect to host up to 16 people. 

She was built to accommodate up to 10 guests in five cabins, comprising the owner’s suite, two double cabins, and two twin cabins. She can also host up to 9 crew members on board. 

The staterooms can be found on the cabin deck, they all have wall bulkheads and grey, black, and carbon finishes. The twin cabins were specially made for the children. 

BETTER PLACE Yacht Exterior

The BETTER PLACE yacht features exterior design by Wally and naval architecture by Tripp Design Naval Architects. She is one of the ultra-light yachts that displaces only 250 tons.

This modern sailing yacht has both a hull and superstructure built with carbon fiber, as well as a Teak deck. 

The vessel exterior has sporty lines featuring a metallic Bugatti blue painting and materials like carbon and lacquered oak. She also has an imposing 67.5m carbon mast by New Zealand company Hall Spars. 

Her layout comprises a main deck, a cabin deck, and a sundeck. 

BETTER PLACE Yacht Specifications

The BETTER PLACE yacht has a 10.25m beam, a 6.2m draft, and a gross tonnage of 310. She is the only Wally 164 model.

She cruises at 12.5 knots but can reach a maximum speed of 14 knots thanks to her 1x380HP Cummins diesel.

Her diesel-electric system helps reduce consumption, noise, and vibration while providing a more efficient cruising.  

She has a fuel capacity of 18,000 liters and can carry 6,000 liters of fresh water on board. She is in the top 10% by LOA and currently sails under the Cayman Islands flag. 

BETTER PLACE is not listed for sale or available for charter, but her price is around $30 million and a running cost of $3 million per year.  

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Sailing yacht Better Place launched by Wally

Today, Wally launched its new flagship and the world's largest carbon fibre sloop. Christened Better Place , the 50.5 metre sailing yacht has a distinctive Bugatti blue hull.

With a light displacement of only 250 tons, Better Place has set a new benchmark for a flybridge sailing yacht of this size in terms of both performance and comfort, thus meeting her owners requirements. Her unusual design - from the boards of Tripp Design - will make her recognisable all over the world.

'We succeeded in delivering an environmentally friendly and breakthrough Wally 50m with the aggressive and sleek lines of a true performance sailing yacht, rather than the motor sailer look typical of this class of yachts,' said Luca Bassani Antivari, founder of Wally and head of research and development.

Indeed Better Place promises high performance with a 67.5m carbon mast, the tallest yet built by Hall Spars, and her Wally lifting keel, which extends the draught from 4.6m to 6.5m. Even in light airs under 10 knots performance will be good.

Better Place is also the first sailing yacht developed to meet the environmental requirements of RINA's Green Star class. Equipped with a Siemens diesel electric propulsion system, she has three Caterpillar generators producing 705kW of power, which will enable a top speed of 14 knots. She also has LED lights fitted throughout.

The modern interior, designed by Wetzels Brown Partners, stays true to Wally's inside-outside living concept with interior areas flowing seamlessly into exterior areas. An open plan deckhouse has saloon and dining areas in addition to the wheelhouse, while up to 12 guests are accommodated in five cabins below. Placed aft, the owner's suite is very light thanks to large portholes on either side and a large opening onto a private 'terrace on the sea'. The four double guest cabins, and crew quarters for 10 are forward.

Amongst the yacht's special features we note a fully equipped flybridge, a spa pool, two tenders stowed on the foredeck and a side bathing platform...

Better Place will be delivered before the end of June 2012.

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better place wally yacht

Wally 'Better Place': Carbonfibre sailing yacht

better place wally yacht

With its cutting-edge construction and sleek, sporting lines, the 50.5-metre ‘Better Place’ claims to bring the sailing yacht into the 21st Century. Its contemporary design isn’t limited to the hull, though; the deckhouse has floor-to-ceiling windows, and an emphasis on ‘inside-out living’ throughout the interior spaces ensures an ‘airy’ atmosphere while preserving privacy.  



More information on 'Better Place' and other Wally vessels can be found at
 

Photos: Wally

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Better Place a Wally 164 Superyacht

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Better Place has 23 Photos

Wally50m Better Place superyacht - photo Gilles Martin-Raget

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Hall Spars NZ hard at work with Oceanfurl booms for four Luxury Yachts

Hall Spars NZ hard at work with ...

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  • Better Place

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Better Place Specifications

Type/Year:a Wally 164 Superyacht/2012 
Refit: 
Beam:10.25m (33´63´´) 
L.O.A.:49.9m (164´) 
Crew: 
Guests:10 
Max Speed:14 knots 
Cabins: 
Engines:1x380 HP Cummins diesel  
Cruise Speed: 
Builder/Designer: , ,  
Locations:  

49,9m (164´) sailing yacht Better Place is a wonderful Wally 164 vessel, launched in 2012 by the renowned Italian builder, Wally Yachts. With naval architecture by the Wally´s in-house team and sophisticated exterior by renowned Tripp Design Naval Architects, the Better Place superyacht boasts an impressive 67.5m carbon mast by Hall Spars. Her lovely interior design is by Wetzels Brown Partners.

Wally 164 superyacht Better Place easily sleeps a total number of 10 guests and a crew of 9 professionals. Built in composite, the 49.9m luxury yacht Better Place reaches a top speed of 14 knots, thanks to her single 380 HP Cummins diesel engine. Her beam is of 10.25m (33´63´´), while her maximum draft is of 6.2m (20´34´´).

Yacht Accommodation

Wally 164 luxury yacht Better Place can comfortably accommodate 10 guests and an impeccable crew of 9.

Amenities and Extras

We do have available further amenity, owner and price information for the 49.9m (164´) yacht Better Place, so please enquire for more information.

Better Place Disclaimer:

The luxury yacht Better Place displayed on this page is merely informational and she is not necessarily available for yacht charter or for sale, nor is she represented or marketed in anyway by CharterWorld. This web page and the superyacht information contained herein is not contractual. All yacht specifications and informations are displayed in good faith but CharterWorld does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the current accuracy, completeness, validity, or usefulness of any superyacht information and/or images displayed. All boat information is subject to change without prior notice and may not be current.

Quick Enquiry

“You look around the market today and I would say that 95 per cent of yachts from 40 to 140 feet have copied Genie of the Lamp. That kind of layout, that kind of style and deck, it’s clear. I don’t think it’s too much to say that Genie has influenced the last 20 years.” - "Today, everyone has ‘invented’ the vertical bow. We didn’t invent it, it was invented in the 19th century, even before that, but when we introduced it in 2003, everyone was against it. Even the naval architects, they were saying, ‘no, this boat will have big problems’. And now everyone understands that there are a lot of advantages in having a vertical bow. And everyone is claiming they invented it!” - Luca Bassani, founder and president of Wally

Wally50m luxury yacht Better Place - Photo Rolex-Carlo Borlenghi

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Better Place Charter Yacht

NOT FOR CHARTER *

This Yacht is not for Charter*

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Better Place

  • Amenities & Toys

BETTER PLACE yacht NOT for charter*

49.9m  /  163'9 | wally | 2012.

Owner & Guests

Cabin Configuration

  • Previous Yacht

Special Features:

  • Multi-award winning
  • RINA (Registro Italiano Navale) C ✠ HULL ● MACH classification
  • Sleeps 10 overnight

The multi-award winning 49.9m/163'9" sail yacht 'Better Place' was built by Wally in Italy at their Fano shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Wetzels Brown Partners and she was delivered to her owner in June 2012. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Wally.

Guest Accommodation

Better Place has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 10 guests in 5 suites. She is also capable of carrying up to 9 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Range & Performance

Better Place is built with a GRP hull and GRP superstructure. Better Place comfortably cruises at 14 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 14 knots. Her water tanks store around 6,000 Litres of fresh water. She was built to RINA (Registro Italiano Navale) C ✠ HULL ● MACH classification society rules.

Length 49.9m / 163'9
Beam 10.25m / 33'8
Draft 6.5m / 21'4
Gross Tonnage 325 GT
Cruising Speed 14 Knots
Built
Builder Wally
Model Wally 50m
Exterior Designer Wally, Tripp Design
Interior Design Wetzels Brown Partners, Wally

*Charter Better Place Sail Yacht

Sail yacht Better Place is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Better Place Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Better Place Photos

Better Place Yacht

Better Place Awards & Nominations

  • The World Superyacht Awards 2013 Best Sailing Yacht in 40m+ size range Finalist
  • The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Interior Design Award: Sailing Yachts Winner
  • The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Naval Architecture Award: Sailing Yachts Finalist
  • The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Recreational Area for Guest Use Award Finalist
  • The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Environmental Protection Award Finalist
  • The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Holistic Design Award Winner
  • International Superyacht Society Awards 2013 Best Sail 40 M+ Winner

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Specification

S/Y Better Place

Length 49.9m / 163'9
Builder
Exterior Designer Wally , Tripp Design
Interior Design Wetzels Brown Partners , Wally
Built | Refit 2012
Model
Beam 10.25m / 33'8
Gross Tonnage 325 GT
Draft 6.5m / 21'4
Cruising Speed 14 Knots
Top Speed 14 Knots

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About Better Place

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yacht Better Place

Specifications

Yard : Wally
Type : Sailing yacht
Guests : 10
Crew : 10
Cabins : 5
Length : 51 m / 167′4″
Beam : 10.25 m / 33′8″
Draft : 6.2 m / 20′5″
Year of build : 2012
Classification : RINA - Green Star
Displacement : Sailing yacht
Model : 12V 4000 M90
Engine power : 1,200 hp
Total power : 2,400 hp
Maximum speed : 14 knots
Cruising speed : 12 knots
Gross tonage : 310
Hull : Composite
Superstructure : Composite
Decking : Teak
Decks : 3
Interior designer : Wetzels Brown Partners
Exterior designer : Luca Bassani & Wally
Propulsion : Twin screw
Water capacity : 6,000

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BETTER PLACE // Wally Yachts

The 50m better place by wally from 2012 is a very modern flybridge sailing yacht in stunning bugatti blue..

BETTER PLACE  is one the largest sloop-rigged sailing yachts in carbon fiber and RINA Green Star certification. The boat offers 300 sqm of inside space and 500 sqm outside area. Furthermore, she has a hybrid propulsion system to reduce fuel consumption, noise, and vibrations.

Wetzels Brown Partners and the Wally in-house team created the exterior design. Wetzels Brown Partners is also responsible for the interior design.

Better Place Yacht Wally Yachts

Luca Bassani, Wally’s founder and President and Head of the R&D commented:

“With Better Place, once again Wally opens a new route in yacht design and innovation. We succeeded in delivering an environmentally friendly and breakthrough Wally 50m with aggressive and sleek lines of a true performance sailing yacht, rather than the motor sailer look typical of this class of yachts.”

Interior of Sailing Yacht BETTER PLACE

The Wetzels Brown Partners design sleeps 10 guests and a crew of 10 in light and bright interior.

The owners’ suite has a large size of 62 square meters with a lot of natural light, thanks to windows on the sides. Furthermore, the owner has direct access to the vast 30 square meter Terrace-on-the-sea – a typical Wally feature.

The deckhouse offers 86 square meters of open space with dining and lounge areas, surrounded by full-height windows giving an airy feeling. It is like a protected cockpit or like a pavilion. In the forward area of the deckhouse is the wheelhouse.

Better Place Yacht Wally Yachts Interior

The forward social cockpit, directly accessible from the interior dining and lounge areas, features table seats and sun beds for up to 20-people. Beyond this, the forward deck features a Jacuzzi, finished in black, which is positioned beneath deck level and is, therefore, invisible when not in use, a hidden winch “cockpit” for the halyards, two large tender garages, stay-sail locker, sail lockers, and the Wally submarine anchor locker.

Better Place ‘s 100-sqm sundeck is accessed both by an outside staircase and by an inside open staircase, leading to steering and navigation, lounge, dining, sunbathing and barbeque areas, A particularly innovative service feature is the open food lift connecting galley, interior dining area and sundeck– a ‘suitcase’ suspended in free space, connected by a single vertical track, to lift . The sundeck dining can be converted into a huge sunbed with the addition of an inflatable mattress, providing further comfort without stretching available storage capacity.

A hull-side door is located amidships to starboard: when open, it converts into a swimming and tender boarding platform. The picture below is also good to compare the size. Another picture to compare is the one the crew member in the boom.

Man in the Boom Better Place

“Man in the Boom” – a lot of shares on social medias but often without context or what yacht it is. These photos show the size of the yacht.

Maximising space and minimising storage requirements, a newly designed seating module has been developed for the deck in carbon and mesh with low-profile cushions, for easy stowage, by the interior designers Wetzels Brown Partners, who designed all the deck furnishing.

The lower deck of Better Place features the night and service areas accommodating the owners in the aft suite and up to ten guests in four double staterooms, and ten crew in five double cabins. All cabins have en-suites.

The crew and service quarter is forward with galley, laundry and crew mess. The two engine rooms are amidships.

The interior design combines carbon look both gloss and satin, satin white lacquered oak, grey leather, and color matched upholstery to create a relaxed feeling. Colour-changing LED lights are used throughout the yacht and can be adjusted in order to change the atmosphere, reflecting the interior design concept to have soft and neutral tones that are colored by the lights. The cabins are linked by a light installation, running along the spine of the yacht.

There are currently no information if this yacht or sale or a price.

Better Place Yacht Wally Yachts

Main Specifications BETTER PLACE

50.50 m
10.25 m
4.60 m
Wally / Wetzels Brown Partners
Bill Tripp Design
Wetzels Brown Partners
10
10
Hall Spars
1100 sqm
Siemens diesel-electric
14 knots

The area around the deckhouse features the raised bulwark, appeared firstly on Wally’s ESENSE in 2006. This feature offers an aesthetically kind of safety without stanchions on the hull. Only the flush deck has stobs for the rail.

SHARING IS CARING - THANK YOU!

Unfurled // vitters shipyard, philippe briand presents 39m sloop for perini navi, y7 tripp 70 // michael schmidt yachtbau, project 410 // royal huisman turns hull of the 85m sloop-rigged sailing yacht, pink gin vi // baltic yachts, video: sarissa by vitters, child of lir // swan 105 rs // beiderbeck designs, 24m victoria // relaxity yacht design.

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Yachting World

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Innovation, performance and sheer good looks: Wally’s 30-year sailing success story

Yachting World

  • In partnership with Yachting World
  • September 5, 2024

After 30 years of innovation, Wally continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in sailing yacht construction, with the highly anticipated wallywind110 coming later this year

better place wally yacht

Wally’s sailing soul shines bright in its 30th year.

Some 30 years ago, a visionary sailor looked around the market for a boat and decided that there must be a better way to complete a circumnavigation with his family. Driven by his own passion and experience at sea, he set to designing and building his very own boat: a ketch called Wallygator . That sailor was Luca Bassani, and the boat he built set him on a course that today makes Wally one of the best respected names in sailing. 

Innovation was always at the core of Wally, with a stream of bright ideas which reshaped the market for big sailing boats. We take carbon fibre yachts for granted these days, but Wally’s Nariida was the first built in full carbon. She also launched the concept of hydraulic sail trim, submarine anchors and carbon sails. A year later, Genie of the Lamp introduced the world to push-button sailing, making it possible for the first time for one person to handle an 80ft sloop.

better place wally yacht

In the 30 years since it was founded, Wally has been no less revolutionary when it comes to the shape and styling of big sailing yachts. The terrace-on-the-sea concept with a large, open aft deck for sunbathing and private glazed access from the owner’s cabin was first seen in the 1998 launch Tiketitan . Open, almost architectural furnishings in the main saloon? That’s another Bassani first.

Now in the ownership of Italy’s Ferretti Group, Wally is under the leadership of Managing Director Stefano de Vivo – still forging its own path and daily justifying its tagline of being ‘20 years ahead’. The sailing focus which launched the brand in 1994 remains undimmed by success on the power side, and this year will see the launch of a landmark project. The first of the bold new wallywind range – the wallywind110 – hit the water in June and will be revealed to the world at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.

It will mark an important milestone for Wally, asserting its mastery of a segment that runs from 100-150ft LOA. The wallywind110 is set to dazzle with its metallic blue paint, which varies subtly as the light changes. The judel/vrolijk & co hull, all-carbon build and high-end equipment promises lightweight stiffness and a thrilling turn of pace, as only Wally knows how. The boat’s 6.95m telescopic keel and towering 48m Hall Spars carbon mast are works of art in their own right.

But in typical Wally style, the wallywind110 doesn’t neglect any luxury, either. Fitted out below in high style, her social areas infuse guests with a sense of easy comfort and space. And ‘cockpit’ seems like a poor word to describe the 80 square metres of refined seating and lounging that this boat offers. Sunbeds and sofas, dining for 8 and underway perches – the whole area is completely unencumbered by sailing controls, which are concentrated aft.

better place wally yacht

There’s more lounging space on the broad, flush foredeck and the famous terrace on the sea is present – a self-contained relaxation area close to the water. Perfect for enjoying a sunset at anchor, or watching a water sports session. Carefully lit at night and easy to shade during the day, it is all about promoting Wally’s vision of open air living.

A second wallywind110 is already in build. So, as it marks its 30 th anniversary, it is fair to say that Wally’s soul remains undimmed and its heart beats stronger than ever for the joy of sailing.

Happy birthday Wally!

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Yekaterinburg city, Russia

The capital city of Sverdlovsk oblast .

Yekaterinburg - Overview

Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk in 1924-1991) is the fourth most populous city in Russia (after Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk), the administrative center of the Ural Federal District and Sverdlovsk Oblast.

This city is one of the country’s largest transport and logistics hubs, as well as an important industrial center. It is unofficially called the “capital of the Urals.”

The population of Yekaterinburg is about 1,493,600 (2022), the area - 468 sq. km.

The phone code - +7 343, the postal codes - 620000-620920.

Ekaterinburg city flag

Ekaterinburg city coat of arms.

Ekaterinburg city coat of arms

Ekaterinburg city map, Russia

Ekaterinburg city latest news and posts from our blog:.

26 May, 2020 / Unique Color Photos of Yekaterinburg in 1909 .

2 December, 2018 / Yekaterinburg - the view from above .

21 November, 2018 / Abandoned Railway Tunnel in Didino .

4 December, 2017 / Stadiums and Matches of the World Cup 2018 in Russia .

3 January, 2017 / Ekaterinburg, the Capital of the Urals: Then and Now .

More posts..

News, notes and thoughts:

4 April, 2011   / Free travel on new high-speed trains should allay fans' fears about long journey to Ekaterinburg - the most far-flung city on Russia's list of sites for 2018 World Cup. Let's hope the train will not break down in the middle of nowhere.

1 February, 2011   / Today is the 80th anniversary of the birth of Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia. President Medvedev today unveiled a monument to Yeltsin in his home city Ekaterinburg. First one in Russia.

History of Yekaterinburg

Foundation of yekaterinburg.

The territory along the Iset River, which served as a convenient transport route from the Ural Mountains deep into Siberia, has long attracted settlers. The oldest of the currently discovered settlements on the territory of present Yekaterinburg was located next to the Palkinsky Stone Tents rock massif and dates back to the 6th millennium BC.

From the 7th-3rd centuries BC, ancient metallurgists who mastered the smelting of copper lived in this settlement. Copper figures of birds, animals, people, arrowheads, various household items were found here. Later they learned how to make iron products. All discovered settlements were destroyed as a result of fires, possibly during raids of the conquerors.

The territory occupied by present Yekaterinburg became part of Russia in the middle of the 17th century. At that time, it had practically no permanent population. The first Russian settlements were founded in the second half of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century, the first ironworks were built here.

In the spring of 1723, by decree of Emperor Peter I, the construction of the largest iron-making plant in Russia began on the banks of the Iset River. Construction began on the initiative of Vasily Tatishchev (a prominent Russian statesman). He was supported by Georg Wilhelm de Gennin (a German-born Russian military officer and engineer), on the initiative of which the fortress plant was named Yekaterinburg in honor of Empress Catherine I (Yekaterina in Russian), the wife of Peter I.

More Historical Facts…

The historic birthday of Yekaterinburg is November 18, 1723. On this day, a test run of the plant equipment was carried out. Its main products included iron, cast iron, and copper. In 1725, the Yekaterinburg Mint began production on the territory of the fortress and became the main producer of copper coins in the Russian Empire. Until 1876, it produced about 80% of the country’s copper coins. In the 1720s, the population of Yekaterinburg was about 4,000 people.

Yekaterinburg - one of the economic centers of the Russian Empire

In the middle of the 18th century, the first ore gold in Russia was discovered in this region, which was the beginning of the gold industry in the country. As a result, Yekaterinburg became the center of a whole system of densely located plants and began to develop as the capital of the mining region, which spread on both sides of the Ural Range.

In 1781, Catherine II granted Yekaterinburg the status of a county town in the Perm Governorate. The population of the town was about 8,000 people. In 1783, the town received a coat of arms depicting an ore mine and a melting furnace, which symbolized its mining and metallurgical industries (similar images are depicted on the current coat of arms and flag of Yekaterinburg).

In 1783, the Great Siberian Road was opened - the main road of the Russian Empire that passed through Yekaterinburg. It served as an impetus for the transformation of Yekaterinburg into a transport hub and a center of trade. Thus, Yekaterinburg, among other towns of the Perm Governorate, became the key town for the development of the boundless and rich Siberia, the “window to Asia”, just as St. Petersburg was the Russian “window to Europe.”

In 1808, the Yekaterinburg plant was closed, and the history of the town entered a new stage related to the development of a large regional center with a diversified economy. At the beginning of the 19th century, the gold mining industry flourished. At the same time, deposits of emeralds, sapphires, aquamarines, diamonds, and other precious, semiprecious, and ornamental stones were discovered in the Urals. Yekaterinburg became one of the world centers for their artistic processing.

After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the mining industry of the Urals experienced a severe crisis, a number of plants were closed. In 1878, the first railway was constructed across the Urals and connected Yekaterinburg with Perm. In 1888, the Yekaterinburg-Tyumen railway was built, and in 1897 - the railway to Chelyabinsk, which provided access to the Trans-Siberian Railway. Yekaterinburg became a major railway junction, which contributed to the development of the local food industry, especially flour milling. In 1913, the population of Yekaterinburg was about 69,000 people.

Yekaterinburg in the first years of Soviet power

On November 8, 1917, Soviet power was established in Yekaterinburg. On April 30, 1918, the last Russian emperor Nicholas II and his family members with a few servants were transported from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. They were placed in the “House of Special Purpose”, the mansion of engineer Nikolai Ipatiev requisitioned for this purpose, and transferred under the supervision and responsibility of the Ural Regional Soviet.

In July 1918, units of the White Siberian army approached Yekaterinburg, under this pretext the leadership of the Ural Regional Soviet decided to shoot the imperial family. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, it was done in the basement of the Ipatiev House.

10 days later, units of the Czechoslovak Legion entered Yekaterinburg. Over the next 12 months, it was under the control of anti-Bolshevik forces. On July 14, 1919, the Red Army reoccupied the city. Soviet authorities and the Yekaterinburg Province with a center in Yekaterinburg were restored. In 1920, the population of the city was about 94,400 people.

The political center of the Urals moved from Perm to Yekaterinburg. In 1923, Yekaterinburg became the administrative center of the vast Ural Oblast, which in size exceeded the territory of the present Ural Federal District of Russia. In 1924, the city council decided to rename the capital of the new region to Sverdlovsk - in honor of Yakov Sverdlov, a Bolshevik party administrator and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Sverdlovsk - a Soviet industrial giant

During the years of Stalin’s industrialization, Sverdlovsk was turned into a powerful industrial center. The old factories were reconstructed and new large factories were built, including giant machine-building and metal processing plants. In 1933, the construction of the future flagship of Soviet engineering (Uralmash) was completed. The population of Sverdlovsk grew by more than 3 times, and it became one of the fastest growing cities in the USSR.

January 17, 1934, Ural Oblast was divided into three regions - Sverdlovsk Oblast with a center in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast with a center in Chelyabinsk, and Ob-Irtysh Oblast with a center in Tyumen. By the end of the 1930s, there were 140 industrial enterprises, 25 research institutes, 12 higher educational institutions in Sverdlovsk. In 1939, the population of the city was about 425,500 people.

Along with other Ural cities, Sverdlovsk made a significant contribution to the victory of the USSR in the Second World War. In total, more than 100,000 residents of the city joined the Red Army. 41,772 people didn’t return from the war: 21,397 - killed in battles, 4,778 - died from wounds in hospitals, 15,491 - went missing, 106 - died in prisoner of war camps.

Sverdlovsk became the largest evacuation point, more than 50 large and medium enterprises from the western regions of Russia and Ukraine were evacuated here. During the war years, industrial production in Sverdlovsk grew 7 times.

After the war, this city became the largest center for engineering and metalworking in Russia. During the Cold War, Sverdlovsk, as a key center of the defense industry, was practically closed to foreigners. In 1960, in the sky above the city, Soviet air defense shot down the U-2 spy plane of the US manned by Francis Gary Powers.

On January 23, 1967, a millionth resident was born in the city and Sverdlovsk became one of the first Russian cities with a population of more than 1 million people. In 1979, Sverdlovsk was included in the list of historical cities of Russia.

On October 4, 1988, a serious accident occurred at the Sverdlovsk railway station. The train carrying almost 100 tons of explosives rolled downhill and crashed into a coal freight train. An explosion occurred, aggravated by the proximity of a large warehouse of fuels and lubricants. The funnel at the site of the explosion had a diameter of 40-60 meters and a depth of 8 meters, the shock wave spread 10-15 kilometers. The explosion killed 4 people at the station and injured more than 500 people. About 600 houses were severely damaged.

Yekaterinburg - one of the largest cities of the Russian Federation

On September 4, 1991, the Sverdlovsk City Council of People’s Deputies decided to return the city its original name - Yekaterinburg. The population of the city was about 1,375,000 people. The restrictions on foreign visitors to the city were also lifted, and soon the first consulate general was opened here - the United States of America (in 1994).

The transition to a market economy led to a reduction in production at industrial enterprises, inert giant plant found themselves in a particularly difficult situation. In 1991, the construction of the television tower was stopped. The city was flooded with chaotic small retail trade in temporary pavilions and markets. These years were the heyday of organized crime, Yekaterinburg became one of the “criminal capitals” of Russia. The economic situation began to improve by the end of the 1990s.

In 2000-2003, the Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land was built on the site of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. In 2008-2009, the Koltsovo Airport was reconstructed. In June 15-17, 2009, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and BRIC (Brasilia, Russia, India, China) summits were held in Yekaterinburg.

In 2015, the Presidential Center of Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, was opened in Yekaterinburg. On March 24, 2018, the abandoned unfinished television tower was dismantled. It was the tallest building in the city (almost 240 meters) and became one of the symbols of Yekaterinburg. 4 matches of FIFA World Cup 2018 were played in Yekaterinburg.

Today, Yekaterinburg is the largest center of attraction not only of Sverdlovsk Oblast, but also of the surrounding regions. By some socio-economic indicators, this city ranks third in Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Along with the development of trade and business, the city lost the status of the country’s largest industrial center.

On the streets of Yekaterinburg

Soviet-era apartment buildings in Yekaterinburg

Soviet-era apartment buildings in Yekaterinburg

Author: Alex Kolm

In the central part of Yekaterinburg

In the central part of Yekaterinburg

Author: Serg Fokin

Yekaterinburg street view

Yekaterinburg street view

Author: Krutikov S.V.

Yekaterinburg - Features

Yekaterinburg is located in the floodplain of the Iset River on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals in Asia, near its border with Europe, about 1,800 km east of Moscow. Since the Ural Mountains are very old, there are no significant hills in the city.

This relief was a favorable condition for the construction of the main transport routes from Central Russia to Siberia (the Siberian Route and the Trans-Siberian Railway) through Yekaterinburg. As a result, it has become one of the most strategically important centers of Russia, which still provides a link between the European and Asian parts of the country.

Yekaterinburg is located in the border zone of temperate continental and continental climates. It is characterized by a sharp variability in weather conditions with well-defined seasons. The Ural Mountains, despite their low height, block the way to the masses of air coming from the west from the European part of Russia.

As a result, the Middle Urals is open to the invasion of cold Arctic air and continental air of the West Siberian Plain. At the same time, warm air masses of the Caspian Sea and the deserts of Central Asia can freely enter this territory from the south.

That is why the city is characterized by sharp temperature fluctuations and the formation of weather anomalies: in winter from severe frosts to thaws and rains, in summer from heat above plus 35 degrees Celsius to frosts. The average temperature in January is minus 12.6 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 19 degrees Celsius.

The city has a rather unfavorable environmental situation due to air pollution. In 2016, Yekaterinburg was included in the list of Russian cities with the worst environmental situation by this indicator. Car emissions account for more than 90% of all pollution.

Yekaterinburg ranks third in Russia (after Moscow and St. Petersburg) in the number of diplomatic missions, while their consular districts extend far beyond Sverdlovsk Oblast, and serve other regions of the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga region.

In terms of economy, Yekaterinburg also ranks third in the country. It is one of the largest financial and business centers of Russia. The main branches of production: metallurgical production and metalworking, food production, production of electrical equipment, electronic and optical equipment, production of vehicles, production of machinery and equipment, chemical production.

Almost all types of urban public transport are presented in Yekaterinburg: buses, trolleybuses, trams, subways, taxis. Yekaterinburg is the third largest transportation hub in Russia: 6 federal highways, 7 main railway lines, as well as Koltsovo International Airport, one of the country’s largest airports. The location of Yekaterinburg in the central part of the region allows you to get from it to any major city of the Urals in 7-10 hours.

Yekaterinburg has an extensive scientific and technical potential, it is one of the largest scientific centers in Russia. The Presidium and about 20 institutes of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 66 research institutes, and about 30 universities are located here.

This city is a relatively large tourist center. A significant part of tourists visit it to honor the memory of the last Russian emperor and his family killed by the Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House in 1918.

There are about 50 different museums in Yekaterinburg. One of the world’s largest collections of constructivist architectural monuments has been preserved here. In total, there are over 600 historical and cultural monuments in the city, of which 43 are objects of federal significance. The City Day of Yekaterinburg is celebrated on the third Saturday of August.

Interesting facts about Yekaterinburg

  • It was founded by the decree of the first Russian Emperor Peter I and the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II was shot here;
  • In 1820, the roof of the UK Parliament building in London was made of roofing iron produced in Yekaterinburg;
  • Ural steel was used in the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris;
  • Ural copper was used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty in New York;
  • During the Second World War, Sverdlovsk was the center of broadcasting in the USSR;
  • Equipment for the world’s deepest borehole (Kola Superdeep Borehole, 12,262 meters) was produced in Yekaterinburg;
  • Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, began his political career in Yekaterinburg;
  • Minor planet #27736 Yekaterinburg, discovered by the Belgian astronomer Eric Elst on September 22, 1990, was named in honor of this city;
  • Two most northern skyscrapers in the world are located in Yekaterinburg: the Iset residential tower (209 m) and the Vysotsky business center (188 m), they are the tallest buildings throughout Russia east of Moscow.

Pictures of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg city view

Yekaterinburg city view

Author: Andrey Zagaynov

Modern architecture in Yekaterinburg

Modern architecture in Yekaterinburg

Author: Yury Baranov

The territory of the central stadium of Yekaterinburg before reconstruction

The territory of the central stadium of Yekaterinburg before reconstruction

Author: Sergey Likhota

Main Attractions of Yekaterinburg

Sevastyanov House - a palace of the first quarter of the 19th century built in the architectural styles of pseudo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque, and Moorish traditions and painted in green, white, and red tones. Today, it is the most beautiful building in Yekaterinburg and one of its symbols. The house stands on the promenade of the Iset River, very close to the city dam. Lenina Avenue, 35.

“Plotinka” - the dam of the city pond on the Iset River built in the 18th century. From an architectural point of view, it is an ordinary bridge. However, it is of particular importance for the residents of Yekaterinburg since the construction of the entire city started from this place. Today, this is the main place for festivities in Yekaterinburg. Lenina Avenue.

Observation Deck of the Business Center “Vysotsky” - an open-air observation deck on the 52nd floor at an altitude of 168 meters. From here you can enjoy the views of all of Yekaterinburg. On the second and third floors of this skyscraper there is the memorial museum of Vladimir Vysotsky - a singer, songwriter, and actor who had an immense effect on Soviet culture. Malysheva Street, 51.

Vaynera Street - the central avenue of Yekaterinburg, the so-called “Ural Arbat”. One of its parts from Kuibysheva Street to Lenina Avenue is a pedestrian street. This is one of the oldest streets in Yekaterinburg laid in the middle of the 18th century. Along it, you can see merchant mansions, shops, administrative buildings, most of which were built in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.

Rastorguev-Kharitonov Palace (1794-1824) - one of the most valuable architectural manor and park ensembles in Yekaterinburg, an architectural monument of federal significance built in the classical style and located in the city center. Karla Libknekhta Street, 44.

Church of the Ascension (1792-1818) - one of the oldest churches in Yekaterinburg located next to the Rastorguev-Kharitonov Palace. This beautiful building combines the features of baroque, pseudo-Russian style, and classicism. Klary Tsetkin Street, 11.

Yeltsin Center - a cultural and educational center dedicated to the contemporary history of Russia, as well as the personality of its first president, Boris Yeltsin. The museum dedicated to his life is one of the best museums in Russia. Borisa Yeltsina Street, 3.

Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts - the largest art museum in the Urals housed in two buildings. This museum is best known for its unique collection of Kasli art castings and the world-famous Kasli cast iron pavilion - a participant in the 1900 Paris World’s Fair.

The following collections can also be found here: Russian paintings of the 18th - early 20th centuries, Russian avant-garde of 1910-1920, Russian porcelain and glass of the 18th - 20th centuries, Russian icon painting of the 16th-19th centuries, Western European art of the 14th-19th centuries, stone-carving and jewelry art of the Urals, Zlatoust decorated weapons and steel engraving. Voevodina Street, 5; Vaynera Street, 11.

Museum of the History of Stone-Cutting and Jewelry Art . A unique collection of this museum consists of gem minerals, works of jewelers and stone-cutters of the Urals, and products created at the Ural lapidary factory. The museum has Malachite and Bazhov halls, the Emerald Room, and several exhibition galleries where visitors can see works made of colored stone and metal created by local artists. Lenina Avenue, 37.

Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore . At first, its collection consisted of four departments: mineralogical, botanical, zoological, and paleontological. Later, numismatic, ethnographic, and anthropological sections were added. Today, there are more than 700 thousand exhibits here. Lenina Avenue, 69/10.

Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg . This museum occupies a historic building of the 19th century. In addition to the main exhibition, you can see the wax figures of Peter the Great, Catherine II, Nicholas II, the Ural manufacturers Demidov, and the founders of Yekaterinburg.

Old Railway Station of Yekaterinburg - one of the most beautiful and picturesque buildings in the city built in 1878. In 2003, after a large-scale reconstruction, the Museum of the History of Science and Technology of the Sverdlovsk Railway was opened here. Vokzal’naya Ulitsa, 14.

Yekaterinburg Circus . Visible from a lot of points of the city, the building of the Yekaterinburg Circus is known for its amazing dome consisting of trellised openwork semi-arches, which is not typical for circuses in Russia. 8 Marta Street, 43.

White Tower (1929-1931) - a former water tower 29 meters high located at a certain distance from the center of Yekaterinburg, an architectural monument of Constructivism. Today, it is used as a cultural site. Bakinskikh Komissarov Street, 2?.

Keyboard Monument - a contemporary art object made on a scale of 30:1 in 2005. This 16x4 meter concrete keyboard consists of 104 keys spaced 15 cm apart. From here the famous tourist route “Red Line” begins (a self-guided tour of the historic city center). The monument is located on the embankment of the Iset River next to the House of the Merchant Chuvildin (Gorkogo Street, 14A).

Ekaterinburg city of Russia photos

Places of interest in yekaterinburg.

Sculpture of talking townspeople in Yekaterinburg

Sculpture of talking townspeople in Yekaterinburg

Author: Pichugin Mikhail

Old buildings in Yekaterinburg

Old buildings in Yekaterinburg

Author: Andrew Golovin

Wooden Church of the Holy Martyr Arkady in Yekaterinburg

Wooden Church of the Holy Martyr Arkady in Yekaterinburg

Author: Kutenyov Vladimir

Street transport of Yekaterinburg

Tram in Yekaterinburg

Tram in Yekaterinburg

Author: Andrey Permyakov

Bus in Yekaterinburg

Bus in Yekaterinburg

Author: Per Heitmann

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YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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Better Place

The world’s largest performance sloop in carbon fiber and the first Green Star sailing yacht.

Better Place is the first megayacht of its size built entirely in advanced composites; an element requested by the client who desired high-performance as well as fine comfort.

The blue water sloop is designed to combine Wally’s trademark performance and ease of handling with all the modern comforts and amenities of a luxury megayacht. In order to boost performance she does feature a lifting keel that increases the draft from 4.2 metres to six metres when sailing, PBO rigging, and water tanks that will double as water ballasts. The measured displacement of this mega sailer perfectly matches the theoretical data: only 250 tons, of which 88 of the ballast (fin and bulb keel) and 11.5 of the full rigging (mast, boom, PBO rigging). The Wally 50m resulted also in perfect trim.

Design and styling evolution

Developed on the lines of Tripp Design with the interiors by Wetzels Brown Partners, the overall design, interior and exterior, is astonishing and innovative compared to any other similar yacht. The exterior and interiors are developed following the Wally concept of inside-outside living areas, whereas the interiors open onto the exteriors and vice versa. The 62-sqm owners’ suite is aft with extraordinary visibility and brightness. The natural light floods in from four sides of the vast stateroom: through the portholes on both sides, and the mirrored glass aft and above. The owners’ private area has direct access to the 30-sqm Terrace-on-the-sea, that is another distinctive feature of the Wally inside-outside concept.

On deck and inside

The main deck is open and free of unnecessary interruptions, the saloon, dining room and wheelhouse forming one continuous, 86 sqm open space under the deckhouse. The saloon with panoramic views seats 20 people as lounge opening onto the aft deck with further lounge space. There is an option for the central coffee table to be converted into an additional dining for eight people. The dining area forward seats 10 people in dining layout and can be converted into an additional lounge area with XL sofa seating six comfortably. The forward social cockpit, directly accessible from the interior dining and lounge areas, features table seats and sun beds for up to 20-people. Beyond this, the forward deck features a Jacuzzi, finished in black, which is positioned beneath deck level and is therefore invisible when not in use, an hidden winch “cockpit” for the halyards, two large tender garages, stay-sail locker, sail lockers, and the Wally submarine anchor locker. The 100-sqm sundeck is accessed both by an outside staircase and by an inside open staircase, leading to steering and navigation, lounge, dining, sunbathing and barbeque areas. A particularly innovative service feature is the open food lift connecting galley, interior dining area and sundeck– a ‘suitcase’ suspended in free space, connected by a single vertical track, to lift . The sundeck dining can be converted into a huge sunbed with the addition of an inflatable mattress, providing further comfort without stretching available storage capacity. hull side door is located amidships to starboard: when open, it converts into a swimming and tender boarding platform. Maximising space and minimising storage requirements, a newly designed seating module has been developed for the deck in carbon and mesh with low profile cushions, for easy stowage, by the interior designers Wetzels Brown Partners, who designed all the deck furnishing. The lower deck features the night and service areas accommodating the owners in the aft suite and up to ten guests in four double staterooms, and ten crew in five double cabins. All cabins have en-suites. The crew and service quarter is forward with galley, laundry and crew mess. The two engine rooms are amidships.

The Better Place features defining lounge areas in the forward cockpit, aft deck, fly bridge, and terrace on the sea. On the fly bridge/sun deck can be found a large Jacuzzi tub; two hidden tender garages; lounge/dining area for 16; barbeque; and the navigation and helmstations.

Sailing Performance

It is estimated that in true winds of eight knots the she will achieve 11 knots upwind and 14 knots reaching. In 20 knots of true wind she will increase performance to 14 upwind and 20 reaching. Better Place is propelled by a diesel-electric system used to improve energy management while providing a more efficient layout and reducing consumption, noise and vibration. Power for propulsion and services comes from three diesel generators.

Description of Interior Design of Better Place

Better Place has been designed to be quintessentially a Wally thoroughbred. Wally has an iconic approach to both interior and exterior design – a modern approach to yachting.

The interior design combines carbon look both gloss and satin, satin white lacquered oak, grey leather and colour matched upholstery to create a relaxed feeling. Colour-changing LED lights are used throughout the yacht and can be adjusted in order to change the atmosphere, reflecting the interior design concept to have soft and neutral tones that are coloured by the lights. The cabins are linked by a light installation, running along the spine of the yacht.

Some Wally interior design features on this yacht: - Clean flowing lines; - Open light spaces with available dimensions maximised - Yacht luxury materials – carbon fibre, satin white light oak, grey leather with colour matched upholstery. - The decoration of the yacht is in the texture of the materials and profile of the shapes, there are few added lamps, decorative cushions, vases or picture frames. Like a car this yacht is designed as one product with integral decoration rather than an exterior with an interior design added. - Interior spaces meet exterior spaces with seamless transition. - This is a sailing yacht in the true Wally tradition – relaxed, exclusive feel with design considered to the smallest detail. - The Wally sparkle, that little something extra has always been the attitude towards the use of strong colour. This yacht is metallic Bugatti Blue and inside the small elements of colours have the same strong metallic quality - raspberry, ice green and sky blue. - This is a large yacht so a changing dynamic environment is a challenge to create. Throughout the yacht LED lights can be programmed to change the atmosphere of the yacht and to complement the highlight colours. - Audio-visual technology is a high specification from HED in America (further details available of Crestron system if you need them)

Main Deck - Vertical connections are emphasized by an open staircase from sundeck to cabin deck> the open food lift is a ‘suitcase’ suspended in a free space attached to one vertical track – a yachting first - The saloon/dining/wheelhouse is one flowing open space - Seating and flooring is the same upholstery for both interior and exterior giving the ultimate open connection between saloon and deck - Exploring the Wally principle of keeping decks open and free of clutter, a new seating module has been developed is carbon and mesh with low profile cushions to reduce storage requirements. Cabin Deck - This most noticeable feature is the tunnel corridor treated as a light installation with “invisible” doors to the cabins. In architectural terms this is the spine of the yacht and a guest passes through the walls of the tunnel to enter the adjacent spaces.’ - Cabins – 2 double, 2 twin, owner and 9-10 crew. - Cabins have similar base materials – warm light grey, black gloss and carbon finishes with fresh wall bulkheads. Changing colour provided with LED backlight and ‘skylights in each cabin. The twin cabins are particularly suited to the children with a small element of ice green and raspberry.

Sundeck - On the sundeck the dining area converts with an inflatable mattress into a huge sunbed. The forward deck has a black jacuzzi seamlessly position under the deck and invisible when not in use. - The forward lounge space has direct connection to the interior dining and lounge spaces. - The sundeck has BBQ/ buffet, lounge, dining and sunbathing areas

  • Yacht Builder Wally View profile
  • Naval Architect Tripp Design Naval Architects No profile available
  • Interior Designer Wetzels Brown Partners No profile available

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For sale 1 Bedroom, EKATERINBURG, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation, Sherbaova 77

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better place wally yacht

For sale - Cod. 29133

  • Tipology: 1 Bedroom
  • Area: 43 m²
  • Rooms No.: 1
  • Publication date announcement: 26/08/2016

Hello, we are the owners, Irina and Oleg. We sell a bright, comfortable and very beautiful flat, designed in a Scandinavian style. The flat created "for himself", but forced to sell due to moving to Moscow. ( We bought and renovated this flat for us but we have time sell it due to ...) The flat is located in a picturesque location near the Uktus mountains. The residential complex Stony Brook. In the flat: - All necessary equipment. (Dishwasher, washing machine, oven, refrigerator, range hood, stove, TV, microwave, coffee machine) - 2 wardrobes - Ennobled balcony where you can enjoy beautiful views of the forest and mountains, and dream about the most valuable. - Cable TV, wireless internet. - Increased size of window openings make the flat extremely bright. - All items and accessories are in the flat. In building: - High-speed elevator otis, which descends directly into the underground parking. - Concierge. - Courtyard complex located on the podium, which is located at 3 floors. House territory developed according to modern requirements - as a sport, and a playground with a safe finish. - On the first floor there is a trading gallery with a large grocery store, pharmacy, children's and sports goods, cafés and restaurants. The complex has a fitness club. Area: - In walking distance from the complex there is a shopping center "Globus" Waterpark "Limpopo", sports complex, "Planet IGRIK" (children's entertainment center), ICE (fitness center), the ski slopes and ski resorts, subway Botanica. - 8 km to the center. - 100 m bus stop

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  24. For sale 1 Bedroom, EKATERINBURG, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation

    For sale - Cod. 29133. Tipology: 1 Bedroom Area: 43 m² Rooms No.: 1 Floor: 13 Publication date announcement: 26/08/2016 Hello, we are the owners, Irina and Oleg. We sell a bright, comfortable and very beautiful flat, designed in a Scandinavian style.