This work is an investigation into the brutal murders of the Russian royal family, the Romanovs.
Officially, the Tsar, Tsarina, and their five children were brutally murdered, executed in the basement of their prison in the city of Yekaterinburg.
Un...
I'm going to provide a brief introduction to the city of Yekaterinburg itself, simply because the geography and the history are pretty interesting.
Yekaterinburg, also known as Ekaterinburg, is around the mid-west of Russia, north of Kazakhstan. It's an important stop along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and you can visit fairly easily these days.
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Source: www.britannica.com/place/Ural-Mountains
As the second map shows, Yekaterinburg has the natural defense of the mountains to its west, giving an added sense of distance between Yekaterinburg and the rest of western Russia. Before modern communication systems, this would have made contact between the Bolsheviks in Moscow and the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg an arduous task. If there was a sudden attack by the enemy – and the Bolsheviks had external enemies (Germans) and internal enemies ("White" Russians, the Royalists, the Cossacks) to fend off – immediate contact between the two cities would have been impossible.
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Source: http://www.1723.ru/read/books/gorod.htm
That being said, the city of Yekaterinburg managed to fend for itself fairly well. The people were industrious; the image above shows a metalworking plant with a water tower and an Imperial lapidary factory, a place for cutting and polishing gems for the Royal Family. There were plenty of mines nearby, and the people managed to get by fairly well.
When Russia became the Soviet Union, Yekaterinburg's main purpose changed. It became closed off to outsiders, heavily controlled by the Soviets and constantly under armed guard. Ipatiev House was ripped apart for fear of those loyal to the crown using it as a Mecca, a source of inspiration and hope. Anyone suspected of harbouring such feelings was sent away, never to return.
The city became the hub for anything and everything concerning biological and chemical warfare. No foreigners were allowed in. Everything was kept top secret. This is likely why it took so long for investigators to find the remains that are believed to be Romanov.
No one dared.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the country opened up to foreigners for the first time in decades. People were allowed to talk again.
And talk they did. Bones were brought forward by amateur archaeologists; tests were run; a new era had begun for Yekaterinburg, brought forward by a question long since forgotten: what happened to Tsar Nicholas?
Since then, Yekaterinburg has grown. Regardless of the truth behind the Romanovs, this city has thrived and prospered since the 1990s, and has become a major tourist hub for Asian and European visitors alike.
If it ever takes your fancy, it's worth a visit. This is a city both ancient and new, a place with lost stories and new friendships in the making. It's one hell of an adventure.
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