Nevyansk History and Architecture Museum is located near the Leaning Tower, in the building of the former power plant of the Demidov ironwork. There you can get acquainted with the history of the development of the metallurgical industry in the Urals, in the lands of the Demidov family.
In 1702 Peter I granted a charter of ownership of the local lands to an entrepreneur Nikita Demidov of Tula. Before 1725, in addition to the first ironwork in Nevyansk, the Demidov built 4 more metallurgical plants and founded several towns in the Urals. In 1726 Nikita Demidov was ennobled.
The lands of the Demidov family became a «state within a state» with their own laws, army, court and administration. It was rumored that in the dungeons of the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk the Demidov even minted silver coins, although the royal commissions could find no evidence for this.
Several museum expositions are devoted to the descendants of Nikita Demidov, as well as to the history of Nevyansk in 19 century. Metallurgical plants were the basis of the regional economy but crafts and agriculture developed there as well.
