Museum of Architecture and Design (UrGAKhU)

The Museum of Architecture and Design of the Ural State University of Architecture and Art (UrGAKhU) is a university museum in central Yekaterinburg, in the Historical Square by the Plotinka dam on the Iset River. The address is 4a Gorky Street, with the entrance from the embankment. The museum covers the architecture and urban planning of the Urals, mining and factory machinery, and Ural design.

History

The museum was founded in 1975 at the Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute (now the Ural State University of Architecture and Art, UrGAKhU) together with the Sverdlovskgrazhdanproekt design institute. It grew out of the Historical Square, opened in 1973 for the 250th anniversary of Sverdlovsk: the architectural institute took part in creating the complex, and some of the restored buildings were given to the museum.

In 1985 it was named the Museum of the History of Architecture and Industrial Technology of the Urals, and later became the Museum of Architecture and Design of UrGAKhU.

The buildings

The museum occupies former workshops of the Yekaterinburg Mechanical Factory, 19th-century industrial buildings in the classical style. They stand right by the dam of the city pond, where Yekaterinburg began as a factory town, so the buildings themselves are part of the exhibition.

What to see

The collection holds more than 48,000 items: models, drawings, graphics, paintings, photographs and large machinery from Ural factories.

• "Architecture of the Stone Belt" traces the architecture and urban planning of the Urals from the late 17th to the 20th century: folk wooden architecture, baroque, classicism, the avant-garde and modern buildings. The highlight is the models of architectural ensembles and factories of Ural towns, made by students of the architectural academy and the Ural College of Architecture, Construction and Entrepreneurship. It is housed in the former timber-drying shop.
• Mining machinery and industrial design: machines and mechanisms from Ural factories, shown in the former storehouses.
• "Ural School of Design": themed exhibitions of work by Ural designers.
• An exhibition on the history of UrGAKhU.

The museum also houses the Art Library and the Ural Design Development Centre and hosts temporary exhibitions.

Good to know

• According to the museum's website, it is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00, with the ticket office closing at 18:30; Monday and Tuesday are days off. Check the schedule before you go.
• Guided tours are by appointment, and there are interactive programmes for children aged 5 to 12.
• The nearest public transport stops are Ploshchad 1905 Goda and Ploshchad Truda, a few minutes' walk across the Plotinka.