This book studies transformations of cultural mythology of Ural cities in the years of Soviet industrialization – transformations that were implemented by the joint eff orts of local publicists, photographers, and artists who were trying to motivate the builders of socialism and overcome the ‘complex of provinciality’. Re-working the ideas of pre-revolutionary authors, and developing special ways to describe new, socialist city, they created for Urals a brand new image of ‘stronghold’. The author resurrects this mythology through the analysis of a variety of sources (newspapers, brochures, journals) and the study of architectural heritage of industrial settlements of Urals (Krasnouralsk, Nizhny Tagil, Lysva, Berezniki and many others). Such analysis in turn, highlights the defi nitive role of such mythology upon the formation of Ural identity. The appendix of the book includes some of the newspaper articles examining diff erent aspects of socialist cities of Urals.