formerly (1924–91) Sverdlovsk
City (pop., 2001 est.: 1,256,900), west-central Russia.
An ironworks was established in 1721, and a fortress, named after Empress Catherine I , was founded there in 1722. It grew as the centre for all the ironworks of the Ural Mountains region, and its importance increased with the building of a highway (1783) and the Trans-Siberian Railroad . It achieved notoriety as the place where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were held prisoner and executed by the Bolshevik s in 1918. In 1924 it was renamed Sverdlovsk in honour of Yakov Sverdlov . The city reverted to its original name after the breakup of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. It is a major industrial centre, especially for heavy machinery.