In Yekaterinburg there is a unique monument to a computer keyboard. Why was a monument to the keyboard erected in Yekaterinburg?

The monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is located on the Iset embankment from Gorky Street. Address- st. Gorky, 14a.

Unofficially, this is the largest keyboard in the world - its size is 4 by 16 meters, and the total weight of the keys is more than 100 tons. The monument appeared in October 2005 as part of the Long Stories of Yekaterinburg festival. The author of the project is artist Anatoly Vyatkin.

The huge keyboard is made of durable vandal-resistant concrete, this exact copy a regular computer keyboard in the QWERTY/QWERTY layout on a scale of 30:1 - 104 keys, from Escape to “calculator”. On average, the keys weigh 100 kg, except for the space bar, which weighs half a ton. This does not prevent vandals from sometimes picking them out, or volunteers from restoring them. For the first time, the f1 and f2 keys disappeared almost immediately after opening the monument. By design, the keys are also benches. A regular keyboard brings people together and helps them communicate online, while a concrete keyboard brings them together in reality. Unfortunately, you can’t sit on cold, hard concrete for long. And you can’t have a get-together with beer and chips. After all, it’s the center of the city, they can take you to the police for this. But you are welcome to rest a little “on the keyboard” during a long walk around the city. Although it is much more pleasant to simply walk on the keys and jump from one to another.

An urban legend says that if you “jump” your deepest wish and at the end jump on Enter, your wish will definitely come true. It's not that easy - the keyboard is really very large.

Another way is to reach the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys with your friends and “reboot”. Quarreling lovers thus “reboot” the relationship.

On System Administrator Day (the last Friday in July), system administrators from all over the city gather around the keyboard. The traditional program of the holiday includes throwing mice at a distance, lifting hard drives and Quake tournaments.

Parents say that thanks to it, children learn the alphabet much faster. In general, the city loves the keyboard very much; it is a truly “folk” art object.
Anatoly Vyatkin said that the idea to install keyboard monument came to him unexpectedly. He worked on a project for international exhibition, spent a lot of time at the computer. At some point, the thought occurred to him that today the keyboard is the same “common place” as, for example, a frying pan. Both are found in almost every home.

“Klava” appeared thanks to sponsors and lives at the expense of volunteers who annually organize cleanup days; no money is allocated for it from the city budget. Subbotniks began to be held when there were rumors that the keyboard could be moved to Perm. Then it was missing several keys, and instead of the Windows logo, someone drew the Apple logo. The keyboard was repaired by a group of enthusiasts, and it has been the same since then. The residents of Yekaterinburg proved that they would never part with her, much less give her to Perm.
The monument was not made as a permanent monument, but as a landscape one, without a foundation. Landscape sculptures were new to Yekaterinburg at that time, and to this day the keyboard is the only land art object in the city. Gradually, the concrete letters began to sink into the soil. Nevertheless, all these years the giant keyboard has not lost popularity, it is loved just like that, and was even included in the Red Line route, although it has not yet been given the status of an official city landmark.

The keyboard, on the one hand, is a symbol of the industrial era and European values. On the other hand, there is a kind of oriental rock garden in which each element exists on its own and can be replaced. For this reason, the author refused the proposal to install the keys on a solid foundation. Like the whole of Yekaterinburg, the keyboard unites Europe and Asia. Even the layout on it is both Russian and English.

Where is the monument to the keyboard? Let us remind you that the monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is located on the Iset embankment from Gorky Street, in the Arboretum area, in the middle between the Circus and Plotinka.

Nearby is the Oblique House, also known as the System Block, also known as the Chuvildin House, an architectural monument of the early 20th century, address Gorky, 14a.

From the Geologicheskaya metro station, go towards the Circus, cross Kuibysheva Street to the Arboretum, turn right, go down to the embankment at the bridge, walk along the river for a few minutes. Next to the keyboard there is a pedestrian bridge over the Iset.

It takes about 15 minutes to walk from Plotinka to the keyboard: along the river in the opposite direction from the pond.

Monument to the keyboard on the map of Yekaterinburg.

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Where is the keyboard monument?

  1. Location of the monument: Yekaterenburg
    Date of opening of the monument: October 5, 2005
    Material from which the monument is made: Concrete
    Description external monument: The key surface is flat with the alphabet and function symbols in relief, arranged in the same order as on a regular keypad. computer keyboard
    Dimensions: Width 4 m, length 16 m
    Author of the monument project: Anatoly Vyatkin
  2. Keyboard Monument
    Location of the monument. Yekaterinburg
    Date of opening of the monument: October 5, 2005
    Material from which the monument is made: Concrete
    Description of appearanceThe monument consists of 86 keys

    Dimensions The total area of ​​the project is 16x4 sq. m.
    length 16m (52ft) width 4m (13ft)
    Author of the monument project: Anatoly Vyatkin

  3. http://turism.ws/ - Here is the most suitable information.
  4. From a historical point of view, the computer entered our lives relatively recently. And the monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is especially young, its opening took place on October 5, 2005. The creation of Ekaterinburg artist Anatoly Vyatkin is installed on the second tier of the Iset River embankment, from Gogol Street. 86 concrete keys weighing about 80 kilograms each (but the “space” key weighs as much as half a ton) are placed in the same order as standard (qwerty) keyboards.
  5. On my closet.
  6. The monument to the keyboard of Anatoly Vyatkin is the first land art sculpture in Yekaterinburg, located on the second tier of the embankment of the river I Seti, from the side of Gogol Street.

    A flat platform adjacent to the stairs was chosen for the monument historical building, located on the embankment. The monument consists of 86 keys, weighing from 100 to 500 kg, made of concrete.

    The keys are located in recesses, with an interval of 15 cm. The total area of ​​the project is 16 x 4 square meters. m. The surface of the keys is flat with raised symbols of the alphabet and functional symbols, placed in the same order as on a regular computer keyboard.

    The Concrete Keyboard can be considered as a fetish of the computer era and as a kind of rock garden, a large-scale environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment. Each button of the concrete keyboard is an improvised bench on which passers-by sit.

    The Keyboard Monument is the first monument in the city that fits not only into the local, but also into the international context. The computer keyboard is an international symbol of communication between people all over the world and an object without which the existence of modern humanity is unthinkable.

    The monument influenced the symbolic reinterpretation of the entire surrounding space and a sharp increase in its creativity. The old stone house located nearby is now called the system block.

    The main city river ISET, which has existed for several centuries - the meaning of the name has already been lost for modern residents, thanks to the activity of forums regarding the discovery of the keyboard, is now written as Iset, where it is proposed to place a monument to the modem. Passers-by constantly fantasize about the possible placement of a monument to the Monitor and the computer Mouse.


There is a monument in Yekaterinburg, the existence of which most residents of the city do not even suspect - this is a monument to the keyboard.

The keyboard was created in 2005 as a special project of the festival "Long Stories of Yekaterinburg" according to the design of Anatoly Vyatkin. The producers and curators of the project were Nailya Allahverdieva and Arseniy Sergeev, who at that time represented the cultural agency ArtPolitika. The production of the project was carried out with the technical support of the Atomstroykompleks company. Despite the high popularity among citizens and guests of the city, the project never acquired the official status of a monument or landmark. Actually not recognized local authorities As a culturally significant object, the keyboard is nevertheless included in many unofficial guides to Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 2011, she began painting on the asphalt of the “Red Line”, passing through 32 main attractions of the city center.

The monument is a replica of a concrete keyboard on a scale of 30:1. Consists of 104 keys made of concrete weighing from 100 to 500 kg, arranged in a QWERTY layout. The keys are located in recesses at intervals of 15 cm. The total area of ​​the project is 16 × 4 m. The surface of the keys is flat with raised alphabet and functional symbols, placed in the same order as on a regular computer keyboard.

The concrete “Keyboard” can be considered simultaneously both as a fetish of the computer era and as an industrial “rock garden”, a large-scale environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment of Yekaterinburg. Each button on the concrete keyboard is also a makeshift bench. The monument has become a cultural landmark of the city’s modern image and a new “brand”.

A positive response to the project is observed among all segments of the city's population. Monitoring the reaction of passers-by on the embankment showed that in 80% of cases the reaction of passers-by is enthusiastic, in other cases it is interested. Residents of the city are proud of the implementation of such a project on the territory of the city, in which they are primarily attracted by the non-standard implementation and modernity of the image.

Interesting facts about the monument:
1. Professor Niklaus Wirth, inventor of the Pascal language, who visited Yekaterinburg, expressed a desire to visit the project even at the installation stage.
2. The main city river Iset is now written on Internet forums as “I-network”, and next to the “Keyboard” it is proposed to place a monument to the modem. Residents of Yekaterinburg fantasize about the possible placement of a monument to the Monitor and the computer Mouse.

The author of the sculpture, artist Anatoly Vyatkin, said in an interview with the press that the idea to make a “Monument to the Keyboard” came unexpectedly. He was working on one of the projects for an international exhibition. I spent a lot of time at the computer and realized that today a keyboard is as “common as a frying pan” - found in almost every home. Soon after this, with the support of the art community and Yekaterinburg businessmen, work began on the manufacture of sculpture parts. It turned out to be more complicated than it might look for a person who has not been involved in sculpting. Concrete is an extremely difficult material for sculpture. In addition, the weight of the keys ranged from 80 to several hundred kilograms.

“Monument to the Keyboard” became the first landscape sculpture in Yekaterinburg. Critics see it as a combination of Europe and Asia. A technical tool for communication between people, such as a keyboard, is presented in the form of an Asian rock garden, where people come for creative purposes. However, this is probably not the only thing that attracts local residents. Unlike other sculptures, you can sit on the “Keyboard”, you can walk on it and jump from one letter to another. Parents claim that thanks to this sculpture, children learn the alphabet faster, and active computer users believe in another practical meaning. Urban legends say that if you make a wish and “type” it on the keyboard, jumping from letter to letter, and then “press” “Enter,” it will certainly come true. And if difficulties arise, you need to jump to “CTRL, ALT, DEL”, after which life will “reboot”.

The sculpture influenced not only the emergence of new urban myths, but also the names of neighboring buildings. Thus, local residents jokingly call the river Iset by analogy with the name of computers “Iset”. The old building nearby is called the "system block".

The popularity of the sculpture is so great that it was included in the “Red Line of Yekaterinburg” route, which runs along the asphalt with a line of paint through 30 main cultural sites in the city center.

One day, several keys disappeared from the keyboard. Let us remember that the weight of each of them is at least 80 kg. Then the artists proposed moving the monument to Perm. However, after protests from townspeople, entrepreneurs financed the restoration. Since then, “Klava” has stood, or rather, lies in its place, continuing to amaze tourists and delight the residents of Yekaterinburg.


Every city has local attractions that attract tourists with their uniqueness. In Yekaterinburg, for example, there is a huge grater, a monument to a bank card and a huge keyboard on the banks of the fast Iset River. interests many, because it still looks great, despite the daily active use of it “for its intended purpose.” Let's find out more about him!

History of the Ekaterinburg keyboard

Artist Anatoly Vyatkin, preparing for the next art exhibition, spent almost all his working and free time at the computer keyboard and suddenly realized that new symbol modern history- it's a keyboard! Each of us spends a lot of time typing texts or playing games. And you can’t do this without a keyboard. Therefore, there definitely needs to be a monument to the keyboard!

If you are wondering in what year Vyatkin’s idea was accepted with a bang and yet a monument to the keyboard was built, then the answer is that they did it in 2005. The final idea was developed by Arseny Sergeev and his colleague Nailya Allahverdieva. Of course, the design of the monument is simple and uncomplicated - a huge monument to the keyboard was installed on a fairly large scale of 30:1 on a huge area. The modern keyboard is more than a hundred years old and all this time it has been an indivisible part of any computer device.

Keys and the material from which they are made

They allowed to decorate the landscape of the Iset bank quite quickly - it was included in the program of the festival, which is held regularly, “long stories of Yekaterinburg.” The material from which the keyboard monument is made is raises many questions - every day it takes on not only the blows of the elements, but also active actions on the part of people.

When deciding what high-quality and inexpensive material the keyboard monument would ultimately be made from, the creators decided to choose concrete. It is quite durable and still gives the appearance of the smooth white keys of the original.

On the lower tier of the embankment, in the rain in October, 104 concrete keys were placed. They were not only bulky, but also heavy - the weight of the “gap” reaches 500 kg! The keys still display all the symbols that can be seen on a home keyboard - letters, numbers, symbols.

Many people don't know where is concrete keyboard monument, as this attraction is not included in the official guides. However, both residents and regular guests of the city love to relax near its huge concrete blocks in the form of keys.

  • As already mentioned, the monument to the keyboard is an unofficial landmark, but it was from it that the red line began to be drawn, uniting interesting places in the city of Yekaterinburg.
  • It was also important to decide what material the keyboard monument would be made of in order to minimize the risk of theft of part of the exhibition. This happened in 2011 - craftsmen were found who stole the top 4 concrete keys. True, why they need them remains unclear.

  • When you arrive in Yekaterinburg, be sure to find out where the unusual but wonderful monument to the keyboard is located - local residents are sure that with its help it is quite possible to change their lives. This is easy to do - you need to step on certain keys to create a word (or phrase) that expresses a higher desire (health, money, promotion) and at the end be sure to press Enter. And if you want to completely “reboot” your current life, just jump on the delete, ctrl, alt keys.

The only concrete keyboard in the world attracts the attention of everyone who walks along the Iset embankment. The material from which the keyboard monument is made is its history and beliefs are interesting to many, and we were glad to surprise you with such an unusual landscape sculpture.

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Marina Dokicheva.