Nevyansk. On the foreground - Nevyansk leaning tower. Photo by Gira @ E1.RU

Nevyansk is located on the Neyva River, near the Ob basin on the eastern slope of the Middle Ural, some 97 km north of Ekaterinburg.

Nevyansk is the “grandfather” of the Ural plants, the only factory-town in the world, and one of the oldest metallurgical сenter in the Ural.

In the XVIIIth century, Nevyansk was settled primarily by Old Believers. The craftsmen of Nevyansk were the first in the Ural who dealt with art casting from ferrous metals, nice chests with ferrous binding and the unique Nevyansk icons, which may be regarded as the last phase in the history of Russian icon-painting.

The first settlement (so-called “posad”) was founded in 1701 due to the construction of a foundry and iron factory. The settlement became highly important for the well-being of the Demidov family, which extracted gold from the local foothills.

First cast was made on December 15th, 1701 by craftsman Yakov Fadeev. Nikita Demodovitch Antufyev, founder of the Demidov dynasty, assumed possession of the factory according to the decree of Tsar Peter the Great on March 4th, 1702. The Demidov’s stamp “Old sable” was designed on the Nevyansk’s factory.

Nevyansk leaning tower and the Monument to the city founders. Photo by dshamster @ E1.RU

The Nevyansk iron factory produced cast iron, iron and copper. The factory was walled in on 3 sides and represented a real fortress. Inside the factory buildings, the manor courtyard and the wooden church were erected.

Also, the Demidovs built a stone bell tower that is known as Nevyansk leaning tower. The height of the tower is 57.5m from the ground and the base is 9.5×9.5m. According to recent measurements, the deviation of the top part of the tower from a right angle is currently 2.20 m. On the 7th and 8th floors, there is a chiming clock made by the English watchmaker Richard Phelps. During the construction of the tower, an iron spire with grounding was placed on the roof. Thus a lightning-conductor on the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk had been constructed 25 years before it was designed by Benjamin Franklin. The Nevyansk tower was constructed in 1725-1740, and remains the town’s principle landmark and claim to fame.

Historians are still debating about the exact purpose of the Nevyansk tower.

Some say that Demidov used it as a "bank safe", others believe it was either a watchtower, or a belltower, or a prison, or even a laboratory for conducting chemical experiments and producing counterfeit money. Some historians think that the tower was supposed to embody the might of the Demidov family and serve as some sort of an architectural symbol of their dynasty.

A lot of myths and legends are connected with the tower. One myth is concerning Akinfiy Demidov’s counterfeit coins that actually contained a greater percentage of silver than the government money. This is probably the only time in history where fake money was worth more than real money.

In May 1890, a terrible fire broke out that destroyed two thirds of the factory. At the end of the XVIII century, the Saint-Petersburg joint-stock company “Lessner” started re-building the iron foundry. In the XX century it became the important center of artillery production. In 1902, the iron factory, for the first time in Russia, started to produce drags for gold-mining and platinum-mining needs.

Monument to the Unknown Warrior. Photo by Gira @ E1.RU

After the shock of the Russian revolution of 1917 and Civil War, the Nevyansk factory began its work again only in 1927.

In June 1913, construction work on the first cement works in the Ural began. In April 24th, 1914, the building of the plant was finished and a month later the first 155-kg barrels full of Portland cement “Sable” were ready. The project of the cement works was designed by German engineers. In the years of the Civil War, the cement production was stopped and the factory was closed down temporarily. Recovery work began in 1925.

In the year 2001, the town celebrated its 300th anniversary.

How to get to Nevyansk:

By bus: buses № 640 and № 808 from the North Bus Terminal;
By train: any suburban electric train to Nizhny Tagil direction, stop “Nevyansk”. 

City view. Photo by dshamster @ E1.RU