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The Yeltsin Center is definitely one of the most important attractions in Yekaterinburg. After a coffee and a 'Bird Cherry Cake' at the Café 1991 there I went to see the 'Boris Yeltsin Presidential Museum', although there is much more in this attractive modern building: art gallery, conference hall, cinema, library, a bookstore, a scientific amusement park for children. The Center opened in 2015 and was built by the architectural bureau of Boris Bernasconi in Moscow. This interested me, since the family name of this architect hails from the Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. Apparently an ancestor of his, also an architect, had come from Lugano to work on the palaces of St.Petersburg in the times of tsar Peter the Great. He stayed there and several of his by now Russian descendants then chose to stay in the same profession. At the first floor, where one buys a ticket for 70 RUB, which is also valid for the Art Gallery, one can see Yeltsin's Presidential Limousine. On this level are also the Café 1991, the Museum Shop and the 'Labyrinth', a hall with an overview of Russia's history in the 20th century and the story of Yeltsin's family. Going up one floor one comes to the 'Presidential Circle' with a bronze statue of Yeltsin seated on a bench. A beloved photo with visitors taking place next to him. The museum is all around it with seven rooms like slices of a round cake. Each room presents one of 7 days that changed Russia, all involving Boris Yeltsin. Captions are exclusively in Russian, but there is each time a synopsis in English. Reading those and looking at all the photos will take at least one hour. On videos Boris Yeltsin's wife and daughter come to word. Besides all the politics of global importance a lot of personal information is given as well, for example the closeness to his mother or his heart surgery. All in all Boris Yeltsin gets quite glorified, but not in an exaggerated way. For me the visit here was very worthwhile. That Yekaterinburg was chosen as the site for a center dedicated to the first democratically elected leader of Russia has to do with the fact, that Boris Yeltsin, born in a village 200km further east, started his political career in this city before being called to Moscow in 1985 by Michail Gorbachev.…
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Date of experience: August 2019
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The museum was really well thought out and so interesting. Having little ability to understand Russian did not matter as the audio guides were really great. We came out feeling a lot more informed about the political changes in Russia over the last 50 years or so. It was fascinating to see the way they had demonstrated everything that happened. One of the best museums we’ve ever been to. …
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Date of experience: March 2020
1 Helpful vote
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Superb presentation of the transition of Russia from Cccp to RF and Yeltsin’s role in all that. If you are at all interested in 20 C history you will love this. Along side this nice places to eat and chill out I could have spent longer, but had to get to Opera House!
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Date of experience: November 2019
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I absolutely loved this museum: Very modern and interactive exhibition! So much to learn here, definitely in my top 3 list of all-time favorite museums.
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Date of experience: March 2019
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This is a combination presidential centre, honouring the first president of Russia, museum, and social gathering place. Nice collection of artifacts, and lots of propaganda material.
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Date of experience: March 2019
27 Helpful votes
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