A unique architectural guide will be launched in Yekaterinburg.

The Organizing Committee of the 100+ Forum Russia will present a unique publication, an architectural guide to Yekaterinburg, as part of the Innoprom International exhibition.

The guide tells the story of Yekaterinburg through the city itself – its streets and public spaces – parks, squares, embankments. Eight guided tours of the center of the Ural capital reveal the pages of the city's history, vividly showing how its appearance has changed over the centuries and decades. Today's Yekaterinburg is a dynamically developing metropolis, where the almost 300–year-old history of the city and high-rise buildings, business centers and modern public multifunctional spaces are combined. And the guidebook explores and tells how history and modernity are intertwined, the principles of urban planning of the century before last and modern buildings.

The author of the guide is Polina Ivanova, an architect, tour guide, public figure, director of the Podelniki architectural group, and initiator of the restoration of the famous White Tower on Uralmash. The illustrations are made by the famous illustrator Natasha Pastukhova. Polina Ivanova: "A city is a structure. Today we live in it and take it for granted – something attracts our attention, and something remains out of sight. But this structure did not arise yesterday, it has been taking shape over the past 300 years, under the influence of different circumstances, at the whim or bright thoughts of different people. We wanted to tell you about how the city grew and developed, and how it came to be exactly as we know it today."

The guidebook consists of eight chapters of guided tours of the city center: the Main Post Office and the Mint, the house of collegiate assessor Sevastyanov, a secret instrument factory and the non-existent Salt Square. For more than a year, the authors have been collecting information for the guide in archives, libraries and museums: the publication includes many unique photographs from archives, 200 amazing myths and facts about Yekaterinburg.

For example, not everyone knows that in the 19th century a real "gold rush" took place around Yekaterinburg: it was near Yekaterinburg that the first gold of the Russian Empire was found. Many went here to try their luck. Gold was washed in rivers and streams not only outside the city, but also right in the city limits - in the Melkovka River, a tributary of the Iseti. Today, this gold-bearing river has been removed underground and flows into the Iset near the arrow of the city pond.

"We are involved in the work on the guidebook, because it is designed primarily for citizens. This is a kind of "guide's alphabet" that will help you get to know the city better and come to an understanding and constructive discussion of its development issues not only with other residents, but also with guests of the city, which is given special attention at 100+ Forum Russia this year" - Vera Belous, head of the working group of the organizing committee of 100+ Forum Russia.