The monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is located on the Iset embankment from Gorky Street. The address- st. Gorky, 14a.
Unofficially, this is the largest keyboard in the world - its size is 4 by 16 meters, and total weight keys - 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 the artist Anatoly Vyatkin.
The huge keyboard is made of durable vandal-resistant concrete, it exact copy the usual computer keyboard in the QWERTY / YTSUKEN layout on a scale of 30: 1 - 104 keys, from Escape to the "calculator". On average, the keys weigh 100 kg each, except for the “space”, which weighs half a ton. This does not prevent vandals from sometimes picking them out, and volunteers from restoring them. The first time, the f1 and f2 keys disappeared almost immediately after the opening of the monument. By design, the keys are also benches. An ordinary keyboard unites people and helps them communicate on the Web, while a concrete one does it in reality. Unfortunately, you can’t sit on cold and hard concrete for a long time. And you can’t arrange gatherings with beer and chips. Still, the center of the city, they can take it to the police for this. But a little rest "on the clave" during a long walk around the city - please. Although it is much more pleasant to just walk on the keys and jump from one to another.
Urban legend says that if you "jump" your very cherished desire and at the end jump to Enter, then the wish will come true. It's not so easy - the keyboard is really very large.On SysAdmin Day (the last Friday of July), people gather at the keyboard system administrators from all over the city. The traditional program of the holiday is throwing mice at a distance, raising hard drives and Quake tournaments.Another way is to reach the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys together with friends, and “reboot”. Quarreled lovers thus “reboot” the relationship.
Parents say that thanks to her, children learn the alphabet much faster. In general, the keyboard is very popular in the city, it is a truly “folk” art object. 
Anatoly Vyatkin said that the idea to erect a monument to the keyboard came to him unexpectedly. He worked on one project for international exhibition spent a lot of time at the computer. At some point, the thought came to him that today the keyboard is the same " common place”, like a frying pan. Both are available in almost every home.
"Klava" appeared thanks to sponsors and lives at the expense of volunteers who annually organize subbotniks, no money is allocated from the city budget for it. Subbotniks began to be held when there were rumors that the keyboard could be transferred to Perm. Then it lacked a few keys, and instead of the Windows logo, someone drew the Apple logo. The keyboard was repaired by a group of enthusiasts, since then it has been the custom. The people of Yekaterinburg proved that they would never part with her, let alone give her to Perm. 
The monument was made not as a capital one, but as a landscape one, without a foundation. For Yekaterinburg, landscape sculptures were new then, and even now 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 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, 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 rest of Yekaterinburg, the keyboard combines Europe and Asia. Even the layout on it is both Russian and English.
Where is the monument to the keyboard? Recall 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 the Plotinka.
Nearby is the Oblique House, aka the System Block, aka the Chuvildin House, an architectural monument of the early 20th century, the address Gorky, 14a.
From the Geologicheskaya metro station, exit towards the Circus, cross the Kuibyshev Street to the Arboretum, turn right, go down to the embankment at the bridge, walk along the river for several minutes. Next to the keyboard there is a footbridge across 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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Keyboard monument in Yekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg, Russia) - description, history, location, reviews, photo and video.
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In October 2005, on the left bank of the river. Iset, Sverdlovsk region, a unique land art object appeared - a monument to the keyboard on a scale of 30:1. The author of the project, Anatoly Vyatkin, a resident of Yekaterinburg, spent a month cutting keys out of concrete, and another week to install them on the embankment. hometown. The installation of the keyboard in the QWERTY layout was carried out using special equipment: the weight of standard keys varied from 80 to 500 kg, and the "space" weighed no less than a car - 1.5 tons.
The finished installation has gained unprecedented popularity among citizens and tourists, who have adapted the structural elements for benches for relaxation. Unfortunately, the keyboard did not escape the fate of the majority Russian monuments: vandals uprooted and carried away the F1, F2, F3 and Y keys in an unknown direction, and the Apple logo was applied to the Windows key. In 2011, the monument was restored by the efforts of enthusiasts. Currently, the collection of signatures in favor of including the installation in the list of culturally significant objects of the city and region has been completed. The relevant project has been submitted to the local authorities for consideration.
What to watch
The concrete keyboard consists of 104 keys spaced 15 cm apart. Installation size 16x4 sq. m so organically fit into the surrounding landscape that the townspeople renamed the nearby objects in the "computer key": r. Iset turned into an I-network, and a rectangular stone building on the side of the monument became known as the "system block".
Enthusiasts are in favor of installing computer mouse and modem monuments next to the keyboard, but the matter has not yet gone further than planning.
The monument to the keyboard has become so firmly entrenched in the life of citizens that no one will remember when and at whose suggestion the well-known for the whole of Yekaterinburg “Subbotniks on the keyboard” began to be held near it - events for painting and cleaning keys, accompanied by various contests like throwing non-working computer mice and lifting bundles of hard drives weighing several kg.
On ordinary days, tourists crowd around the keyboard: according to local belief, those who manage to “type” their innermost desire on it by jumping on the keys will certainly find what they want. This is not as easy to do as it seems, but there is no end to those who want to try their luck. According to another belief, those who “press” the Cntr, Alt and Delete keys in sequence will “reboot” life and open a new, happy page in it. If this turns out to be too much for someone, you can simply press Delete - and remove from life all unnecessary, obsolete. True or not, it is difficult to judge, nevertheless, the townspeople are no longer surprised when they notice a person jumping on the keys - another seeker of happiness.
Practical Information
The monument was erected in Yekaterinburg, opposite the street. Gorky, between houses 14a and 28a. You can get to it by bus No. 19 or trolleybuses No. 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15 (stop "Federation of Trade Unions").
Keyboard monument- the first land art sculpture in Yekaterinburg dedicated to a computer keyboard. Opened October 5, 2005. Author - Anatoly Vyatkin.
History of creation
The keyboard was created in 2005 as a special project of the Long Stories of Yekaterinburg festival, designed by Anatoly Vyatkin. The producers and curators of the project were Nailya Allahverdiyeva and Arseniy Sergeev, who at that time represented the cultural agency "Artpolitika". The project was produced under technical support"Atomstroykompleks" company. Despite the high popularity among citizens and guests of the city, the project has not acquired the official status of a monument or attraction. In fact, not recognized by local authorities as a culturally significant object, the keyboard nevertheless entered many unofficial guides across Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 2011, drawing on the pavement of the Red Line began with it, passing through 32 main attractions of the city center.
Design features
The monument is a copy of a concrete keyboard on a scale of 30:1. Consists of 104 keys made of concrete weighing between 100 and 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 embossed symbols of the alphabet and function symbols, placed in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard.
Cultural features and assessments
The concrete "Keyboard" can be considered both as a fetish of the computer age and as an industrial "rock garden", a large-scale, environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the Yekaterinburg city embankment. Each button of the concrete keyboard is at the same time an impromptu bench. The monument has become a cultural landmark of the modern image of the city and a new "brand".
A positive resonance regarding 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 incarnation and the modernity of the image.
Object security issues
Until June 2011, several keys were stolen from the monument (keys F1, F2, F3, Y), and the Apple logo was applied to the Windows key.
In this regard, in June 2011, the head of the public art program of the Perm Museum contemporary art PERMM Nailya Allahverdieva proposed to move the keyboard monument to neighboring Perm. According to her, no one cared about him in Yekaterinburg, and perm museum was very interested in this art object.
But thanks to the efforts of the Yekaterinburg initiative group, which included Evgeny Zorin, Lidia Karelina, director of Litek LLC Nadezhda Zaostrovnyh, on August 17, 2011, the lost keys were restored. The repair of the monument was made possible thanks to Anton Borisenko, director of the Union Trucks company, which sells and maintains trucks. During the restoration work, the author of the monument Anatoly Vyatkin was present.
According to the project coordinator, Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh, thanks to the repair, the famous Yekaterinburg landmark will definitely not go to Perm now. “But the problem remains, I would like the largest keyboard in the world to be included in the register of monuments, protected by the state and no one could ever take it from us. To do this, we have drawn up a collective appeal to enter the monument to the keyboard in the register cultural property, On July 30, 2011, on the Day of the system administrator, more than 100 signatures were collected and on August 4, 2011 they transferred everything to the city administration. We are still waiting for an answer,” said Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh.
With the filing of Yevgeny Zorin and like-minded people, regular cultural events began to be held at the monument, the main of which is the so-called annual “Subbotnik on the Keyboard”. During the "subbotnik" the keys are cleaned and painted, and championships are held in throwing non-working computer mice to a distance, raising a bunch of hard drives, etc.
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An excerpt characterizing the Keyboard Monument
“What is their misfortune, what misfortune can there be? They have everything of their own, old, familiar and calm, ”Natasha mentally told herself.When she entered the hall, her father quickly left the countess's room. His face was wrinkled and wet with tears. He must have run out of that room to let loose the sobs that were choking him. Seeing Natasha, he frantically waved his hands and burst into painfully convulsive sobs that distorted his round, soft face.
“Don’t… Petya… Go, go, she… she… is calling…” And he, sobbing like a child, quickly shuffling with his weakened legs, went up to a chair and almost fell on it, covering his face with his hands.
Suddenly how electricity ran all over Natasha's being. Something terribly hurt her in the heart. She felt a terrible pain; it seemed to her that something was coming off in her and that she was dying. But following the pain, she felt an instant release from the prohibition of life that lay on her. Seeing her father and hearing her mother's terrible, rude cry from behind the door, she instantly forgot herself and her grief. She ran up to her father, but he, waving his hand helplessly, pointed to her mother's door. Princess Mary, pale, with a trembling lower jaw, came out of the door and took Natasha by the hand, saying something to her. Natasha did not see or hear her. She went through the door with quick steps, stopped for a moment, as if in a struggle with herself, and ran up to her mother.
The countess was lying on an armchair, strangely awkwardly stretching herself, and banging her head against the wall. Sonya and the girls held her hands.
“Natasha, Natasha!” shouted the countess. - Not true, not true ... He is lying ... Natasha! she screamed, pushing away those around her. - Go away, everyone, it's not true! Killed! .. ha ha ha ha! .. not true!
Natasha knelt on a chair, bent over her mother, hugged her, unexpected power lifted her, turned her face towards her, and clung to her.
- Mommy! .. my dear! .. I'm here, my friend. Mom, she whispered to her, not stopping for a second.
She did not let her mother out, tenderly wrestled with her, demanded a pillow, water, unbuttoned and tore her mother's dress.
“My friend, my dear ... mother, darling,” she whispered incessantly, kissing her head, hands, face and feeling how uncontrollably, in streams, tickling her nose and cheeks, her tears flowed.
The Countess squeezed her daughter's hand, closed her eyes, and fell silent for a moment. Suddenly she got up with unusual rapidity, looked around senselessly, and, seeing Natasha, began to squeeze her head with all her might. Then she turned her face, wrinkled with pain, to look at him for a long time.
“Natasha, you love me,” she said in a low, trusting whisper. - Natasha, you will not deceive me? Will you tell me the whole truth?
Natasha looked at her with tear-filled eyes, and in her face there was only a plea for forgiveness and love.
“My friend, mother,” she repeated, straining all the forces of her love to somehow remove from her the excess of grief that crushed her.
And again, in a powerless struggle with reality, the mother, refusing to believe that she could live when her beloved boy, blooming with life, was killed, fled from reality in a world of madness.
Natasha did not remember how that day, night, next day, next night went. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother. Natasha's love, stubborn, patient, not as an explanation, not as a consolation, but as a call to life, every second seemed to embrace the countess from all sides. On the third night, the Countess was quiet for a few minutes, and Natasha closed her eyes, leaning her head on the arm of the chair. The bed creaked. Natasha opened her eyes. The Countess sat on the bed and spoke softly.
- I'm glad you came. Are you tired, do you want some tea? Natasha walked over to her. “You have grown prettier and matured,” the countess continued, taking her daughter by the hand.
“Mommy, what are you talking about!”
- Natasha, he is gone, no more! And, embracing her daughter, for the first time the countess began to cry.
Princess Mary postponed her departure. Sonya and the count tried to replace Natasha, but they could not. They saw that she alone could keep her mother from insane despair. For three weeks Natasha lived hopelessly with her mother, slept on an armchair in her room, gave her water, fed her and talked to her without ceasing - she spoke, because one gentle, caressing voice calmed the countess.
The emotional wound of the mother could not heal. Petya's death tore off half of her life. A month after the news of Petya's death, which found her a fresh and vigorous fifty-year-old woman, she left her room half dead and not taking part in life - an old woman. But the same wound that half killed the Countess, this new wound called Natasha to life.
A spiritual wound resulting from a rupture of the spiritual body, just like a physical wound, strange as it may seem, after deep wound healed and seems to have come together at its edges, a spiritual wound, like a physical one, heals only from within by the bulging power of life.
Natasha's wound also healed. She thought her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her. Love has awakened, and life has awakened.
The last days of Prince Andrei connected Natasha with Princess Mary. A new misfortune brought them even closer. Princess Marya postponed her departure and for the last three weeks, as if she were a sick child, she looked after Natasha. The last weeks spent by Natasha in her mother's room had sapped her physical strength.
Once, in the middle of the day, Princess Mary, noticing that Natasha was trembling in a feverish chill, took her to her and laid her on her bed. Natasha lay down, but when Princess Mary, having lowered the blinds, wanted to go out, Natasha called her to her.
- I don't want to sleep. Marie, sit with me.
- You're tired - try to sleep.
- No no. Why did you take me away? She will ask.
- She's much better. She spoke so well today,” said Princess Marya.
Natasha was lying in bed and in the semi-darkness of the room she examined the face of Princess Marya.
"Does she look like him? thought Natasha. Yes, similar and not similar. But it is special, alien, completely new, unknown. And she loves me. What's on her mind? Everything is good. But how? What does she think? How does she look at me? Yes, she's beautiful."
“Masha,” she said, timidly pulling her hand to her. Masha, don't think I'm stupid. Not? Masha, dove. I love you so much. Let's be really, really friends.
And Natasha, embracing, began to kiss the hands and face of Princess Marya. Princess Mary was ashamed and rejoiced at this expression of Natasha's feelings.
From that day on, that passionate and tender friendship was established between Princess Mary and Natasha, which happens only between women. They kissed incessantly, spoke tender words to each other, and spent most of their time together. If one went out, the other was restless and hurried to join her. Together they felt a greater harmony with each other than separately, each with himself. A feeling stronger than friendship was established between them: it was an exceptional feeling of the possibility of life only in the presence of each other.
Sometimes they were silent for whole hours; sometimes, already lying in their beds, they began to talk and talked until the morning. They spoke for the most part about the distant past. Princess Marya talked about her childhood, about her mother, about her father, about her dreams; and Natasha, who previously with calm incomprehension turned away from this life, devotion, humility, from the poetry of Christian self-sacrifice, now, feeling herself bound by love with Princess Marya, fell in love with Princess Marya's past and understood a side of life that she had not understood before. She did not think of applying humility and self-sacrifice to her life, because she was used to looking for other joys, but she understood and fell in love with another this previously incomprehensible virtue. For Princess Mary, who listened to stories about Natasha's childhood and early youth, a previously incomprehensible side of life was also revealed, faith in life, in the pleasures of life.
They still never talked about him in the same way, so as not to violate with words, as it seemed to them, that height of feeling that was in them, and this silence about him made them forget him little by little, not believing this.
Natasha lost weight, turned pale, and physically became so weak that everyone constantly talked about her health, and she was pleased with it. But sometimes not only the fear of death, but the fear of illness, weakness, loss of beauty suddenly came over her, and involuntarily she sometimes carefully examined her bare hand, wondering at her thinness, or looking in the mirror in the morning at her long, pitiful, as it seemed to her, face. It seemed to her that it should be so, and at the same time she became frightened and sad.
Once she soon went upstairs and was out of breath. Immediately, involuntarily, she thought up a business for herself below, and from there she ran upstairs again, trying her strength and watching herself.
Another time she called Dunyasha, and her voice trembled. She called to her once more, despite the fact that she heard her footsteps - she called in that chesty voice with which she sang, and listened to him.
She didn’t know this, she wouldn’t have believed it, but under the impenetrable layer of silt that seemed to her that covered her soul, thin, tender young needles of grass were already breaking through, which were supposed to take root and so cover the grief that crushed her with their vital shoots that it would soon be invisible. and not noticeable. The wound healed from within. At the end of January, Princess Marya left for Moscow, and the count insisted that Natasha go with her in order to consult with the doctors.
After the clash at Vyazma, where Kutuzov could not keep his troops from wanting to overturn, cut off, etc., the further movement of the fleeing French and the Russians who fled after them, to Krasnoe, took place without battles. The flight was so fast that the Russian army, which was running after the French, could not keep up with them, that the horses in the cavalry and artillery were becoming more and that the information about the movement of the French was always incorrect.
Where is the keyboard monument located?
- Location of the monument: Yekaterinburg
Date of opening of the monument: October 5, 2005
Material the monument is made of: Concrete
Description external monument: The key surface is flat with embossed alphabet and function symbols arranged in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard
Dimensions: Width 4 m, length 16 m
Author of the monument project: Anatoly Vyatkin - keyboard monument
Location of the monument. Ekaterinburg
Date of opening of the monument October 5, 2005
Material from which the monument is made Concrete
Description appearance The monument consists of 86 keysDimensions The total area of the project is 16x4 sq. m.
length 16m (52ft) width 4m (13ft)
Author of the monument project Anatoly Vyatkin - http://turism.ws/ - Here is the most relevant information.
- From the point of view of history, the computer entered our lives relatively recently. And the monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is, moreover, quite young, its opening took place on October 5, 2005. The creation of the Yekaterinburg artist Anatoly Vyatkin is installed on the second tier of the Iset River embankment, from the side of Gogol Street. 86 concrete keys weighing about 80 kilograms each (but the "space" weighs as much as half a ton) are placed in the same order as in standard (qwerty) keyboards.
- I have it on my closet.
- 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 I Seti River, from the side of Gogol Street.
A flat area adjacent to the stairs was chosen for the monument. historical building located on the waterfront. 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 sq. m. m. The surface of the keys is flat with embossed symbols of the alphabet and function symbols, placed in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard.
The Concrete Keyboard can be viewed as a fetish of the computer age 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 on the concrete keyboard is a makeshift 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. computer keyboard an international symbol of communication between people all over the world and the subject, 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 of which has already been lost for modern residents, thanks to the activity of forums regarding the opening 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.
The author of the sculpture, artist Anatoly Vyatkin, said in an interview with the press that the idea to make the “Keyboard Monument” came unexpectedly. He worked on one of the projects for an international exhibition. I spent a lot of time at the computer and realized that the keyboard today - the same "common place as a frying pan" - is in almost every home. Soon after, with the support of the art community and Yekaterinburg businessmen, work began on the manufacture of sculpture details. It turned out to be more difficult than it might look for a person who did not sculpt. Concrete is an extremely heavy 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. Such a technical tool for communication between people, like a keyboard, is presented in the form of an Asian rock garden, where people come for creative purposes. However, local residents are certainly attracted not only by this. 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, then “press” “Enter”, then it will certainly come true. And in case there are difficulties, you need to jump on “CTRL, ALT, DEL”, after which life will “reboot”.
Sculpture influenced not only the emergence of new urban myths, but also the names of neighboring buildings. So, the river Iset locals jokingly called 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 Yekaterinburg Red Line route, which runs along asphalt through 30 major cultural sites in the city center as a line of paint.
One day several keys disappeared from the keyboard. Recall that the weight of each of them is at least 80 kg. Then the artists suggested moving the monument to Perm. However, after the protests of the townspeople, entrepreneurs financed the restoration. Since then, Klava has been standing, or rather, lying in its place, continuing to surprise tourists and delight Yekaterinburg residents.
