Keyboard Monument

The Keyboard Monument is a full-size replica of a QWERTY keyboard laid flat on the bank of the Iset River, cast in concrete and weighing about a thousand kilograms. The 86 keys are spread across 16 square metres — a walkable keyboard that visitors inevitably type their names on, stepping from letter to letter. It is one of those civic objects that is simultaneously absurd and completely lovable.

The monument sits in a riverside park that is one of the most pleasant walking areas in central Ekaterinburg, between the old town and the Yeltsin Center. The combination of the keyboard, the river views, and the Soviet-era apartment blocks reflected in the water gives this stretch of embankment a particular character. It is worth walking the full length of the riverside promenade from the keyboard south past the Museum of Fine Arts — it is the best way to get a sense of the city's scale and architectural variety.

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The monument was erected in 2005 as a promotional stunt by a local internet company, but the city adopted it with such enthusiasm that it became permanent. It is built to exact scale — each key is 20 by 30 centimetres — and the space bar is a bench that fits four people. Local legend says that if you sit on the space bar and make a wish, it will come true. On warm evenings in summer, every key is occupied by someone, and the Enter key is popular for photographs.