Since the end of the 17 century the government of Russia began to actively search for mineral resources the Ural Mountains abounded with. Industrial enterprises and entire towns were created on the base of the found deposits. There began the development of metallurgical, coal, gold-mining and stone cutting industries. All this ensured the significant increase in the power of the Russian state.
So it is quite logic that in Yekaterinburg, the main city of the Ural region, there appeared a Ural Museum of Stone where were collected the samples of minerals from various deposits. And there you can see the minerals not only from the Urals but from the other regions of the Soviet Union, for example, agates from Chukotka or coal from Kazakhstan. There are even minerals from the other countries at the museum.
This private Museum of Stone was created by the efforts of a collector Vladimir Pelepenko. Over 10 thousand of crystalline minerals, as well as semi-precious stones, bones and bone articles are on display at the museum. And most samples are of scientific value.
Now the museum is in the building of the «Bolshoi Ural» hotel. However, because of the constant problems with the rent of space the museum is not able to maintain the collection in the appropriate condition and present it to visitors. To a degree, this spoils the impression of the visit but hopefully in the future all the problems will be resolved and the visitors can see this collection in all its splendor.
