Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

President Dmitry Medvedev at the opening of the Yeltsin Monument in February 2011

The Yeltsin Center was established in accordance with the 2008 law "On centers of historical heritage of presidents of the Russian Federation ceased to carry out its powers" for the preservation, study and public presentation of the heritage of the first President of the Russian Federation "in the context of the recent history of the Fatherland, the development of democratic institutions and the rule of law".[2]

Presidential Center of Boris Yeltsin was unveiled on 25 November 2015. The opening was attended by the President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Yeltsin's widow Naina, other representatives of the leadership of the country and the culture.[3]

For the first year of operation of the museum it was visited by over 250,000 people.[4] Visitors also attended various events at the Yeltsin Center: concerts of Russian and foreign artists, the festival "Island of the 90s", "Old new rock", the First Ural open Russian film festival, Comic-Con E-Con[5] and others.[6]

In December 2015 started a lecture series, "Piotrowski", which are the cultural and public figures.[7] Lectures are held periodically in other areas of the Yeltsin Center, for example the lecture of the former Minister of Interior of Germany Gerhart Baum.[8] By the fall of 2016 in the cinema-conference hall of the center conduct lectures in the framework of the project "Intellecture", dedicated to the technologies of the future.[9]

The center also periodically hosts various film festivals: Russian documentary film festival "Artdocfest".[10] The first Ural open Russian film festival, American documentary film festival, a festival of films about music and new culture "Beat Weekend", the Jewish film festival and others.[11][12][13][14]

The museum consists of 9 rooms:

• Hall "Maze - the history of Russia from 1914 to 1987 and the history of the Yeltsin family."
• Hall "The first day. "We are waiting for changes!""
• Hall "Second day. August putsch"
• Hall "Day Three. Unpopular measures"
• Hall "Day four. Birth of the Constitution"
• Hall "Day Five. "Vote or Lose""
• Hall "The sixth day. Presidential marathon"
• Hall "The seventh day. Farewell to the Kremlin"
• Hall of Freedom

Yeltsin Center has many times been criticized for "distortion of historical events" and "propaganda." Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov accused the Center of deliberate manipulation of history and destruction of the consciousness of the people.[15] The Yeltsin Center is accused by representatives of various organizations (e.g. the National Liberation Movement) of the distortion of information about events during the administration of Boris Yeltsin.[16] The public has held several protests in front of the building, demanding the closure of the center. In January 2018, presidential candidate from the Communist party Pavel Grudinin proposed to close the Yeltsin Center, and to give the building to a children's educational club.[17]

The complex has hosted events such as the Ekaterinburg Jewish Film Festival.

• Official website Yeltsin Center