Pilgrimage Center Ganina Yama, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovskaya oblast, Russia
The urochishche of Ganina Yama is located about 20 kilometres away from Ekaterinburg, near the settlement of Shuvakish. Back in the 19th century the owner of this plot of land tried to mine for gold here, but all he found was iron ore. The local residents called the owner of the mine Ganya, a nickname which gave the land its current name. At the start of the 20th century the mine was abandoned, and in 1918 the Bolsheviks buried the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in the pit.
The Ganina Yama monastery was built in the early 2000s and has seven churches – one for each member of the royal family. The busts of Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna have also been erected on the monastery grounds. A pilgrim centre was opened here in November 2013.
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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